Yep. Fee-ASS-coe. For now, no other word - well, debacle? - describes it. In another era, somebody would get fired.
Hold your nose and look at the step-by-step way that we have
assembled a mediocre rotation. Yes, it’s only April, but these winter moves look
like the Lance Berkman trade on steroids.
1. We
sign Freddy Garcia for – OMG - $4 million. Thus far, a John Carter/Ishtar disaster.
Money down the drain.
2. We
sign Hiroki Kuroda for – OMG - $10 million. Thus far, the reincarnation of AJ
Burnett. Hot and cold. Not worth the money.
3. We
piss away a great young hitter and pitcher – Montero and Hector Noesi - for,
well, right now… nothing. Nada. Zilch. A
fat guy who threw hard last spring, and who may never be the same. Oh, and a
Single A prospect! Golly Moses, Yankee blogosphere, let’s cheer his nightly performances
at Charleston, as we did with the Killer Bees! Whoopteeedoooo!
4. We
give away AJ Burnett for – OMG – the $4 million we spent for Freddy Garcia. (Plus
a plate of fried chicken.) Of course, we laughed when AJ hurt himself in a bunting
drill – which wouldn’t have happened in Tampa. Thus, we don’t have to watch him
excel in Pittsburgh. And we can always dust off the old “couldn’t pitch in the
AL East” line, our all-purpose excuse for trades that barf.
Awww, it just gets worse. Bartolo Colon is
throwing shutouts in Oakland. The Betances/Baneulos bus fell apart on the NYS
Thruway. We’re signing scrapheap Figuroas – hey, is Sidney Ponson throwing? - and in a few weeks, we went from seven
starters to desperately needing Andy Pettitte – and it’s still a stretch to imagine
him the same pitcher he was in 2010.
Listen: This season hinged on that
Montero-Pineda trade being – at least – a fair deal. We didn’t need to take
Seattle. We just needed a deal that helped both teams. Now, it’s a blowout. And
with Pineda gone – and why should we feel hope? – mark it as a colossal
fiasco, the biggest in the last 10 years. In another era, somebody would fry. I
don’t want such a fate for Cashman. But it’s his legacy, and I wonder if it
will ever recover.
I truly believe the worst off-season move of all was not signing, or even going after, C.J. Wilson. Lefty, not too many innings on his arm, proven American League starter, past postseason success. What's the problem?
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