The Cashman Chronicles
There is a specific person
behind the scenes that, in my mind, does not get enough credit and
recognition. Although, I feel most front
office personnel and general managers hide within the depths of their
respective stadiums (unless you are Theo Epstein). Brian Cashman is one of those general
managers that quietly pulls the logistical strings in the background as he
looks to put a winning product on the field.
Sometimes he pulls the correct strings and sometimes he doesn’t. The past fiscal year has proven to be a
particular combination of good moves and bad moves depending on your
opinion. But I think it is safe to say
that moves made in recent weeks have solidified Cashman once again as a top five general manager in Major League Baseball.
Cashman began his career with
the Yankees in 1986 as an intern and eventually worked his way up the ranks to
what he is today. And in that time there
are questionable decisions mostly dictated by ownership, but also decisions
that answer questions to long term solutions.
In December 2014, Cashman
answered the call when looking to fill important roster spots - most notably Didi Gregorius. Derek Jeter filled the shortstop position in
the infield for 20 years and is considered to be one of the most beloved
Yankees of all time as well as the face of a generation for Major League
Baseball. A resume such as Jeter’s is
not so easily replaceable. But Cashman
utilized his intel with his closest advisors and traded Shane Greene for Didi in a three team deal with Arizona and Detroit. After a bad April in the 2015 season, Didi
changed his tune and has developed into one of the best defensive shortstops in
all of baseball and has improved his offensive numbers dramatically.
 |
| Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson | USA TODAY Sports |
Cashman made another move in
December 2014 by trading the highly talented utility man Martin Prado and
David Phelps to the Marlins for Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Jones and Domingo
German. Eovaldi is a flame throwing
pitcher from Texas that can easily hit 100 mph on the gun and deliver a
devastating slider. However, Eovaldi has
struggled deeply with location in his major league career thus far. His stuff is phenomenal but can’t seem to hit
his spots sometimes. And as of two weeks
ago, Eovaldi’s career may be in jeopardy as he had a second Tommy John surgery.
It was also difficult to see
Martin Prado go after the 2014 season. I
thought he was going to be the starting second basemen for the 2015
season for sure, but the Yankees ended up scraping the bottom of the barrel for
Stephen Drew. The resigning of Drew was a
rough one considering that he hit .201 for the season. But everyone knew that Stephen Drew was not
the long term answer for the Yankees at second base, because his defense was
sub-par and his hitting was too dramatically hot and cold.
Now we arrive to the 2015
offseason. I think that the 2015
offseason was the initial phase in Cashman’s plan to “rebuild” whether the Steinbrenner’s
agreed with the notion or not. Drew was
not resigned, and he was replaced by Starlin Castro in a trade with the Cubs. I thought this move was fantastic. Castro is a young player that displayed solid
defense at shortstop and at second base having only played for a month and a
half at the four spot before being traded to New York. But what I liked most about the Castro trade
was both his offensive and defensive potential in a new lineup. Castro has proven with his time in Chicago
that he can hit, but the double play combo of Starlin Castro and a newly
evolved Didi Gregorius could be nothing short of entertaining up the
middle. These guys are both only 26,
have range, have great arms, and can hit.
Cashman managed to inject a youthful combination of offense and defense
up the middle, but at the cost of Adam Warren, who was a stellar reliever for
years with the Yankees.
The biggest offseason splash
for Cashman was easily the Aroldis Chapman deal by far. Due to his recent allegations of domestic
violence and Cincinnati’s willingness to dump his salary, it became hard for
ball clubs to pass up the opportunity to have a guy that can consistently throw
100 mph plus at every save opportunity. Cashman
traded four minor league players including pitchers Caleb Cotham, Rookie Davis,
and infielders Eric Jagielo, and Tony Renda.
Chapman also avoided arbitration on February 12, 2016 by agreeing to a
one-year contract at 11.4 million dollars.
So, essentially Cashman dumped some potential minor league players for
Aroldis Chapman at a reasonably priced one-year contract. Even before Chapman was named the Yankees
closer, I believed the writing was on the wall to use Chapman as a bargaining
chip depending on the Yankees state at the trade deadline. It was pretty obvious considering the Yankees
essentially had two closers with Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller (who
arguably is the best reliever in all of baseball).
The Chapman deal was nice, but
almost overkill for the Yankees bullpen situation because Andrew Miller did
such a great job as the Yankees closer in 2015.
So it was easy to assume what Chapman would mean to the Yankees moving
forward.
And as the Yankees moved
forward in 2016, their standing in the AL East and wildcard standings did not move
forward, and Cashman finally convinced management that selling and rebuilding
was the most logical move to make if the Yankees were to ever be an eventual
contender in upcoming seasons. Within a
week, Aroldis Chapman was gone, and then Andrew Miller was gone. Carlos Beltran was also gone. And in return the Yankees went from having
the 15th or 16th ranked farm system to probably the best
farm system in all of baseball, and they also got a solid bullpen arm in Tyler Clippard at nice buy-low value.
The Chapman and Miller deals
provided a plethora of young talent in return, as well as the second coming of
Adam Warren to bolster a now weaker bullpen (getting Warren back essentially
means the Yankees got Starlin Castro for Brendan Ryan).
Players like Gleyber Torres, Bill McKinney, Rashad Crawford, Clint
Frazier, Justus Sheffield, Ben Heller and J.P. Feyereisen were all acquired for
these two players. The Yankees also got Dillon Tate and two others for Carlos Beltran. I don’t think anyone
wanted to see Andrew Miller go because of his electric stuff, positive
attitude, and team friendly contract, but Cashman knew it was the logical thing
to do because of the value that could be received in return. Cashman’s moves at the 2016 trade deadline
have potential to make the Yankees a juggernaut around the 2018 season.
 |
| Photo Credit: Tony Callaio | Times Leader |
Some of the Yankees home grown
talent have managed to earn their opportunities with the big club in recent
weeks with the likes of Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin. Now is the time to let these young guys
play. The dramatic exit of Alex
Rodriguez opened the door to some of the younger players. I bet it stung releasing A-Rod with all that
money on the table, but it was obvious that Cashman was not a fan of Rodriguez and was potentially happy to see him go. And now that A-Rod is gone, Sanchez, Judge and Austin finally have their shot in the bigs. The past few weeks have been refreshing and
revitalizing to say the least.
Especially with the likes of Gary Sanchez who is arguably having the
best start by any rookie ever in his first month in MLB (in 23 games: 35 hits, eight doubles, 11 homers. 21 RBIs .498 AVG, and OPS of 1.328). THESE NUMBERS ARE RIDICULOUS. I have never seen anything like it
before.
Yankee fans have been waiting
for years to see Gary Sanchez play every day, but the organization trusted
their system and decided to groom him and polish him for consistent play. And boy were they right. So check that off the list for Cashman.
 |
| Photo Credit: Christopher Pasatieri | Getty Images |
They also have players like
Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin, who both started hot in their first career games,
but have cooled since. But Judge, who
has seen substantially more playing time than Austin has shown that he can play
a smooth right field as well with his arm and decent range. It is still early but Aaron Judge will probably
be the right fielder for the Yankees for many years to come. Check that off the list for Cashman as well.
The Yankees have had an
extremely frustrating and inconsistent season thus far. Things have been brighter of late, but some
of the larger contracts cast a shadow over the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The age of large high priced contracts to
dwindling veterans may be a thing of the past with Brian Cashman for the foreseeable future. The time of the rookies and farm system development is
now. Cashman gets it. He knows that the league has changed and the
Yankees have been smoked on big contracts in the past. Youth is the answer; and
youth can provide consistency and a winning attitude with the right combination
of core players playing together for many years…does this sound familiar?
Article by: Michael Mosier
Comments
Post a Comment