Cashman’s decisions aren’t pitcher perfect

By Gerry Fraley

The future rests with young pitchers Joba Chamberlain, Philip Hughes and Ian Kennedy, Cashman said. Getting tied up in a long-term deal with Santana would be risky and payroll-crushing, Cashman insisted.

The Yankees’ bosses listened. That leads to one question.

Why?

Cashman has done many good things in his tenure, but he has counter-balanced them with spectacular mistakes in the realm of starting pitching. Any other general manager would have been skewered long ago if he had a Cashman-like run of misses. The Yankees have the money to pay for Cashman’s bad calls.

Consider these six starters: Kevin Brown, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, Javier Vazquez and Jaret Wright. Cashman either traded for them or signed them as free agents since 2004.

First off, I’d like to say that for people who don’t follow the organization on a daily basis (National media, like the person who wrote this) it is difficult to correctly evaluate the people in the Yankees Front Office. It’s difficult because they act like Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman had full control over all of these moves and that is just not the case.

Calling out Cashman for Randy Johnson is just plain stupid because that was a 100% Steinbrenner move. Big Stein was pissed off about the Red Sox winning the World Series and said we need a big-time starter go get me the Big Unit. What’s Cashman supposed to say to that? Beside, getting Randy wasn’t all bad. He was 11th in the AL in VORP in 2005, sucked in ‘06, traded for Viz and prospects in ‘07.

It was Cashman’s fault for Roger Clemens? That was a Steinbrenner move too. If you listen to anything Cashman says, you’d know he didn’t orchestrate a $16M four month contract. Also, let’s remember not to give Cash credit for when the Yankees initially acquired Clemens for David Wells, Graeme Lloyd and Homer Bush.

Sure Kevin Brown didn’t work out, but is anyone real beat up about giving up Jeff Weaver? Hell no, JWeave was useless. Weaver hasn’t posted an ERA+ of higher than 102 since 2002, the year he was traded to the Yankees.

I also believe the Javier Vazquez criticism is unfair. At the time the Yankees acquired him for Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera and Randy Choate, Vazquez was one of the highest regarded pitchers in the game. He was 27 and coming off a tremendous four year run where he never pitched less than 217 IP and had ERA+’s of 119, 130, 108 and 139. If there was a sure bet in the game of baseball, at the time, Vazquez might’ve been it. His collapse after the ‘04 all-star break came out of nowhere, to blame that on Cashman is unfair.

The criticism for Pavano is more fair than the others, but the Yankees were not the only team to offer Pavano that kind of money. The Red Sox and Tigers did too. Also, did anyone see Pavano being the biggest pussy on the planet and pitching 111 IP in three years?

The Jaret Wright move was awful. Criticism for it was totally fair, I have no idea what Ca$h was thinking when he said this:

“He’s been through a lot early in his career, came on with an explosion of success, then suffered some injuries and has battled back over time,” said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. “We believe we’ve signed a pitcher at a young age to join our rotation that is a veteran version of the Jaret Wright that pitched for Cleveland.” (Source)

It is some consolation that Cash was able to flip Wright for Chris Britton, but still a rather large waste of money. 

The only moves to blame on Cash are Pavano and Wright, the others are unfair.  

When the Yankees made these moves, they didn’t have the same farm system they do know and had to go out on the market to get starting pitching. The market was garbage, but they were forced into it because they ignored the farm system for years. I am thankful that they don’t anymore.

Joe Sheehan does: 

Beyond that, the Yankees need to commit to Melky Cabrera as the everyday center fielder, even if it means making Johnny Damon a $13 million fourth outfielder. They need Cabrera’s defense, and Cabrera needs 600 plate appearances to develop his power and be the player he can be.

Before his horrid September (.180/.236/.220), Melky had a .294/.348/.429 line. I agree with Sheehan’s assessment of Melky, there is still untapped power potential in our centerfielder and everyday playing time is deserved.  

This article is too stupid for an intro. The following is from Mike Celizic:

The plan all along had been to use the 22-year-old Chamberlain as a starter, the role in which he excelled as a minor leaguer. But last year he proved to be an exceptional reliever, and in this era of ball, there’s no one more important to a team than a great closer.

Uhhh….what now? A great starting pitcher is more important than a great closer.

The Yankees know that as well as anyone, having had the luxury since 1997 of the services of Mariano Rivera, arguably the greatest closer ever. We spend inordinate amounts of time every year talking about the mighty Yankee offense, but the reason they’ve been in the playoffs every year since 1995 is their closer, first John Wetteland and then Rivera.

The reason the Yankees make the playoffs every year is because of their closer? Are you kidding?

Look, don’t get me wrong, closers are great and I love Mariano as much as the next guy, probably more. But, the pitchers’ job is to prevent runs by getting outs. Mariano is great at preventing runs, but he doesn’t get as many outs/pitch as many innings as a starter because he is a reliever. As a starter, Joba would have the opprotunity to get a lot more outs/pitch a lot more innings and be a lot more valuable to his team.

What’s notable about Rivera is that the Yankees brought him up through their farm system. They’ve gone everywhere for starting pitching and position players, but Rivera has been there year in and year out.

Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Alfonso Soriano, Chien-Ming Wang, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera are all from the Yankee farm system and not named Mariano Rivera.

Last year, as Rivera’s set-up man, Chamberlain pitched 24 innings in 19 games. He gave up just 12 hits and one earned run while striking out 34; his ERA was 0.38. I submit those are better numbers than he would have had as a starter.

I agree, Joba will not have a .38 ERA as a starter. I agree, he will not be the greatest pitcher who ever picked up a ball in his first year of starting at the big league level.

Does he understand that that isn’t saying anything? Of course Joba’s not going to have a .38 ERA as a starter, so what? PECOTA has him for 3.39 ERA with 1.24 WHIP in about 150 IP with 162 K. That’s pretty damn good.

And, those numbers in the PECOTA projection *are* better than Joba’s ‘07 numbers in the pen because a 3.39 ERA in 150 IP is better than a .38 ERA in 24 IP.

It’s the most important job in baseball.

No it isn’t. 

The Yankees got a kid who’s showed he can fill it.

A ”kid” who has also showed the very unique skills to ”fill” a more important/impactful position of need. 

Leave him there.

No.