tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

More Deception From Cashman

Yesterday, a report from Tampa said that Yankee GM Brian Cashman will be dropping out of an Army airplane continuing his role as the daredevil general manager of major league baseball. The day before Cashman did some more dropping as he told the media that the Yankees have made a substantial offer to Robbie Cano. Cashman then caught himself and said he thought he was just repeating what Hal Steinbrenner had said earlier. Really??

Cano is represented by Scott Boras and the super-agent did not confirm Cashman's assertion which leads one to believe that the Yankees were playing the PR game. You see, the Yankees have made it their team policy not to negotiate during the season. They held this policy with such Yankee icons as Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams. They also did not negotiate before Alex Rodriguez's contract expired. Cashman will tell you that said policy isn't written in stone and any organization can decide to change.

While that may be true, this whole orchestrated announcement by Cashman reeks of trying to paint the Yankees in a positive light to the fan base. You see when contract negotiations stall, the Yankees will be able to say, "see we told you we made a substantial offer. It's that damn Boras being greedy." I'm one Yankee fan who won't buy it.

I have been complaining for awhile now that all I want is for the Yankees to be upfront and honest. If it is true that Hal wants to get the payroll down to $189 million by 2014, then they should also tell us that they are committed to a rebuilding process. From where I sit, you can't sign late 30-somethings to one or 2 year contracts and expect to continue to contend for a title. It would make more sense to let some kids play and see what they can do. While it's true that the Yankees best prospects are probably 2-3 years away, there are kids like Zolio Almonte, Ronnier Mustelier or Melky Mesa. Let them play as opposed to Matt Diaz or Juan Rivera. The results in the standings probably won't be that much different. In fact, they might be surprised that they could find a potential starter.

The problem with what I'm suggesting is that the Yankees fear that the fan base won't buy into it. Less people in the stadium. Ratings for YES would fall. That's why they re-sign Ichiro to a two year contract. That's why they sign Kevin Youkilis and Travis Hafner. You see the Yankees need the names to provide false hope. After all, the Yankee mantra is that if they don't win the World Series then the season is a failure. This was created by the Yankees and the fan base has bought into it hook, line and sinker.