If you’re a Yankees fan, you have every right to be horrified.
On one side is the shrewd, thoughtful, and, above all else, competent general manager, defending a perfectly rational decision that was made by people who know what they’re doing.
On the other side is a loud, nonsensical owner who sounds more like a Mike and the Mad Dog caller than a baseball executive. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I guess.
I used to wonder about Brian Cashman, back when the Yankees were in their Carl Pavano/Jaret Wright phase. Was it Cashman making those horrendous decisions, or was it George Steinbrenner? Would a good general manager really put his name on such obviously poor moves?
I always figured we’d have to wait until he either had another job, or wrote a book. But as fate would have it, George valued Cashman enough to give him nearly full control of baseball operations, instead of seeing him walk away at the end of the 2005 season. After years of battling, Cashman finally had his chance to steer his own ship.
Since then, he has more than proven his wares, making the roster younger and cheaper while keeping the team in baseball’s highest competitive stratum. For the first time in over a decade, the Yankees introduced a string of young, homegrown players (Robinson Cano, Chien-Ming Wang, Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy) into their regular lineup. When needed, Cashman has been able to change on the fly, as he’s proven in each of the last two seasons.
But now, just like that, it could be over.
With George on permanent sabbatical, Hank seems intent on creating unneeded tension, inevitably leading to Cashman walking out the door at the end of the season. The fact that Hank is doing so in such an obvious manner (bringing internal conflicts directly to the press, and not for the first time) is laughable, and speaks volumes about the quality of businessman that now runs the New York Yankees.
Hopefully, Brian Cashman will end up in a new job where his abilities will be fully utilized and valued. He may not be the best general manager in the game right now (there’s no way to really know, given the circumstances), but he’s certainly in the upper tier. Whoever he ends with (whether it is in baseball or something else entirely) will be lucky to have him.
Good luck to Hank finding a replacement, one that I’m sure will be more amenable to following his whims.
Feedback? Write a comment, or e-mail the author at shawn(AT)squawkingbaseball.com
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