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”.