Kudos go out to Brian Cashman for his tireless work in last night's big Yankee win* over the A's.
He laid the groundwork two winters ago, signing Carlos Beltran to a three-year deal. The Belt Man, who is slowly salvaging his season, won last night's game with a clutch two-run HR, his fourth of the year. Carlos is now batting .246, up about 80 points over a month ago. Watch out, .260!
Also, Chasen Shreve retired four A's batters to get the big Yankee win.* We can whine about Cashman's trade of Manny Banuelos to Atlanta for Shreve and David "Karen" Carpenter, but the plan sure worked last night. Maybe Shreve can serve as the third cog in our once highly touted bullpen - after Betances and Miller - to actually pitch decently, rather than be viewed as the "Richard" of the Carpenter trade.
Oh, and let's note that Shane Greene, the young stud who Cashman traded to Detroit for Didi Gregorious, (still stuck at .211) didn't last through Inning No. 2 last night against the Angels: He gave up 7 runs on 8 hits. After starting the season with two Cy Young outings, Greene's ERA is now floating around 5.19. Nathan Evaldi - whom Cashman basically used to replace Greene - is trending as an improvement. (Though Martin Prado, who went over in the Evaldi deal, is hitting .280; that's about 100 points over Stephen Drew, Cashman's signature acquisition at 2B.)
Of course, the real thanks should go out to our good friend in Boston, GM Ben Cherington, who has messed up the Redsocks beyond recognition, at least for now. It's a bit unnerving to see that Boston, after all its acrimony and malfeasance, remains only 4 games behind the Yankees, the lone team in the AL East with a record over .500.
Who knows? Maybe we can split the series with the AL's worst team. Either way, kudos to Cash. Last night, he did the job.
*Every Yankee win is a big Yankee win.
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