Bad trades are part of baseball, right? Same with slumps. They just happen. 
Well, Brian Cashman is in a slump. A trade slump, that is. Unless he snaps out, the '23 Yankees are in trouble.
Cashman's last successful trade - (discounting, say, last year's late summer acquisition of Tyler Wade for cash) - came in mid-2021. That July, the future Hall of Famer pried Clay Holmes from Pittsburgh for Diego Castillo and Hoy Park. (Castillo is now a Diamondback; Park now a Brave.)
Since then, Cashman is 0 for 6 - maybe 7, depending on the fate of Lucas Luetge.
Here's the ledger. Read while sitting, preferably on a water closet.
July 2021: Andrew Heaney from Angels for Elvis Pequero and Janson Junk.
July 2021: Joey Gallo from Rangers for Ezequiel Duran, Trevor Hauver, Josh Smith and Glen Otto.
July 2021: Joey Gallo from Rangers for Ezequiel Duran, Trevor Hauver, Josh Smith and Glen Otto.
January 2022: Josh Donaldson and Ben Rortvedt from Twins for Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez.
August 2022: Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino for JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk, Luis Medina and Cooper Bowman.
August 2022: Scott Effross from Cubs for Hayden Wesneski.
August 2022: Harrison Bader from Cardinals for Jordan Montgomery.
December 2022: Caleb Durbin and Indigo Diaz from Braves for Lucas Luetge.
Listen: Outcomes can change. Maybe Bader will become a great Yank CF. And how about those biceps on Rortvedt! Still, thus far, Cashman has crapped pineapples on at least six straight major deals, each of which undermined our past and future. Close your eyes and imagine last season with Urshela at 3B instead of Donaldson, who looked past his sell-by date.
No wonder Cashman has surrounded himself with aging baseball execs. And frankly, I applaud this. When you've lost six in a row, shake up the lineup. Bring in the old guys.
And last month, Cashman did what crafty hitters do when mired in a slump:
He laid down a bunt to get on base.
Instead of swinging away, instead of trading for a Reynolds or a Soto, the wily GM dealt Luetge for two dirt league lottery tickets. Smooth. Lay down a bunt, and break the slump. That's baseball!
Supposedly, Cashman is determined to find a LF. I know what you're thinking: Somebody, stop him! Take away his phone! DON'T LET IT HAPPEN!
Let's just hope he listens to the old-timers. Is Pat Gillick looking for work?
When will Cashman's streak end? Alas, we shall soon find out.
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8 comments:
Get ready for the Wag The Dog scenario. He has to cover for the stupidity of the Monty & Montas trade. First up he signs the Cuban kid. I guess if our other "superstar" is from Mars, this kid must be from Uranus. In three years he will be the next Jackson Melian, but for now he is a shiny new object.
Next he'll trade every pitcher they have in the minors for Reynolds, who will hit .230 with 25HR, the quintessential Cashman Yankee.
In August, when they are battling for the WC spot, he will trade every top 10 prospect they have for a pitcher who will make 2 starts and then get hurt and a everyday player who will hit .210 down the stretch. You get the picture.
Eventually Judge will get them to the WC round, where they will lose, but the playoff streak will be intact!
Asking when Cashman's trade slump will end presupposes that it actually will end. No evidence of that, so far. And it's possible there never will be.
I'm preparing myself for "pretty good" Yankee teams for the rest of my days. That's all Cashman has ever delivered (fluke 2009, not really a great team, but great enough). As the grotesque doctor said to Donna Douglas on "Twilight Zone," "No change!"
Uranus…
Uh huh huh huh huh huh....he said Uranus.
July 2021: Andrew Heaney from Angels for Elvis Pequero and Janson Junk.
July 2021: Joey Gallo from Rangers for Ezequiel Duran, Trevor Hauver, Josh Smith and Glen Otto.
January 2022: Josh Donaldson and Ben Rortvedt from Twins for Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez.
More than a slump. Just awful!
Duque - You left IKF off of the Urshala trade! Adding IKF makes it a much... never mind.
JM - I don't hate IKF either.
However, Cashman really, really wanted him and, because he wanted him so badly, Cashman had to take on Donaldson, his 58 million dollar obligation, and trade Urshala.
Not only that but... if we had an extra 25M per year to spend, we could have done A LOT better with it.
When you look at it through that lens - getting IKF was a much bigger disaster than acquiring a weak contact hitting SS who was playing out of position.
I think Doug hits close to the mark. IKF is what he is, but what he isn’t is a championship caliber SS. The team is rolling the die on Peraza/Volpe, and they better be correct on that. Meanwhile IKF will make $6M In ‘23, too much for a player of his limited production IMO. IKF + Torres are pretty much the only MLB tested players who could be considered trade targets by other teams, in the right deal. What is the right deal? Hope the new 4-way upper management cartel can do a better job, but we all know that Cashman will still have the final say. God help us.
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