Posts tagged BrianCashman at FanHouse

After weighing his options, Brian Cashman decided to return to the Yankees, agreeing to a three-year extension on Tuesday. From the New York Times:

"I know I've said it before, but it's an incredible opportunity and honor to hold the title of general manager for the New York Yankees," Cashman said in a statement. "With it comes a great responsibility to ownership, the people who wear the uniform and our fan base. I've got a job to finish here. That's the bottom line.

"I consider coming off a season where we didn't reach the playoffs for the first time since 1993 as a personal challenge. I've never been one to run from a challenge, and I look forward to having the chance to go after this thing again."

I can't say I'm terribly surprised. The Yankees are the only team Cashman has ever been with, and leaving now, on the eve of opening the new stadium, would have been a difficult decision. Plus, it's not like the Yankees aren't making it worth his while -- Newsday reports that his new contract is "in the vicinity of three years and $6 million."

Does Mariano Rivera need surgery? That's the buzz in the New York Times after the closer returned to New York to undergo an MRI on his right shoulder.

There is some fear that Rivera could need arthroscopic surgery, although the procedure would be minor and would not be expected to affect him next spring.

"The only way that would happen is if tests indicate that should happen," General Manager Brian Cashman said of the surgery. "I can't say at this point."

Of course, you wouldn't know any of this if it Joe Girardi had his way. When meeting with reporters last night, Girardi steadfastly denied that Rivera had any specific pain, suggesting Rivera was returning to New York for a mere physical. Cashman's account completely contradicts Girardi's story, which apparently is becoming quite common these days. From Peter Abraham of the LoHud Yankees:

Girardi got contentious when asked about his misleading statements, slamming his fist down on his desk. It's similar to what happened earlier this season when Phil Hughes, Brian Bruney, Chien-Ming Wang, Jorge Posada and Damaso Marte got hurt. Girardi'a first inclination is to be misleading.

It has gotten to the point where team officials now apologize to reporters for the manager's actions. Nobody is sure why he does it because he gets caught every time.

Girardi had a reputation of being a straight-shooter (perhaps to a fault) before taking the Yankees job, but it's possible the glare of the Big Apple has taken its toll. He's not a rookie manager, but one year with the Marlins couldn't possibly have prepared him for the daily media onslaught he's gone through in New York. Here's to hoping Rivera checks out clean this weekend and Girardi starts coming clean going forward.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman's future has been a topic of discussion all year, but now that the Yankees have officially been eliminated, Hank and Hal Steinbrenner want to know his intentions now. Technically, Cashman's current deal doesn't expire until the end of the October, but Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman said the Steinbrenner Bros. want to know Cashman's intentions by next week.

Most baseball people believe that for a variety of reasons, including an excellent working relationship with Hank Steinbrenner's younger, quieter brother Hal, Cashman will choose to return to the job he's held for 11 years. Cashman is expected to give both Steinbrenners his answer as early as next Monday or Tuesday. Negotiations on his new deal would begin the moment Cashman provides the go-ahead and are not expected to take long.

The Steinbrenner Bros. have made it clear that they'd love to bring Cashman back, and simply because of the market you'd have to imagine they'd be willing to make him the highest-paid GM in the game. Even so, Heyman suggests that Cashman might be intrigued by potential front-office openings in Seattle, Philadelphia and maybe even Washington. (Really? He'd jump from the spend-happy Yankees to the thrifty Nationals? Talk about a culture shock.)

No other team can offer the resources for Cashman to do his job like the Yankees can, but in turn he must deal with extremely high expectations. My hunch is that Cashman stays, but only with assurances that Hal will keep Hank in check and allow Cashman to do his job without meddling from the top. Whether that's a concession Hank would actually agree to remains to be seen.

The final week of the 2008 season has been one long requiem for all things Yankee. On Sunday, Yankee Stadium closed it doors after 85 years. Two days later, the second longest string of postseason appearances was officially snapped. The eulogies have been written, but the game presses on.

Five days from now, the Yankees will finish their final game of the season at Fenway Park and they hurtle headlong into an offseason of transition the likes of which hasn't been seen in the Bronx in more than a decade. Moving across the street might be one of the smaller changes.

It's clear that the Yankees have fallen a step behind their hated rivals to the north. But they've also fallen behind the Rays and the Blue Jays and Orioles are improving rapidly. A massive payroll just isn't good enough on its own anymore.

That's a lesson the Red Sox learned back in 2006. Boston wilted down the stretch under the weight of injuries to Jason Varitek, Manny Ramirez and Coco Crisp and a woeful pitching staff and ended up winning a disappointing 86 games. That Red Sox team let Mark Loretta, Alex Gonzalez and Trot Nixon walk and replaced them with a prospect named Dustin Pedroia and free agents Julio Lugo and J.D. Drew.

This Yankees team never really got going because of significant injuries to Jorge Posada and Chien-Ming Wang and a patchwork pitching staff. It will probably wind up with a win total in the high 80s. It will let Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi walk this winter, and possibly Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina as well.

So what now? Given all the similarities, can the Yankees get back to the playoffs and beyond in 2009 as the Red Sox did last year?

If the season ended today, the Yankees would finish fourth in the AL East. Not surprisingly, Hank Steinbrenner isn't happy. What's his solution? Trampling all over his general manager's turf. From the Bergen Record:

"Suffice to say, there's not going to be any more, on my part, of trying to keep everybody happy. If I want somebody, I'm going to go after him," Steinbrenner told The Record by phone [Thursday] afternoon.

Not content merely promising to second-guess his general manager in the future, he also threw Brian Cashman under the bus for the team's current failures. From the New York Post:

"We're going to have to look at what has been done wrong over the last five years, which I've had one year to try and figure out," Steinbrenner said. "Clearly, a lot of mistakes were made. I'm going to be reviewing the entire organization. We're going to do everything we can to win next year."

Cashman's contract expires at the end of the season, and as recent as last week, reports citing unnamed "MLB sources" indicated that the Steinbrenners wanted him back. Were those reports premature? Because if that's really the case, Hank has a lot to learn about the art of persuasion. I'd be surprised to see Cashman walk away months before the debut of the new stadium, but I'd understand if he's at least tempted to look around before signing away his sanity to work for such an impulsive, overbearing boss.

When the Yankees are officially eliminated from the playoffs in a few weeks, there's going to be a lot of blame going around. Fans will blame Alex Rodriguez for never coming through in the clutch, Brian Cashman for never making the deal for Johan Santana, and Hank Steinbrenner for forcing Joe Girardi to move Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation.

They'll also be blaming the Rays and Red Sox for having superior teams. Still, there's one person who probably deserves more credit for the Yankees demise than anybody else, it's just that most Yankees fans probably don't even realize it. That man is President of the United States, George Bush.

Are Yankees fans also Barack Obama supporters? The Yankees have won eight world championships during Democratic administrations in the past 50 years but haven't won a title with a Republican in office since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958. Since then, the Yankees have won titles during the terms of John F. Kennedy (1961-62), Jimmy Carter (1977-78) and Bill Clinton (1996, 1998-2000).

The Rocky Mountain News' Tracy Ringolsby also digs a little further and notices that the Red Sox haven't won a World Series with a Democrat in office since Woodrow Wilson in 1918. So it looks like Yankees fans will have a lot easier time figuring out who to vote for this November than I am.

With the Yankees in serious danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993, and general manager Brian Cashman in the final year of a three-year deal, there's been a lot of speculation that Cashman won't be returning to the Bronx next season. With both the Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies expected to be looking for new general managers this offseason, Cashman's name has been mentioned as a possible replacement there, and possibly even Washington should the Nationals can Jim Bowden.

Of course, none of that will matter if this report out of the New York Post is true. Turns out that even though the Yankees aren't going to make the playoffs, both Hal and Hank Steinbrenner want him back next season.

According to a MLB source, the Steinbrenner family has decided Cashman is the man to lead the organization back from a nightmarish season that will end with the Yankees missing playoffs for the first time since 1993.

Cashman, who last week shouldered the blame for the dismal season, met with Hal and Hank yesterday at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. No contract offer was made but, according to the source, Cashman is aware of the Steinbrenners' wishes.

I would hope Cashman was aware of their wishes, I mean, it's not like the Steinbrenner family has ever been shy when it comes to expressing their feelings.

If you're a baseball fan who likes surprises, then the 2008 season has been a special treat. The Rays are the most notable team that has exceeded expectations, but the Twins, White Sox and Marlins are also surprise contenders.

Of course, those pleasant surprises have come at the expense of several clubs expected to be much better this season. Whether because of a big free-agent signing last winter, a deep October run last season or the (hint, hint) crushing burden of a massive payroll, the baseball landscape is littered with flops as August comes to a close.

The following is a countdown of the seven most disappointing teams this season.

7. Padres: Mired in last place in the abysmal NL West, it's easy to forget that this team won 89 games last year and was a (phantom?) Matt Holliday slide away from a playoff spot. Even when they were winning division titles, the Padres operated on a thin margin. Injuries and underperformance are at the root of their struggles.

Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Brian Giles are the only offensive regulars who have played more than 100 games. Ace Jake Peavy spent a month on the disabled list, while No. 2 starter Chris Young has made only 13 starts. Veteran closer Trevor Hoffman has also been extremely shaky.

My colleague Andrew Johnson dubbed the Mariners one of his losers of the trade deadline, and I couldn't agree more. The Mariners are challenging the Nationals for the worst record in the league, and although they managed to pull one minor deal (sending Arthur Rhodes to the Marlins), they sat on their hands when they could have dumped a lot of salary -- and make no mistake, there were teams calling trying to get a deal done. From Joel Sherman of the New York Post:

And talks had remained all but non-existent as the deadline neared between the Yanks and Mariners about Jarrod Washburn. [...] Yankee GM Brian Cashman had talked with Lee Pelekoudas, the Mariners' interim GM, in recent days to try to mend fences. The Mariners were angry that discussions on this front had leaked into the media and the perception had formed that the Yanks would be fleecing Seattle. What the Yanks have tried to stress to the Mariners is that absorbing $14 million is a big return for a rebuilding team such as the Mariners.

Washburn is the epitome of a back of the rotation pitcher -- on a good year he might be worthy of being a No. 3 pitcher on a good team, but by and large his numbers usually hover just below the league average. And for that the Mariners are paying him $9.8 million this year and $10.3 million next. Awesome.

Take a deep breath, baseball fans. The dust has settled after another trading deadline, and what a deadline it was. Three future Hall of Famers were moved. So was a reigning Cy Young winner and two former All-Stars. And we haven't talked about Rich Harden yet. Undoubtedly, 2008 was the most entertaining trading season in recent memory for baseball fans.


Truth be told, it will take years before we know who helped themselves or hurt themselves at the 2008 trade deadline. That's just the way it is when boom-or-bust prospects are involved. But here's an educated (and roughly ordered) guess anyway at which teams won and which teams lost now that the July 31 deadline has come and gone.

Winners

Angels: With a double-digit lead in the AL West, the Angels didn't need to do anything to get to October. They went out and got slugging first baseman Mark Teixeira anyway, and it's nothing short of a coup. For all the praise heaped upon Mike Scioscia's throwback run-at-all costs strategy, it hasn't done much for Los Angeles in the postseason. The Halos have scored 17 runs in their last eight postseason games dating back to 2005, and they don't have single regular slugging over .500 this year. They needed a bat to go all the way in October, and that's just what they got in Teixeira.