I think that there’s a decent chance that this is Brian Cashman’s last season as Yankee GM. Actually, I think this is an inflection point, and either Cash is gone after this season, or he re-ups and we’ll have him to kick around for a LOOOOOONG time.
I know that there are some prominent annoying bloggers and writers who have spent the last few years taking shots at Cashman whenever they get the chance. These kinds of fans seem to want to see Cashman gone, never to darken Yankee-land again.
And you know what? I hope they get their wish. I think Brian Cashman is one of the smartest GMs in baseball. Is he perfect? Is he infallible? No way. Does he have a moderately long list of moves that haven’t panned out? Sure.
But given the fact that Cashman is in charge of baseball’s highest payroll, he is going to make big bets. And when you make big bets, your failures are often spectacular. Not only that, but holding the fact that the Yankees haven’t won the WS since 2000 against him, is asinine. So much of success in the postseason is luck dependant that you can’t really blame the GM for a team’s bats going to sleep for 20 innings at a time. It’s fluky by nature.
The Flip Bondy piece I linked to above mentions that the White Sox won the WS with a bunch of Yankee castoffs. I fail to see how that’s Cashman’s fault. First of all the Sox’s Championship season was the definition of a fluke. The team saw career seasons from all their starters, and almost miraculous season’s from it’s corps of relievers. Since they won the Series, what has that group of Yankee castoffs done? Not very much, 90-72 was good enough for a third place finish in 2006, and then a disaster in 2007 as they flipped the script and finished 72 and 90.
Then, Bondy goes on to say that the A’s, Jays and Cubs have squeezed some good juice out of Ted Lilly. Ok, so why is that an indictment of Cashman and not of the Yankees coaches? It doesn’t make much sense.
At the end of the day though, I kinda hope that these idiots get what they want. I hope Cash bails, and builds a respectable winning team in Washington. He has ties to the area stemming from his days at Catholic U. Meanwhile, who’s gonna run the Yankees? Who’s gonna temper Hank’s Boss Jr. inclinations? Jean Afterman? Damon Oppenheimer? Really, who are the Yankees gonna replace Cash with? You need someone who is super smart, and SABR inclined. You need someone who will not be afraid to push back on his owner(s.) You need someone who is unflappable and level headed.
As we’ve seen so far in 2008, just replacing a leader because we’re all sick of him (Joe Torre) doesn’t mean the new blood (Girardi) is gonna magically get better results. But for those who like to clamor for Cashman’s head, I hope you enjoy the post Cashman era, because it’s gonna suck.
