THE CASHMAN QUESTION

Since Brian Cashman has been with the New York Yankees, there have been some pretty significant developments. The Yankees have won championships with some great pickups and have also fell short with some real flops in players like Carl Pavano. We’ve praised Cashman when things go well, but just as fast, we’re ready to turn on the guy as soon as we get a loss. One thing Cashman has never done though is second guess himself. In fact, when the promotion of Jesus Montero happened, did you notice how fast the media went into full effect giving Cashman credit for not trading off Montero, Ivan Nova and Eduardo Nunez to Seattle for Cliff Lee at the 2010 trade deadline? Read HERE.

Brian Cashman doesn’t have a contract for 2012 Ladies and Gentlemen. While we haven’t won the World Series yet, we’ve won the AL Eastern Division and Cashman deserves credit. Patience was his word of the winter and spring and bringing in players like Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and Russell Martin have proved genius. Larry Rothschild on the pitching beat was clearly a better selection than Dave Eiland too. Bob Klapisch has a stat I didn’t know. Since Rothschild has come over, there is a significant difference in ERA. “…the Yankees went from seventh to third in the American League in ERA, dropping from 4.06 to 3.66 entering Thursday.”

But let’s go deeper into something that has proven significant this season. Carl Crawford. Crawford has done absolutely bunk with the Red Sox this year and he’s getting paid a boat load of money. No one could have expected Crawford to perform this way, but remember the winter and remember how arrogant Carl Crawford was about the Yankees not signing him. Read WHY GARDNER TRUMPS CRAWFORD from February. I like Brett Gardner instead of Crawford. Bottom line, Cashman won that battle, he stuck to his guns and he didn’t cave. Yes, the Yankees have a lot of money and the Yankees can sign anyone they want. But the Yankees didn’t sign Crawford. We dodged a bullet. And in a story that came out today Cashman admits he faked wanting to sign Carl Crawford so the Red Sox would pay more. Genius. Read HERE. Cashman says:

"I actually had dinner with the agent to pretend that we were actually involved and drive the price up... The outfield wasn't an area of need, but everybody kept writing Crawford, Crawford, Crawford, Crawford. And I was like, 'I feel like we've got Carl Crawford in Brett Gardner, except he costs more than $100 million less, with less experience.' "

I love that.

How about giving Ivan Nova a shot this season. Nova’s provided surprising stability this year in the Yankees rotation. He’s matured and him being given a chance stems back to Cashman’s belief that Nova could improve. He has, and that goes back to Patience.

The point is, you can say what you want about Cashman, but some of the moves he’s made this year are dead on and he needs to come back to the New York Yankees. We need to offer him a contract, bottom line. He’s contributed to 5 championships by getting talent we needed to win. In this re-emergence of Moneyball, Cashman does it his way… Brianball.

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