YANKS SIGN MASAHIRO TANAKA

Banzai, Banzai, Banzai / 万歳, 万歳, 万歳 / Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah

 
Finally, the NYY fans have some very hopeful news as the New York Yankees signed Masahiro Tanaka this past week.  The acquisition offers two major positives:  pitching and no more restricted spending for the upcoming season.  We now potentially have a number one or two starting pitcher to help boost a not-so-old starting rotation.  Furthermore, the whole attempt for luxury tax savings for 2013-2014 has officially ended as the $155 million contract for seven years (with an annual average of $22 million for the first 6 years and the final year amounting to $23 million) clearly hits the ball out of the park for this upcoming season’s tax restriction goal.

Of course, NYY fans can’t help but reflect upon the pain still lingering from our past non-MLB experienced Japanese pitching acquisitions - Kei Igawa and the late Hideki Irabu; but, the Yanks have revamped their whole Japanese (and overall) international scouting system since those baseball “errors” and have also added many more scouts to offer multiple opinions to help offer variant analyses.  Plus, we’re not the only ones who feel strong about Tanaka’s potential - although we’re the only ones who have fully scouted him for seven years!  There were allegedly many teams that bid the mandated $20 million fee to negotiate with Tanaka.  If this signing somehow (although doubtful) doesn’t amount to a successful signing, the other teams would be hypocritical to point their fingers at the Yankees, especially the Dodgers, Cubs, and Diamondbacks, who each supposedly offered contracts similar enough to what the Yankees proposed.

Additionally, Tanaka’s signing didn’t cost the Yankees any draft picks or require them to lose any players in a trade.   For the Yankees, it just cost them money, which is something that’s never been an obstacle during the Steinbrenner era.  I happily state “never” because this transaction clearly proves that the young Steinbrenners have definitively demonstrated what they’ve stated all along - they will continue building the team with the desire their father had - to win at all costs.

So, as we continue to anticipate this upcoming season with a lot of new key players added to our roster, we now have further hope of at least making the playoffs, with a lot of finger-crossing for health this year.  We also still have to continue waiting  a little longer to see the final 2014 season blueprint for our weak infield and weakened bullpen, both of  which Brian Cashman has already acknowledged.  Thus, time will eventually show us a clearer picture in each of those areas, too.

For now, it’s exciting to know we have added another huge piece to the puzzle - a young, 25-year-old phenom from Japan with a superb split-finger fastball and an excellent slider.  If he can initially convert his overly impressive Japanese League record of 24-0/1.27 ERA into at least 16 wins and an ERA below 3.50 during his first MLB season, then we will have enough ace-like pitching hope for years to come.  Banzai, Banzai, Banzai!!!

THE A-ROD SOAP OPERA SAGA

Are there many level-headed Yankees’ fans out there that are not relieved that A-Rod will not be playing in 2014 (barring a very unlikely Federal Court decision, based on the official MLB/Players Association's Collective Bargaining Arbitration Hearing)?  I, for one, am soooooo tired of all of this!!! 

For years, I have tried to respect his past abilities.  He, like Barry Bonds, was a superstar that never needed to cheat to achieve a great career.  Players like Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa apparently chose to cheat to become undeserving superstars during their final years, while A-Rod, and Bonds apparently chose to cheat to remain superstars during their final years.

Here are the numbers surrounding today’s outcome:

162 games (full 2014 season) suspension (reduced from 211 games originally suspended)

$22,131,148 salary suspension for A-Rod / savings for Yankees during the 2014 season

$6,000,000 additional savings for the Yankees during the 2014 season (assuming A-Rod would have hit 6 homers to attain a career total of 660 homers) activating a contracted bonus

Although, in this country, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, it is evident (for those who have paid attention to the MLB’s Players Association since their existence) that the union has persistently fought and stood by all of their accused players...until they saw the evidence against A-Rod!  That, in itself, is beyond the obvious.  Hence, there's enough for me to believe since I am not privy to the supposed confidential evidence.

 
Now, once again, we have another major step taken towards helping us evaluate the Yankees’ spending and possible attainment of the avoidance of the 2014 luxury tax penalty for exceeding $189 million.  Our next analysis will have to wait until the Tanaka outcome.  Will he sign with the Yankees or one of the many other MLB teams that have bid for his services?  If he does sign with the Yankees, will the Yankees have any leftover money?  If he doesn’t sign, will the Yankees try to contract one or more of the remaining free agents?

There are so many questions that I can’t wait to see answered during the upcoming week/months for this crazy offseason!  I believe that the failed television soap opera writers and the Soap Network should have followed the Yankees’ scripts over the years.  Perhaps, then, they'd both still be in business.  At least we know ratings and bottom-line dollars are drawn to the unscripted Yankees and, for the last decade, A-Rod.  Stay tuned for more episodes!

BRIAN CASHMAN'S FAULT

Brian Cashman was named Senior Vice-President (SVP) and General Manager (GM) of the New York Yankees back in 1998 and continues to service both of those roles.  For a very long time I have supported and continue to support most of the related transactions Brian Cashman has made during that span; however, I have one major issue related to his GM responsibilities which I will divulge that later in this blogged article.

I'd first like to begin, though, by evaluating the standard performance of today’s GMs in MLB.  Obviously, no GM can claim perfection any more than any of us can for our own professional responsibilities.  Even the supposedly best GMs rarely achieve a credible success rate regarding either player transactions or team wins that are essentially attributed to them.  A prime example would be the recently famous GM from the Oakland A’s, Billy Beane.  He gained his fame from the book and movie, "Money Ball".  Both illustrate Billy Beane as a brilliant GM who has figured out the best strategies to win without too much money to spend.  Yet, if you really examine his record and you believe (like most Yankees’ fans) that the ultimate goal is winning a World Series, then you will recognize that Billy Beane has never accomplished the ultimate prize - making him a failure under those expectations.

Of course, achieving a World Series with very little money to spend in comparison to higher market teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and even the cheap Wilpon-owned Mets is not an easy accomplishment; however, the Florida Marlins have proven to be better with the same financial restraints.  While they were only formed in 1993 (7 years prior to Beane's management of the A's), they've achieved 2 championships (1997 & 2003) – which is, by the way, the same amount of championships the New York market Mets have won in their 52 seasons of existence!  So, although the A's have successfully made it to the AL Division Playoffs five times during Billy Beane’s current 14-year tenure, they've also failed to win any of the five AL Division Playoffs!  Again, not many general managers have true success, not even the famous ones.

As for Brian Cashman, I feel he qualifies as one of the best-proven GMs, even though he has the financial advantage by his side.  The aforementioned high-salaried Yankees have won 4 World Series titles with him enacting his GM responsibilities.  Aside from having a lot of money at his disposal, Brian has also helped build winning teams through talent retention and overall smart free-agent signings.  For retention, he’s fought to keep players such as Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, and Jorge Posada.  For some smart free agent signings, he’s helped persuade the Steinbrenners to offer competitive deals to some key free agents that have helped the Yankees win championships.  Such free agents include “El” Duque, David Wells, Johnny Damon, Tino Martinez, Hideki Matsui, Raul Ibanez, Hiroki Kuroda, Russell Martin, Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, and Nick Swisher.  Of course, he’s also signed some free agents that most Yankees’ fans cringe over, such as Carl Pavano and A.J. Burnett, just to name two.

Other teams have failed to attain championships with decent money to spend, perhaps because they don’t have the same (overall) successful wit and shrewdness as Brian Cashman.  Such examples include the Atlanta Braves who only achieved one championship since 1958 and even the pre-Cashman Yankees of the 1980’s, who failed to win any championships.  So bravo to Brian’s key contributions, which I feel should certainly be considered a contributing factor to the Yankees’ last four championships. 

Well, now that I've ranked on Billy Beane, added some sarcastic remarks about the Mets as I “sometimes” do, and given decent credit to Brian Cashman, I'll continue onto my main concerning criticism of Brian Cashman:

While his trading skills have mostly been weak, I feel that his largest detriment as a general manager revolves around his stubbornness towards expiring player contracts.  Now, I'm not complaining about any of the lengthy contracts because most players can be traded in their later years to lessen some of the whole spend anyway (such as the Tigers' Prince Fielder).  I'm also not complaining about A-Rod's ridiculous contract because that was all "Hank" Steinbrenner's doing.  My major gripe is that Cashman stubbornly avoids contract extensions to players already wearing pinstripes!  He has even rolled the dice by allowing the contracts of Yankees’ greats like Mariano, Jeter, and Pettitte expire more than once.  Thankfully, Mariano and Jeter have always proven their loyalty to remaining a Yankee, even while other teams have been known to make higher or lengthier contract offers.  Yankees’ fans are also grateful that Andy Pettitte came back after Brian’s first contract debacle convinced Pettitte to leave for Houston.

This year, with Cano reaching free agency, Cashman's failure to negotiate contracts a year or two prior to their expiration was magnified.  Cano would not have had any conversation with the Mariners if Cashman had offered a true extension before last season even began.  There’s going to be another Cano instance if Cashman doesn’t change his contract strategies for quality-proven players already wearing pinstripes.  I have cringed way too many times over the last 16 seasons whenever such players have gotten to free agency; it’s too risky!  The Steinbrenners need to recognize Cashman's main weakness and correct it.  Maybe Brian can even recognize and fix it on his own.  In either case, it's time to sign these critical players to contracts before other teams get a chance to make offers.  Let's sign David Robertson and, if they're not trading him before the 2014 season begins, also Brett Gardner.  Otherwise, it will once again be “BRIAN CASHMAN’S FAULT”.