Brian Cashman has had a tough start to his winter, for no other reason than he hasn’t been able to convince CC Sabathia to sign despite offering him more money than any pitcher has ever been offered.
Then again, if you were to grade general managers based on their activity this winter, only Jim Hendry of the Cubs would have a passing grade based on the Ryan Dempster signing. Beyond that, not one prominent player has signed, so the jury is out on everybody.
I’ve heard several people in recent weeks and months declare that Cashman is being outdone by Theo Epstein in a major way. I realize that the Red Sox have won two titles since 2004 while Cashman’s team hasn’t won a title since 2000, but I’m missing the part where Theo is redefining what it means to be a GM.
Have some of Boston’s moves worked out well? Absolutely. But it takes no more skill to bid $51.1 million on Daisuke Matsuzaka (then pay him another $50 million or so) than it does to offer Sabathia $140 million.
Coco Crisp and Julio Lugo were two of Theo’s acquisitions that were believed to be tremendous moves when they were made, yet both proved to be huge disappointments. But when you win, those things are forgotten - as well they should be.
Theo made a great trade for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell, but he did give up Hanley Ramirez in that trade, and some argue that Ramirez is already a top-5 player in the majors and could top that list at some point.
The Yankees haven’t had a player like Ramirez to deal away. If they did, they may have made a move for Beckett at that time, though they still wouldn’t have been able to take Lowell and his $18 million in a deal because they already had A-Rod at third base. They could have gotten Santana for a package led by Phil Hughes, but Cashman opted not to for many reasons, most notably that he feels Hughes will be a front-line starter soon enough.
Cashman has made several moves in recent years that backfired, namely Carl Pavano, Kei Igawa and to some extent, Randy Johnson. But to say he’s destroyed this team is a gross misrepresentation.
Where would the Yankees be without Chien-Ming Wang, Robinson Cano or Joba Chamberlain? Say what you will about Johnny Damon, but he’s given the Yankees the leadoff hitter they expected to get when they signed him three years ago. Everybody screamed that the Yankees were crazy to bring Mike Mussina back in 2008 and he won 20 games. Doesn’t Cashman get some credit for not dumping Mussina after his subpar 2007?
Yes, Cashman inherited Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, but there isn’t another player on the roster that was there when he took over as GM in 1998, and yet the Yankees made the postseason every year of his reign until last season.
His trades - particularly the midseason deals for guys like Bobby Abreu and Xavier Nady - have worked out well. The jury is still out on the prospects he got back for Johnson and Gary Sheffield, but simply ridding his team of those two guys when he did was more than enough to qualify those as moderate successes.
Have the Yankees drafted well? Not particularly. Chamberlain is a star in the making, while Hughes is still just 22 and could become a big-time pitcher, too. Austin Jackson is seen as the center fielder of the future and there are some other players at the lower levels (some were drafted, others signed as international free agents) that could make an impact down the road.
Cashman is the lead man on all baseball operations, but he’s not the guy that has scouted the players, so the blame can’t fall entirely on his shoulders. Just the same, Theo isn’t out scouting players for the Red Sox, so the credit for guys like Dustin Pedroia, Justin Masterson, Kevin Youkilis, Jonathan Papelbon and Jon Lester goes to the Red Sox scouts more than to the GM.
Clearly the Red Sox have had more success in the past five years than the Yankees, but to say that it’s purely the result of the general managers and their moves is naïve. The 2008 Yankees were largely the same team as the 2007 team that made the playoffs, but players simply didn’t perform as well. It happens. Anyone remember the 2006 Red Sox? Had Boston given up on Theo after the Sox missed the playoffs that year, would that have been the right move?
I know many fans disagree, but Cashman is a solid GM who has a vision to reshape this team as its stars get older. Last year was a rebuilding year of sorts, and they still won 89 games. If it becomes an annual occurrence, he’ll pay for it with his job. But after hearing fans scream and shout for years that the Yankees need to get younger, more athletic and get the payroll below $200 million, it amazes me that people aren’t willing to go through what it takes to get there. Luckily, Cashman is, and the Yankees should be better for it in the long run.
Update: Several astute Red Sox fans have e-mailed me in the past few hours to remind me that Theo wasn’t the GM when the Beckett deal was made, as that was during his short hiatus.
It has been well-documented that Theo was still involved behind the scenes, though technically he may not have been the GM at the time of the trade. Still, I find it hard to believe that he didn’t at least give his input to the deal. I think the Beckett deal turned out remarkably well for the Red Sox, even if they had to give up Ramirez. I’m guessing there’s not a Sox fan out there that would trade the 2007 World Series for Ramirez, no matter how good he turns out to be.
If Theo had nothing to do with the deal, that simply takes a plus away from his résumé. I still believe that even if he wasn’t the one to ultimately pull the trigger, he deserves some of the credit for it.
