Posted by PhilinLA:

Gene Michael's lost a bit off his fastball. Cash, Newman and Oppenheimer have a good thing going, though injuries are obscuring that right now.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by Erniecat:

Posted by PhilinLA:

Gene Michael's lost a bit off his fastball. Cash, Newman and Oppenheimer have a good thing going, though injuries are obscuring that right now.

someone needs to explain to me exactly what it is that makes Cashman a good GM. He has by far the highest payroll in the league, and a team that sucks in the playoffs to show for it.

he did not build the World Series teams, as we all know.

he has been working in the front office as Watson's assistant in '96 when they won their first championship & has presided as GM through 3 other championship teams, 5 AL Pennant winners & 9 straight division title winners... i don't see how you assume he didn't have anything to do w/building those teams unless you were working in the Yankees front office through that time & know this firsthand.

here's a few moves he was directly involved in that have played key roles in winning titles over the years:

- after the '98 season he traded Boomer Wells for Roger Clemens, who played a key role in helping this team win 2 more championships in '99 & '00.

- in the summer of 2000, he traded Ricky Ledee, Jake Westbrook, and Zach Day to the Cleveland Indians for David Justice, who was probably our MVP since he came to the Yankees & had 1 of the biggest hits in the ALCS w/the series clinching 3-run HR he hit off Arthur Rhodes in game 6... he won ALCS MVP that year & the Yankees went on to beat the Muts & win the subway series shortly after

- he traded an aging Jim Leyritz & cash for Jose Vizcaino... Vizcaino got 1 of the biggest hits of the Subway series that year... he also traded some no name scrub named Chris Spurling for Luis Sojo & signed Luis Polonia as a free agent... he traded 2 guys who never amounted to anything in Ben Ford and Oswaldo Mairena to the Cubs for Glenallen Hill... all of those guys helped us have the 1 of the best benches in baseball that season & all contributed to the team winning a WS that year.

- oh, & he's the one who signed Chien Ming Wang as a minor league free agent, presided over the drafts & acquisitions of Robinson Cano, Joba Chamberlain, Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, Jose Tabata, Austin Jackson, Ian Kennedy, Dellin Betances, Umberto Sanchez, Brett Gardner & other minor league talent that has helped to restore this once barren farm system to 1 of the top rated farm systems in baseball... i'm pretty sure not many of you are killing him for doing so.

no GM in baseball is without their bad signings & acquisitions, but act like Cashman's a horrible GM who doesn't know what he's doing & to say he had no role in building our championship teams of the late 90's-early 00's is just plain false... guys, don't buy into the typical Yankee fan complainer logic until you consider the actual facts... a lot of GM's in baseball would kill to have had his track record, big budget or no... money doesn't buy success, as i'm sure teams can tell you like the Baltimore Orioles, LA Dodgers & Texas Rangers who've spent a ton of money on their teams over the years & have nothing to show for it, or the Muts of '02 & '03 who finished dead last in their division after having 1 of the biggest payrolls both those seasons.

Yes, Cashman deserves credit for making some shrewd midseason moves, with the Justice trade probably the best of the lot.

My biggest problem with him now is it seems that we have gotten away from what made us so great back in the 1990s, which was balance and depth. We had a terrific roster, 1-25. I cannot say that any longer. It seems that we now pay our top 15 guys huge money, at the cost of neglecting the rest of the roster. We used to win because we were a team with many excellent players, but no bona fide "superstars." (OK, Mariano was an excepetion.) And our bench, like you point out, was always second to none, with real pros. I just don't see that anymore.

I was all for Torre being let go, because I thought it was time. And I think it may be time for Cashman as well -- if we don't make the playoffs. Let's face it: If you're an owner and have this ridiculous payroll and your team doesn't make the playoffs, and your GM's contract is up, you're going to find someone else, despite what the GM has done in the past. Especially if your team was ousted in the first round for three straight years prior.

Posted by fishmike:

Posted by Bonn1997:

Who's part of the nice youthful foundation? Joba and a bunch of question marks?

The Yanks have one of the deepest farm systems in baseball right now, especially pitching. Kennedy and Hughes have struggled and might not be ready for the bigs but are still excellent young pitchers. Add Joba, Cano, Melky, Wang and a very good farm system and yea.. the Yanks have a great pipeline

As for the Mets embarrassing us all I can say is enjoy. Hope springs eternal for Met fans in May. As I recall its September that seems to give you a hard time.

For all the Yanks adversity and poor starts we have not missed the playoffs since MLB added the wild card, and that includes some tough starts (11-19 for one).

Joba and Wang and a bunch of question marks then. Melky is nothing special--an above average fielder and a below average hitter. Cano is special in months not named April, May, and October. It may be the cold weather but that's a huge problem since the playoffs are always in October. The Yankees should have gotten much more than Wang, Joba, and question marks out of their huge financial advantage. I'm even reluctant not to put a question mark next to Joba because we've seen so little of him but I'm being generous.

Posted by djsunyc:

hey...there's a philosophy change with the yankees. they decided to re-build their farm over the past few years. cashman has made mistakes but he also made some good moves. i guess he realized that the "starphuck" treatment wasn't working so he re-built the farm to a #4 ranking. it's quite impressive b/c the yanks had absolutely no farm as recent as 3 years ago.

the question is whether they stick to it or not. alot of yankee fans are frustrated. but i'm not. i didn't expect them to make the playoffs this year. but looking around the AL - almost everybody is in the .500 range so getting arod + posada back and then hopefully a rejuvenated hughes in another two months may keep them in the race till the end.

it's all good. i don't think you can go by "well you got a $200 mil payroll and you ain't winning sh t" view anymore. the yanks have made the playoffs every single year. that's what $200 mil gets you. but in a 5 or 7 game series, all bets are off.

the yanks seem to have this inability to drive runners in from 3rd base and less than 2 outs. it's been prevalent for the past few years. that tells *me* that they come up short in some clutch situations. they feel the pressure of having to bring that run in. and that translates to the post season and why the team has been bounced in the 1st round 3 years in a row. that's ok tho...just need to get rid of some of the players. but that takes time to do. it's very tough to make trades in baseball these days. but i'm a patient guy. i remember those 4 world series vividly so i can give them some time to fix it.

Posted by fishmike:

Maybe the Yanks didnt want to give up on of baseball's highest ranked pitching prospects AND pay $20mm a year and more to a guy with a 1-3 record in October and an ERA almost a run a game higher than his regular season.