Cashman must absolutely despise Sonny Gray

Here's something you don't see every day, Chauncey: Cooperstown Cashman publicly outlining a future trade. 

In fact, if there was a "Cashman Rule" for our tight-lipped, Hall of Fame-bound super GM, it would be that he never, ever, discloses Yankee plans before they've been enacted. There's no benefit. Over the years, if rumors linked us to Dopey Dildox, you could almost bet we'd sign Filthy McNasty. Misdirection of the Gammonites has been Cash's "thing," his "groove," his "signature move..." and yet...

Lately, the nut graf in Cashman's winter 2018 road show - after saying the Yankees haven't decided on this guy, and won't talk about that guy, and might chase him, or maybe somebody else, because they don't talk about this in public... and oh! by the way! we're trading that mutherfucking Sonny Gray!


“We are going to move him if we get the right deal because I don’t think it is going to work out in The Bronx,” Cashman told me [NY Post] Monday at the GM Meetings. “I don’t feel like we can go through the same exercise and expect different results.”

Thus far, this is Cashman's winter agenda: Give lifetime achievement contracts to to CC Sabathia and Brett Gardner, keep Jacoby Ellsbury in the witness protection program, clean the garage, lose 20 pounds, figure out Snapchat... and trade that mutherfucking Sonny Gray.

Strange, but when Carl Pavano reigned as the Yankee Great Mistake, I don't recall Cash announcing that he was a goner. Nor did Kei Igawa ever win that sad distinction. Moreover, Cashman shows Jesus-like compassion in forgiving Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird for 2018, when neither performed much better than Runny Sonny. And really... does it improve one's bargaining position to state flatly that you intend to move a player, that he's done in New York?

My guess: Gray is a walking reminder of Cashman's greatest flaw as a GM: His weakness in acquiring future aces - so-called "power arms" - to lead the Yankees. Over the years, Cashman has actually done quite well in trading for position players - (think: Didi, Aaron Hicks, Luke Voit.) But when you look at starting rotations, from Javier Vasquez to Jeff Weaver, from Michael Pineda to Mr. Sonny, his track record goes off the rails. (In fact, yesterday Cash was defending his failure to land Chris Sales, when the White Sox were dangling him, saying Chicago wanted the likes of Sevy and Judge. But somehow, Boston figured out how to do it without losing Benintendi or Devers, or even Rodriguez or Jackie Jr. And that's why they are still partying.)

And here's our dilemma: This is the winter when Cashman must sign at least two more "power arms." So how will he blow it this time? Will he trade a hay wagon full of prospects for another Pine Tar Pinata? Or sign another Pavano? Whatever he does, he better not fail. 

And if a deal goes south, the last thing Cashman needs is a walking reminder of his dismal past. So... so long, Sonny. It's not that you were certifiably awful. And it's not that you're done. It's just what you represent. And on the Yankees, that's something you do see almost every day, Chauncey.