He's a prince.

 

In case there was any doubt, Brian Cashman proved yesterday that he was, indeed, the Machiavelli of the front office.

Don’t put baby in a corner. Facing what promised to be the most desperate day of his (apparently endless) Yankees career, a 9/9 Old Timers’ Game featuring Derek Jeter and the entire, 1998,Greatest Team That Ever Was, complete with endless choruses of “Fi-re Cash-man” and “Hi-re Jet-er”…The Brain got going.

Cashman’s “solution” was what we have seen this week: throwing the kids into the breech. Up comes Everson Pereira, Austin Wells—and even The Martian. Hell, before it’s all over, we might even see Estevan Florial released from Scranton, like some show-trialed Soviet general brought back from the gulag by Stalin when the Wehrmacht was closing on Moscow.

Should the kids be brought up now? I dunno.

I tend to agree with Doug that it’s better now than later, especially considering how expert Cashie’s little analytic minions are at wrecking young ballplayers. If they’re flash-in-the-pans, better they flash up in the Bronx than in Dunder Mifflin land.

But how can we really know? After all, less than two months ago, The Martian was flailing at Double-A pitching. Is he really ready for the majors? Or will a premature promotion kill his confidence, and permanently hobble him?

We’ll find out. But what we already know is what a cynical, self-centered individual Brian Cashman is. 

I’m not just talking his usual incompetence at baseball. I mean that he stands revealed once again as a bad guy and all-around schmuck.

The promotions of Pereira, Wells, and Marvin Martian have nothing to do with whether they’re ready or not. They have to do with Brian Cashman doing everything he can to ensure that that 9/9 crowd is inclined to be happily cheering the future on—rather than calling for his head.  

Will he get away with it?  Most likely.  If, by chance, any of the rooks hit a home run or even a solid fly ball, the Knights of the Press Box will write about how sunny the future looks, and how Cashman is about to launch a whole new dynasty, just like the one he inheritedmade.  

I’m sure Hal, at least, will believe them.