We see you, Mr. Cashman.

 

Among Brian Cashman's many delusions is the idea that he is invisible when he wants to be. 

Hence the hilarious paean to the man that Cashie spoon fed to Bob Klapisch and Paul Solotaroff, in 2019's Inside the Empire: The True Power Behind the New York Yankees.

The last book—incredibly, there is another of these self-generated odes to the Yankees GM out this spring—was centered around Cashman's supposed "whisper-quiet...heist of the century," in stealing Giancarlo Stanton away from that big dummy, Derek Jeter.

"Cashman, like the three or four masters of his craft, is one part diplomat to two parts pickpocket. He can politely boost your watch and wallet and leave you thinking the heist was your idea."

Uh-huh.

Well, Ol' Whisper-Quiet seems to have lost a step over the years. Here was a report yesterday from Randy Miller in NJ.com:

Early industry speculation has Soto being a Yankees one-and-done because of price and management envisioning its best prospects sharing the outfield with Judge in the next year or two, Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones.

Oops. 

Seems like the master diplomat-pickpocket needs to broaden his circle of sportswriters to bribe with access and book contracts. 

Mr. Miller has said the quiet part out loud, something that so many of us mere peons who have been forced to follow The Brain's career for so long suspected from the get-go: Soto ain't staying—and the chances are good that he ends up in Flushing. 

Once again: a proven commodity, a superstar just 25 years old, who will be passed up for what could just as likely be fool's gold. 

Sorry, but the New York Yankees don't do "one-and-dones." Not the Yankees I used to know, anyway. 

What we have here is, yet again, Hal Steinbrenner acting as though the Yanks are a small-market franchise for the sake of his own bank account—and Craven Brian giving him the imprimatur of some deep baseball knowledge. No doubt, we'll soon start to hear about how Cashman wants to save the dough that would go to Soto for some looming free agent, or more pitching.

Don't believe the tripe.

Hey, Spencer and The Martian could easily be big stars. I hope they are. But like so many can't-miss prospects—particularly in the Cashman Years Eons—they could just as easily wash out.  Or be washed out, by the platoon of incompetent coaches and trainers Cashie insists on employing despite their endless, manifest destruction of promising young ballplayers. 

And even if they do become what they promise to be, it's most likely that this won't occur before Judge's window closes (if it has not already). The "big plan" for The Heister and his boss is to keep the Yankees percolating along with maybe a single superstar, hoping to stay in wild-card contention, without ever building a championship team.

Your New York Yankees: the ever-tepid coffee of baseball.

Our one hope is that Mr. Soto continues to play such thrilling, awesome baseball—that he so continues to spark his teammates and awe the fans—that not even Hal and The Brain will let him go. 

Hey, it happened with Judge. It could happen again...couldn't it?