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

Cashman Doing Great Job: Really???

This morning both New York dailies are praising Brian Cashman for unearthing such gems like Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Andruw Jones, Eric Chavez and Russell Martin.   Now let me be fair, I loved the Russell Martin signing.  Martin was a two-time All Star in the National League before injuries sidelined him.  By the way, he's also only 28.

I liked the signings of Jones and Chavez.  The Yanks have been notoriously weak on their bench and these two help to strengthen that and provides Joe Girardi with options.  As far as the pitchers, I had no problem with Garcia.  Having him as the number 5 starter was a decent move.  Colon?  I must admit that I am completely surprised by how well he has pitched.  One can make the argument that he is the Yankees second best pitcher.  So I guess all of that means that Cashman has done a great job.  In fact, he's proud that he has "unearthed nuggets".  Gene Michael once told Cashman that he needs to be a "prospector".

So let me see.  The Yankee rotation is Sabathia, Burnett, Colon, Garcia  and Nova.  Hardly, intimidating for a playoff series.  Maybe barely intimidating to win the AL East.  The fact of the matter is that Brian Cashman made all the wrong moves going back to the 2010 trade deadline last July.  It was then that he first got hung up over his love affair with acquiring Cliff Lee.  The Mariners stuck it to him and he then decided that he would wait for free agency.  But for a moment, what if Cashman had went after Dan Haren?  Where would the Yankees be now??  Maybe Andy Pettite stays and Cashman could still have tried to sign Lee in December.  Now how about this rotation: Sabathia, Haren, Pettite, Garcia and Nova.

To be fair, the situation with Phil Hughes could not have been predicted and certainly is unfortunate.  However, the Hughes situation shows how fragile young pitchers are in spite of all the rules that the Yankees place on their young arms.  In the end, as it stands right now, the most winningest young pitcher that the Yankees have come up with in the last 10 years has been Chien Ming Wang. 

While Cashman has "cobbled" together a rotation to keep the ship afloat, the rest of the season is one injury to an over 30-something pitcher away from being torpedoed.  The Rays are only 1 game behind and have a pitching staff that is younger and coming on.  The Red Sox are 5 games out.  The Yankees head into May having more road games than at home.  The next 30 - 45 days will give us a good picture of where they will be as we head into the summer. 

Cashman should know better than anyone that a trip to post season baseball isn't determined in April.  It's way to early to be lauding the Yankee GM.  I'll wait until October and let you know how well Cashman has done as GM.