• Keeping 2 unproven players over a Cy Young pitcher in his prime (Johan)
• Relatedly, depending on two unproven kids to comprise 40% of the starting rotation on a $200 mil team
i love how u try & split up 1 move into 2 separate ones... i could probably stretch my list of 48 moves into 90+ using your method.
• Signing Roger to $30 mil for 4 mediocre months
first of all, he was signed for $18.5 million, not 30... everyone in baseball was calling that one a no brainer when it went down, how u gonna second guess it now? did u know Rocket wasn't gonna live up to that contract after having pitched to a 2 ERA in a half season the year before in Houston?
• Carl Pavano $40 mil contract
• $32 mil on Contreras who went 6-16 as a starter
I think the 3rd place finish was a huge wakeup call to him though and Cashman actually decided to pursue top FAs while in their primes.
Pavano wasn't a top FA in his prime when he pursued him? Contreras wasn't the top international FA in his prime on the market when he was signed? those moves didn't work out... fine, it happens to even the best GM in baseball... how u gonna feel if CC & AJB don't work out... how u gonna feel if Mark Tex is a bust in NY? ur gonna hold that against Cashman too?
• $17 mil Kyle Farnsworth
• $21 mil on Jaret Wright
market value contracts given to both guys... Farnsworth was coming off back to back absolutely dominating seasons w/DET & ATL, how can u hold it against Cashman for signing him to that contract to set up for Mo?... $4 mil per over 4 seasons is more than fair value for Farns... & a $21 mil over 3 years deal on Wright was a low risk high possible returns type move, much akin to the Ben Sheets idea that was being tossed around here a couple weeks ago... again, how can u get on Cashman's case for that one? he wasn't being relied upon to be the ace, only to round out the back end of the rotation.
• $32 mil contract extension on Randy Johnson for a 4.50 ERA pitcher who stunk in the playoffs
• Trading Dioner Navarro for the Old Unit
again, u stretch 1 move into 2 separate ones to try & prove ur point... Unit went 5-0 vs. the Red Sox in '05 & was 1 of the main reasons why the Yankees were able to win the division that year... he had back to back 17 win seasons & was a 200+ innings horse for us after we traded for him... how on earth do u call that a failed acquisition? so what that he never fit in to the Yankees' mold all that much or was friendly to the media?... bottomline u got positive production from the guy during his time here... if not performing in the playoffs qualifies someone as a horrible acquisition then u can list almost every major bigname baseball player on the planet on that list.
• $10 mil on Rondell White to be every day outfielder
$5 mil per over 2 seasons for a guy who was coming off 5 consecutive seasons hitting over .300 is what u call a bad move? again, it didn't work out but how can u hold it against Cashman for making it? that is a bargain contract for that level of a player.
• Kenny Lofton signing; can't find contract value.
• Tony Womack signed to be every day 2nd baseman.
• Relying on Bernie to be an everyday CFer when he was way past his prime and was a poor hitter and couldn’t throw better than most HS girls.
Lofton signed for 2 yrs, $6.2 mil... he was brought in as insurance in case Bernie couldn't bounce back from a disappointing injury riddled season the year before, so in fact he WASN'T relying on Bernie to be an everyday CFer like u accuse him of doing... he had a contingency plan in place & executed that plan with a very reasonable contract for a playoffs tested veteran who produced very nicely the year before... Lofton was coming off a year where he batted .296 w/30 SB's for the Pirates & the Cubs... that was an absolute bargain value contract Cashman signed him to... the fact that Torre decided not to play Lofton much is Cashman's fault?... that's pretty funny u'r gonna bring up low cost moves like this to try & prove why Cashman's only an average GM.
& Tony Womack signed a 2 year $4 mil deal... Cashman knew he had Cano in the pipeline to take over at 2B in a year or 2... he didn't wanna sign up some big money FA to play 2B for us & clog up that position... i have no idea how anyone could hold that against Cashman.
Lofton, Womack & Bernie were all a part of the team he put together in '04 that got to the ALCS & were 1 game away from getting to the WS... i thought u considered that a successful season under your stated standards?
• $45 mil on Javy Vaszquez (later paying the D’backs $9 mil of his salary just to take him off our hands)
• $46 mil on Kei Igawa
• Trading Ted Lilly to pick up Jeff Weaver for 4 years @ $22 mil
those 3 are definitely ones i agree with u on & i've been public about criticizing that Javy & Jeff Weaver acquisitions the moment they went down... didn't make an ounce of sense to trade away 2 of your top positional prospects (Nick Johnson & Juan Rivera) or a young talented lefty starter for 2 pitchers w/career ERA's in the 4's & a losing record... Kei Igawa i kept an open mind on especially after Boston had just spent $100 mil to sign up Dice-K but obviously that's another bad move by Cashman there's no getting around that.
on the list i posted earlier i didn't even bother to mention guys like Jon Lieber, Aaron Small, Shawn Chacon, Miguel Cairo, Tony Clark, Doug Mientkewicz, all of whom were great value acquisitions in my view... so with your list of maybe 14 separate moves that u didn't like, there's maybe 55 or more moves that i can point out that were positive ones for the Yankees' franchise... i still don't see where these "dozens of moves" are that you were referring to earlier & how u equate 14 to 55+ as balancing out to be average... whatever, if u think he's average u think he's average... i think i've made a pretty good case to most people that have followed this franchise that he's 1 of the best GM's in baseball.
After 7 years & 40K+ posts, banned by martin for calling Nalod a 'moron'. Awesome.