Apparently, Johnny Damon was playing hard-to-get with Brian Cashman.
Nobody does that to Brian Cashman. Nobody.
Cash dialed up Nick Johnson, they dated, whirlwind courtship, proposal. Now, all Nick has to do is turn his head and cough.
Damon deserved better.
A little history here...
Last time Cash quick-pitched a Yankee stallwart out of New York was Mike Stanton, our LH bullpen bulldog during the years of glory and Torre. It was winter 2002-03, Stanton -- then 35 -- was coming off a 7-1 season with 3.00 ERA, looking for a three-year deal to feed his family through retirement.
Cash gave a weekend ultimatum, which Stanton didn't take seriously. BAM.
We woke up to find Cash had signed Chris Hammond, the man with the change-up (also 35), and Stanton was gone.
Remember Chris Hammond? He lasted one year.
Trouble was, we had no bullpen lefty. So what happened? Randy Choate happened. Then Gabe White happened, then Jesse Orosco... Donovan Osborne... CJ Nitkowski... Alex Graman... Buddy Groom... Alan Embree... Sean Henn... Wayne Franklin... Darrell May...
And in 2005 -- with all options in tatters -- we frickin' resigned Mike Stanton!
Of course, it was too late. Then came Ron Villone... Mike Meyers... Matt Smith... Billy Traber... Phil Coke (now departed) and we ended up trading Jose Tabata -- our best position prospect -- for Damaso Marte, the mysterious 2009 Great Pumpkin.
The money we saved by fast-tracking Stanton? Ridiculous! We poured money like gasoline on our lefty problem for eight years.
Now... I know what you're thinking... Stanton couldn't hold up for three years; we had to make a move...
I'm just offering this as the moral -- take it or leave it.
Be careful before you run a Yankee great out of New York, because replacing him will be tougher than you think.
You think Andy Pettitte would disagree?
THOSE WHO DO NOT REMEMBER HISTORY... ARE MET FANS.
Amen to everything you just said...and add Felix Heredia to that list of shitty lefty relievers too.
ReplyDeleteAn awesome recounting of a slice of Yankee history.
ReplyDeleteI looked up Gabe White - a then 32-year old lefty who pitched in 33 games in pinstripes during the 2003-4 seasons to an 6.82 ERA. Ew!
And you're about to award Cashman the YODA for Yankee Executive of the Decade. Perhaps there should be an asterisk on the certificate.
The two situations aren’t exactly the same: Damon and Boras had the chance to negotiate and got greedy: the amount of money and time they were asking for was ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteStanton was never even given the option to negotiate. After promising all season that they’d do right by him, the Yankees gave him just 15 minutes to decide on a low-ball, take-it-or-leave-it offer. Stanton had done nothing to deserve a pay cut, and he’d done nothing to deserve the kind of treatment he got.
And IMO, Stanton’s contributions far outweighed what Damon’s did (especially in terms of number of Championships won). In eight years, he’s never been adequately replaced; I think Damon can be.
We should have never let Babe Ruth retire. Anyone got a shovel? GIVE HIM WHATEVER HE WANTS CASHMAN
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