September 27, 2008
Steinbrenner's Deals?
This makes me believe Brian Cashman won't be back with the Yankees:
The start of the 2007 off-season played out largely beyond Cashman's control. After Rodriguez fizzled in the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, then opted out of his contract, Cashman started preparing for life without him.
In the short term, it would have been impossible to replace Rodriguez. But in the long run, there was an upside in not saddling the Yankees with a contract that would pay Rodriguez more than $20 million a season for the declining years of his career.
It was just those kinds of deals that started to infect the Yankees after they lost the 2001 World Series. That was when George Steinbrenner, their principal owner, demanded more control over baseball operations, sending the team on a four-year spending spree that started to wane when he yielded authority to Cashman after the 2005 season.
But last winter, when Steinbrenner put his sons, Hank and Hal, atop the hierarchy, the wild spending returned, over Cashman's head. Hank Steinbrenner engineered the deals for Rodriguez (10 years, roughly $300 million), Posada (four years, $52.4 million) and Mariano Rivera (three years, $45 million).
Maybe I missed this, but I thought these were deals made by Cashman. If this sort of thing was not in his control, then I expect he'll move on to less stressful pastures. I was surprised by the length of the Posada and Rivera deals; I could see two years with options, but longer than that seemed imprudent. Given that both ended up with bad shoulders, shorter contracts would have been the right move.
Update: Sorry, forgot to include the link before.
Posted by David Pinto at
04:21 PM
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I'm not sure whether or not Cashman is a good GM, but he has certainly been masterful in getting the word out that any and all bad decisions were always the fault of someone else.
David, who are you quoting there? You don't say.
Also, I think we obviously do not yet know whether the Posada and Rivera deals were too long. We'll know in a couple of years.
Cash is a PR machine, never his fault. Hell, he was wildly in favor of ditching Torre, but that was 100% laid at the Baby Boss' doorstep. He is a rock solid admin guy, terrible talent evaluator. I would not be surprised if he engineers his own exit, things look grim for the Yanks going forward.
James, both deals were too long. Jorge was a burden in the first year, and will get worse. Mariano had a great year and is headed into surgery.
Well, Abe, I don't have access to that crystal ball, and I'm not quite ready to take your word for it!
Seriously, it's easy to make such magesterial pronouncements, but wise commentators don't pretend to know more than they do. Everyone said Damon's contract was too long (hell, I thought so), but he's been good for three years, one to go.
The Posada deal was crazy - they were bidding agianst themselves and overpaid and over termed. They could have signed him for 2 and come back after '09. He couldn't catch in '06 and '07. Next year - before they go to the free agent market they've got Posada, Damon, Matsui and Nady all between LF/DH.
James, I was wondering the same thing, ie who wrote the referenced comments.
The 2007 offseason brought a change in ownership. Cashman's role, whatever it had been, became something else. Even if he stays, the new ownership is quite different from the old. So far, comparing Posada's situation to Rivera's in incorrect by a lot (as Mariano's appearance in today's game confirmed).