Baseball Musings: Cornering the Market on Vowel-Rods

July 30, 2008

Cornering the Market on Vowel-Rods

Brian Cashman reunites Alex and Ivan Rodriguez. With A-Rod and I-Rod in the fold, can E-Rod, O-Rod, U-Rod and sometimes Y-Rod be far behind!

The Tigers get Kyle Farnsworth. Cashman admits the move is a gamble:

"Pudge is an everyday guy," Cashman said. "You get an everyday catcher who will catch your staff for nine innings ... versus someone who is doing an outstanding job for us in the eighth inning.
"It is robbing Peter to pay Paul, no doubt about it."

Jose Molina's defense is great, but the Yankees lose little with Pudge behind the plate and gain a good deal of offense. I-Rod is very hot over his last 30 games, coming out of a 1 1/2 year OBA slump. I guess the hope is:

Pudge gives them enough offense that they have big leads in the eighth inning.
Veras and Marte are able to shoulder the load, with occasional help from Mariano Rivera picking up a long save.

The Yankees are certainly going for playoffs. I get the feeling they're going to try to win one more before George dies, but without giving away the farm. It's going to be tough.

Posted by David Pinto at 05:24 PM | Trades | TrackBack (0)

Comments

I like the deal for the Yanks. They lose Farnsworth, but he's really been up and down during his tenure there. They get a replacement for Molina who no doubt would've broke down with big increase in workload. Have Marte and Edwar Ramierz coming on to work the 8th.

I like the move.

Posted by: ryan at July 30, 2008 05:43 PM

I like the move.

Posted by: ryan at July 30, 2008 05:43 PM

I'm puzzled by this move for the Tigers. They can use another bullpen arm, and Inge behind the plate is not a bad move, but they're dealing Pudge, his remaining $4M and the 1-2 draft picks they'd get for letting him go for Farnsworth, his $1M and a possible draft pick for not resigning him.

That doesn't look like a short-term or a long-term win, really. Although it's not my $3M, I suppose.

Posted by: Subrata Sircar at July 30, 2008 06:11 PM

Does Brian Cashman have something on Jim Leyland or Mike Illitch? This reminds me of those deals back in the 50's when the Yanks would pluck someone like Maris from Cleveland or KC for next to nothing. As a lifelong Yankee hater, I'm disgusted.

Posted by: Jim Casey at July 30, 2008 06:20 PM

Dave Dumbroski's the GM. I think he's been hanging out with Mike Millen.

As a Yankee fan, I'm happy.

Posted by: rbj at July 30, 2008 08:14 PM

I think NYY was made a bunch of excellent moves and really strengthened where they could. They must be hoping Wang can get back soon enough to make a difference.

Posted by: bandit at July 30, 2008 09:44 PM

I think the Yanks did fine here, but Dombrowski has used and abused little Cash in the past:

1) February 1, 1999. Mike Lowell to the Marlins for Mark Johnson, Todd Noel and Ed Yarnall.

2) July 5, 2002. Jason Arnold, John-Ford Griffin and Ted Lilly to Oakland; received Jeff Weaver from Detroit, as part of a three-way deal.

3) November 10, 2006: Gary Sheffield to Detroit for Anthony Claggett, Humberto Sanchez and Kevin Whelan.

The first two were horrendous, and those were Cashman's deals. They weren't pushed ahead by George Steinbrenner, or Tampa people, or anyone else. jury is out on Sheff, but none of the prospects are on anyone's radar 2 seasons later.

Posted by: abe at July 31, 2008 02:14 PM

Maris went to Yanks from their almost KC farm club. There is a new book out on 16 KC/Yank deals of the 1950s, a time when KC owner Johnson was in Yanks owner's back pockets. When Maris went to KC from Cleveland, Yank players said "We got Maris now, he'll be dealt here soon". That is how cozy the NY/KC relation was.

Posted by: Bob S at July 31, 2008 07:47 PM