Yankees GM Cashman is over-rated

It's a wonder how New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman keeps his job. His most recent quote of “I don’t have anybody who is untouchable, but some guys are more touchable than others. At the end of the day, I am legitimately open to any idea. I’ve had a lot of bad ones, either thrown by me or on the receiving end from somebody else to me. That’s what we’re here for; to throw a lot of crap out there and see what sticks” makes me believe that myself, or anyone really, could work as a general manager of a major league baseball team and have the same results at the end of the season as so-called professionals such as Cashman have.

Trading catcher John Ryan Murphy for Twins outfielder Aaron Hicks wasn't a bad deal, but Cashman and the Yankees would be foolish to deal any of their top prospects, such as shortstop Juan Mateo, outfielder Aaron Judge, and first baseman Doug Bird, among others. Let's keep these guys and see what they can do on the field, starting during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Players signed to big contracts, such as Carlos Beltran, really haven't done much, so why not take a chance on a prospect?

Of the 40 Yankees from their roster in September 2013, only 9 remain

Of the 40 Yankees listed on their roster in September 2013, only 9 remain on the spring 2015 40 man roster.

In less than a year and a half, 78% of the players have disappeared from the team's employ.

The 9 survivors are: catcher John Ryan Murphy, first baseman Mark Teixeira, shortstop Brendan Ryan, thirdbaseman Alex Rodriguez, outfielder Brett Gardner, and pitchers CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Dellin Betances, and Adam Warren.

The high turnover doesn't say much about Brian Cashman's abilities as general manager, in terms of identifying talented prospects or serviceable major leaguers.

If the Yankees end up losing 90 or more games this year, Cashman and his subordinates ought to be the ones fired - not manager Joe Girardi.

Who was the New York Yankees Most Valuable Player in 2014?

The New York  Yankees struggled through a long 2014 season, finishing with a middling 84-78 won-loss record and missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

 

Still, every team has players that contribute to its success during the course of the year. Here is a look at who were the Most Valuable Players of the 2014 Yankees.

 

5) Brian McCann, catcher: McCann started slowly at the plate but still finished with 23 home runs and 75 RBI’s, both of which led the team. He also handled the pitching staff well, and threw out 37% of runners attempting to steal, above the league average of 27%.

 

4) Hiroki Kuroda, starting pitcher: Kuroda was steady, providing 32 starts and 199 innings for a starting staff that was decimated by injuries. He finished with an 11-9 record and 3.71 ERA.

 

3) Masahiro Tanaka, starting pitcher:  Tanaka was the closest thing to a sure win in games during the first half, before a partially torn ligament in his elbow shelved him for the second half of the season.  The Yankees would have finished under .500 without him. He posted a 13-5 record and 2.77 ERA in 20 games and 136 innings.

 

2) Jacoby Ellsbury, centerfielder:  Leading all position players with 149 games played, 156 hits, 27 doubles, and 39 stolen bases, Ellsbury batted .271 with 16 home runs and 70 RBI’s. He also was steady defensively.

 

1) Dellin Betances, relief pitcher:  His first year in the bullpen proved to be a huge success. Betances shut down opposing hitters when the Yankees had a close lead in late innings of games.  He finished with a 5-0 record, 22 holds, an unbelievable 1.40 ERA, and set a team record for strikeouts by a relief pitcher, with 135 in 90 innings. He gave up only 46 hits, and batters managed a measly .149 average against him. Dellin Betances is the Yankees’ Most Valuable Player for the 2014 season.

Hal Steinbrenner is as dumb as his father

The other day Hal Steinbrenner was quoted as saying, "We put a lot of money into the offense, and they have been, as a whole, inconsistent. It’s been a problem. And it needs to change."

Like, duh. Did he really believe that shelling out all that cash was going to result in a super-duper offense? On June 11 I wrote a blog stating that the "Yankees' bats aren't coming alive anytime soon" and more than two months later, it seems that I was right.

The naive Steinbrenner crew and dopey GM Brian Cashman had unrealistic expectations this past offseason.

Carlos Beltran was aging and often injured, so could he really be expected to produce at a high level? Same with recently released second baseman Brian Roberts. Outstanding hitters in their prime, yes, but they were both way past those days when they were signed as free agents. Same thing with Ichiro Suzuki and the departed Alfonso Soriano.

Comparing Brian McCann to Thurman Munson was a bit silly, and unfair to McCann - in three consecutive years Munson had averages of .318, .302, and .308, with RBI totals of 102, 105, and 100, and hit over .300 in two other seasons as well. In his career McCann has hit .300 twice and has never driven in 100 runs.

Believing Mark Teixeira would drive in 110 runs a year after coming off a serious wrist injury at age 34 wasn't very bright.

If Derek Jeter hadn't announced his retirement before the season it would be clear that his career is over at this point, with his .271 batting average 40 points below his career average of .311.

Several months ago Girardi was quoted as saying, "I don't believe people forget how to hit overnight" and while that is true, this Yankee team was more of a case of a group of players whose skills have eroded significantly and just can't cut the mustard anymore.

Yankees' bats aren't coming alive anytime soon

Yankee manager Joe Girardi is going to need more than his eternal optimism to get his team hitting. I don't think there are any answers in his trusty binder, either.

The Steinbrenner crew and dopey GM Brian Cashman may have had unrealistic expectations this past offseason. Carlos Beltran was aging and often injured, as was second baseman Brian Roberts. Outstanding hitters in their prime, yes, but they are both way past those days. Same with Ichiro Suzuki and Alfonso Soriano. Comparing Brian McCann to Thurman Munson was a bit silly. Believing Mark Teixeira would drive in 110 runs a year after coming off a serious wrist injury at age 34 wasn't very bright. 

As of this writing Derek Jeter has accumulated 216 at bats; is this enough for a hitter who missed most of the previous season to get their timing down? Let's hope not, since Jeter is batting .259 with only six doubles and one home run, numbers nowhere close to his career averages. Looks like his power is pretty much gone as he nears the age of forty.

Girardi was quoted as saying, "I don't believe people forget how to hit overnight" and while that is true, this may be more of a case of a group of players who just can't cut the mustard anymore.

Still, the Yankees may have a decent shot at winning the American League East Division, since the Blue Jays, Rays, Red Sox, and Orioles are mediocre in their own right.  The Yankees' pitchers have been doing a decent job for the most part, so if opponents can be held to three runs a game, the Yanks' offense should be able to manufacture enough runs to win more games than they lose.   A total of 85-86 wins might be enough to win the East this year so the race will probably go down to the last days of the season.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the Yankees start tearing things up. It would make for a more fun summer.  Right now it looks like it may be kind of boring.

Who was the Yankees MVP in 2013?

In 2013 the New York Yankees finished tied with the Baltimore Orioles for third place in the American League Eastern Division with a 85-77 record. They managed to accomplish this with a roster of players consisting of a hodgepodge of journeymen, scrubs, and not-ready-for-prime-time minor leaguers, since many key players missed most of the season due to injuries. The extended absences of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, and Curtis Granderson led to gaping holes in the team's lineup.

Manager Joe Girardi deserves some credit for keeping the Yanks in the race for much of the season. He handled the pitching staff well and squeezed enough out of the position players to enable the team to finish over .500 for the season.

General Manager Brian Cashman deserves zero credit, since all he did was throw stuff up against the wall and hope that it would stick. The minor league system, under Cashman's direction for the past seven years, provided practically no help during the season.

Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner contributed offensively during the month of April, helping to keep the Yanks above water early on. Unfortunately neither one provided much for the remainder of the season.

Granderson didn't provide his usual punch when he returned from injuries, batting .229 with seven homers and 15 RBI's in 61 games and 214 at-bats - numbers that don't translate well when projected over a 162 games season.

Eduardo Nunez didn't show much while filling in for Jeter at shortstop, with a .260 average, 3 home runs, 28 RBI's and 10 stolen bases in 90 games and 304 at-bats. His fielding average was .953, well below the league average of .973, and he was projected to cost the team 18 runs as a shortstop, according to zone fielding calculations.

So who were the top ten most valuable players for the Yankees in 2013?

10) Brett Gardner - Gardner was reliable, playing in 145 games, but stole only 24 bases with an average on-base percentage of .344, and wasn't as much of a sparkplug as had been hoped. In centerfield he cost the team 20 runs, according to one zone fielding statistic.

9) Jayson Nix - Nix actually came up with some key hits that led to Yankee victories, even though he played in only 87 games.

8) Lyle Overbay - Overbay also came up with some clutch hits in crucial situations, leading to Yankee wins. He hit 14 homers and drove in 59 runs.

7) Ivan Nova - Finishing 9-6 with a 3.10 ERA, Nova pitched well and kept the Yankees in the race in the summer.

6) Chris Stewart - Stewart handled the pitching staff well, and threw out 32% of runners attempting to steal.

5) Mariano Rivera - Most people would put Rivera higher on the list, but he blew seven saves - 92 wins would have landed the Yanks a playoff spot.

4) Hiroki Kuroda - Kuroda pitched well for most of the season, keeping the team in games.

3) Alfonso Soriano - Providing much needed pop in the lineup during the second half of the season, Soriano hit .256 with 17 home runs and 50 RBI's in only 219 at-bats.

2) David Robertson - Robertson had a great year as a set-up man, with a 2.04 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, .213 opponents’ batting average, and 77 strikeouts in 66 innings pitched.

1) Robinson Cano - While I think Cano is an over-rated player, statistically he had an outstanding year both offensively and defensively, accomplishing this with only average players around him. His .314 batting average, .383 on-base percentage, 27 home runs and 107 RBI's along with a .991 fielding percentage make him the Yankees' Most Valuable Player for the 2013 season.

 

 

 

 

source for statistics: http://www.baseball-reference.com/

Yankees should fire Cashman, scouting staff

At an end of the season press conference New York Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman took responsibility for the team missing out on the playoffs for only the second time in twenty years.

Well if that's the case, ownership ought to fire him, as well as the administrators and scouts that handle drafting of high school and college players.

Certainly a major league team that finishes with an 85-77 record can hardly be considered a dismal failure. However what can be considered a failure is the team's drafts for the past ten years, or longer. The Yankees have not produced enough legitimate players from their farm system to be a contender.

While George Steinbrenner's win-now philosophy contributed to the team's chasing after free agents and trading prospects for established players (some of whom were already washed up and over the hill) this has been entirely Cashman's operation for over eight years now. He demanded full control of the farm system operation and got it. So far, he hasn't held up his end of the deal. Cashman also spoke out against one move ownership made without his approval - signing closer Rafael Soriano - and he turned out to be wrong about that one too, as Soriano filled in capably last year when Mariano Rivera was out with a knee injury.

Obviously, no one is going to replace Rivera, but with all the injuries that occurred in 2013 you would think the Yankees could have brought up at least one decent player from the minor leagues to fill a hole in the lineup. Nope. So all Cashman did was claim whatever flim-flam was available on the waiver wire, then throw it up against the wall and hope that it would stick. Anyone can do that. What takes some skill and expertise is knowing which baseball player to draft out of high school and college each year, and also how to develop them in the minor leagues.

In the press conference Cashman admitted that the Yankees have a lot of holes to fill before the 2014 season begins. It's too bad they can't count on any of their own prospects to plug those gaps.

These Yankees are boring on and off the field

Ichiro Suzuki's walk-off home run that won Tuesday night's game for the Yankees in the Bronx was a rare moment of excitement for fans. During April and May journeymen like Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, and Jayson Nix provided clutch hits that kept the team in first place or close to the top. Above average starting pitching and solid effort from the relief corps helped a great deal as well.

However the month of June has seen the Yanks swoon. Timely hitting has dwindled, and the team has struggled to score runs. Mediocre pitching from one time Golden-Boys Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain hasn't helped. Andy Pettitte hasn't been as sharp in the last few starts, so age may finally be catching up to him. And, of course, the continued absence of injured players such as Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson has hurt the offense.

Brett Gardner has played well, but at this point in the season one of the fastest runners in the major leagues ought to have more than 11 stolen bases (and not been nailed 6 times already). Gardner has to get into scoring position; it's still easier to single someone in than it is to hit a home run.

The 2013 Yankees aren't a very exciting team to watch. Yankee Stadium will have even more empty seats by August if things don't turn around.

With the exception of outfielder Zoilo Almonte there isn't going to be much help coming up from the minor leagues, the result of scouting ineptness by general manager Brian Cashman and his baseball cronies in the front office.

Off the field, the headlines featuring Alex Rodriguez are simply uninteresting. At least with the late 1970's Yankees there was some passion involved, and much humor to be found in all the shenanigans. Rodriguez is a dullard. A seemingly compulsive liar, he's a boring person, and was always an over-rated player, even when he played with Seattle back in the 1990's.

The current team will probably stay in the wildcard race until the end of the season since the other American League East teams aren't that good, either. And if Curtis Granderson and Derek Jeter can come back sometime during the summer and play at their high levels of the past, maybe some excitement will return to Yankee Stadium.

Yankees GM Cashman's scouting failures now apparent

I've contended many times in the past that New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is the most over-rated executive in major league baseball, and the team's current situation highlights this.

Even with the Yankees being more financially responsible in the three years since the death of owner George Steinbrenner, the franchise still holds the greatest financial advantage in baseball history. This did result in a World Series championship in 2009, but any one of us would have also had the good sense to sign Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia in their prime.

Cashman hasn't done much with the financial advantage lately. Giving Kevin Youklis $12 million was a dumb move, especially since everyone knew that Youklis had chronic back trouble. With surgery it's likely Youklis will never put on the pinstripes again.

Cashman was also against signing free agent Rafael Soriano several years ago - but without Soriano the Yankees probably would not have made the playoffs in 2012, since he was almost just as good a closer as Mariano Rivera had been.

Basically what Cashman does is throw stuff against the wall and hope that something sticks. Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells have contributed to the team's early season success, but that's hardly the result of top notch scouting. It's just hoping that an older player has something left in the tank.

With all the injuries the Yankees have suffered this year, it would have been an opportunity for their minor league players to step in and show what they can do. It could have resulted in a young player taking over, or showcasing them as a trade chip. But right now the Yankees have practically nothing in terms of position players. David Adams may turn out to be a good third baseman and hitter, and the same can be said for outfielder Zolio Almonte (if he's given the chance to play every day). 

Down on the farm outfielder/first baseman Tyler Austin promises to be a good player, but he's two years away. Outfielders Mason Williams and Slade Heathcott, along with catchers Gary Sanchez and J.R. Murphy, will also probably be ready in two years and may turn out to be good players. But at the moment the Yankees are sticking their fingers in the hole trying to plug the leaks by using journeymen Reid Brignac and Thomas Neal as regulars, because they have no other options in the minor leagues. We'll see what happens with that.

For all of Cashman and his front office cronies use of statistics and sabermetrics, their scouting of players leaves much to be desired. It's been an ongoing thing, dating back to 2006 when then-manager Joe Torre wanted to sign switch hitting Bernie Williams for one more year and use him as a pinch hitter and reserve off the bench. Cashman refused, instead going with Doug Mientkiewicz and Josh Phelps - who combined to produce a .200 batting average off the bench.

Now in 2013, it doesn't look like Cashman's reliance on sabermetrics is going to do the team much good for the rest of this season, either.

Yanks will regret signing Hafner

Signing Travis Hafner to a $2 million contract is one of Yankee GM Brian Cashman's sillier moves. Cashman, baseball's most over-rated general manager, is trying to make up for some of the team's lost home run production due to the departure of Nick Swisher, Raul Ibanez, and Russell Martin, as well as the absence of Alex Rodriguez.

However, Hafner has played in less than 100 games the past two seasons due to injuries, and at age 36 can hardly be expected to play 140 games a year, even if it's only as a DH.

Hafner hasn't played in the field since 2007, and hasn't even bothered to take ground balls at first base during spring training.  He's unable to throw due to a past shoulder injury.

So Cashman has saddled Joe Girardi with what will basically be a 24 man roster - assuming Hafner doesn't land on the disabled list first. Hopefully the Yankee manager won't have to deal with any major injuries during games, or be involved in many extra inning games. If that happens Girardi may end up using one of his pitchers in the field.