All right, the guy has a lot of feet. But the mound is where he has really excelled, year after year, in overlooking, underpaying, giving away, and screwing up. To wit:
Yoshinobu Yamamoto—Early this season, it looked like Cashie just might get lucky, as the admiral of the Western Sea looked scared stiff to be in the show.
But...he now appears to be every bit as good as advertised, off to a 6-2, 2.92 start, as the Dodgers carefully nursed him along (something your New York Yankees just don't do.) Looks now like the Bums have hold of a rotation mainstay for the next 10 years.
Of course, the Yankees’ big offer was just more Cashmanic gamesmanship, carefully calculated to finish a weak third in the bidding for the free agent. Would have been very embarrassing if Yamamoto had said, “Hell, yes, I live for Broadway shows!” and accepted…
Blake Snell—…almost as embarrassing as it must’ve been telling Blake Snell that the Yanks’ offer to him was no more than Monopoly money, after Snell's other suitors never materialized. Blake’s cruel spring has left him useless this year. Will he remain that way—or revert to the two-time, two-league Cy Young winner he was? Hard to say—he was never someone I was very high on—but I wouldn’t bet against him being better than Rodon or Stroman before all is said and done.
Shota Imanaga—What a delightful spirit! And with the nickname of, “The Throwing Philosopher”! Off to an 8-2, 2.97 start in Wrigley Field. This was the Poor Man’s Yamamoto—$22.5 mill for 2 years guaranteed, then another $30 mill in player options for the next two seasons. But, you know, Hal is SO poor these days, no could do.
Jordan Montgomery—No, no, no, no! No way a Cashman mistake can ever be admitted—particularly when it comes to the man who might have saved the 2022 season. Monty has certainly looked awful after missing his spring training—6-5, 6.44—but give him time. Meanwhile, his 2-0, 1.29 pitching against Houston in the ALCS last year got the Rangers into the World Series, when Monty won one more ring than any present member of your New York Yankees. But hey, we did get Harrison Bader...
Chris Sale—"Slowly I turn to you..." After outbidding the Yanks for Yoan Moncada, the BoSox turned him into Sale, who won a Series for Boston in 2018—and might well have done the same for us in 2017. Years lost to injuries followed...but now he's back, 13-3 with Atlanta, and an NL-leading 2.70 ERA.
Michael King—Now we get into more of the dubious deals. King has pitched well as a starter down in San Diego, going 7-6, 3.41 so far. But think of how much more valuable he could be anchoring our awful bullpen.
But hey, you gotta give up something to get Juan Soto. Right? Well, maybe not—or at least, maybe not the four pitchers the Yankees surrendered for him. (Another one was Drew Thorpe, now 3-1, 3.58 in Chicago, who the Padres bundled to get Dylan Cease.) Might someone such as, I dunno, Gleyber Torres sufficed instead, back in 2022? Which would have maybe got us over the top that year?
Who can say? But giving up four young arms only made sense if the Bronx team was going to re-sign Soto. And sadly, they will not.
Josh Hader—I forget all the names Brian Cashman was saying he was going to sign when he was talking about “supercharging” the bullpen (I bet Brian has forgotten them, too.). But Hader was the one that stood out.
I know, it was a helluva risk by Houston, signing a 30-year-old reliever to a five-year deal for $95 mill. But somehow, the risks Brian Cashman refuses to take are always surpassed by the risks he then creates. Which is riskier? Paying too much for Hader? Or going without a bullpen? After an atrocious start, Hader now has 18 saves. Imagine what he could do for us down the stretch.
Prediction: Hader will be in a World Series before the Yankees are.
Luis Severino—Hard to blame the Yanks for finally giving up on Setback Sevvy. But…wouldn’t he be a nice addition to our pen now? And to not give him some, minimal contract after all the time and money already invested…Also, yet again, another team’s (the Mets') coaches and trainers seem to have succeed where ours did not.
Sonny Gray—No, I didn’t like him, and no, I don’t miss him.
But what was absolutely nuts was that Cashman compounded picking him over Justin Verlander in 2017...with getting absolutely nothing for him when he traded him on in 2019. Gray has been a serviceable, No. 3-level starter for three different teams since then. What a waste—and how typical.
Aroldis Chapman—No, I don't miss ol' Sweats. But I DO miss the 22-year-old, 105-mph "Cuban Missile," who ran up 546 strikeouts in 319 innings, a 2.17 ERA, and who saved 146 games for Cincinnati, before he turned into Machine Gun Kelly.
Food Stamps Hal was beat out by a Reds team that offered $30.25 million for six years, plus a $10.25 mill bonus. All that lost us was perhaps another 3 rings, 2010-2012.
The Altercockers Gallery—Sure, neither Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, nor Charlie Morton are exactly flourishing elsewhere, with arms that are all past 40—or getting there. But they’re doing all right, with some remaining potential to do something down the stretch.
The Yanks passed on numerous chances to pick up all of them…and instead watched them win slew of division titles, a bunch of pennants, and a total of six rings for other teams.
But hey, why worry about that now? I hear that Scott Effross might come bbackk!
Cashman can't judge pitchers. Never could. But as you said, he's pretty bad at every other position, too. So he's consistent. Always terrible.
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