The Rotation Continues to be Cashman's Downfall

While we spend a lot of attention debating the merits of retreads like Garcias and Colon the real issue is the inability of Brain Cashman to build a complete starting 5. I know there was some excitement last year over adding Vasquez to an already good rotation but we know how that turned out. The Vasquez move was widely applauded but a GM must be scored on his results NOT how a move appeared to the public and MSM at the time.

Take a look at some of the staffs the Yankees have had since 2005. I have put any player with an ERA+ of over 100 in bold and listed all starters with 10 or more starts;

2005 Yankees - Johnson, Mussina, Wang, Pavano, Brown, Wright, Chacon, Leiter, Small (9 starts)
Post the series we never speak of the Yankees "loaded up" by signing Pavano and Wright. This works out so well they needed a player off the trash heap(Chacon) and a player from the independent league(Small) to catch fire for them to make the playoffs.

2006 Yankees - Wang, Johnson, Mussina, Wright, Chacon, Lidle (9 Starts)
Jaret Wright actually proved useful this year but unfortunately the 42 year old Johnson was less then useful. Who could have seen that coming? Chacon and Small both had era's north of 7 and picked up Lidle at the deadline in an attempt to have someone useful at the tail end of the rotation.

2007 Yankees - Pettitte, Wang, Mussina, Clemens, Hughes, Igawa
This year was two bad decisions maybe three. Clemens was brought back (OH MY GOD HE IS IN GEORGE'S BOX!), the great Igawa was signed and Hughes was rushed into the rotation at age 21.

2008 Yankees - Mussina, Pettitte, Rasner, Wang, Ponson, Joba
The Yankees took a chance with some youth and it didn't work out in the short term. Joba got hurt after pitching well, Kennedy was horrible and Hughes was horrible and injured.

2009 Yankees - Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte, Joba
Three deep with a decent number 4. The 5th starter spot was split between Mitre, Wang, Hughes and Gaudin. The real difference in 2009 was the top three were legit.

2010 Yankees - Sabathia, Burnett, Hughes, Vasquez, Pettitte
Three good starters and two bad starters. This was enough to get the Yankees to the ALCS.

So since 2009 the rotation has produced a good staff once, in 2009. We had aging stars who could no longer get it done(Clemens, Brown, Johnson), some bad signings(Pavano, Igawa, Wright), a player who had nothing on any of his pitches (Vasquez), and a lot of mediocre veterans(Rasner, Ponson, Small, Chacon, Leiter, Lidle). These results are simply not good enough for a championship caliber team. Cashman can excuse away one or two years of mistakes but the fact of the matter is the rotation has been and remains an issue.

The Yankees inability to build a rotation has been an issue since 2005 and with the likes of Colon, Garcia and Millwood lining up for significant starts in 2011 it appears it will continue to be an issue.

Cashman Retunrs for Three more Years

It's offical the Cash-man will be back for three more years as the Yankee GM. So as we brace for three more years I start to wonder, what GOOD decisions has Brain Cashman made in the pitching department the last 6 years? I count Tom Gordon and Jon Leiber as good decisions. What else? There has to be more....right?

Here is a breakdown of all his moves. So where is the genius? How does this guy avoid blame? Expect more bad moves this offseason in the pitching department. Maybe no CC, sign Burnett and resign a clearly fried Andy Pettitte, yeah that sounds Cashman-esque.

Am I missing the positive moves he's made?

Cashman:Mussina in the Rotation

According to Peter Abraham;

Cashman said that Wang, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina are in the rotation.
The other two spots are open. At some point, Chamberlain will have his innings restricted. That could come in a variety of ways including being used in the bullpen. “We have to see how it all plays out,” Cashman said. “But Joba will prepare as a starter.”

I really thought we had seen the end of Mike Mussina's days in the Yankee Rotation. Take a look at Moose's ERA the last four years;
4.59
4.41
3.51
5.15
Take out the walk year abberation and Moose has been a bad pitcher for some time now. It is time for Moose to join the ranks of the National League or slip into his spot as a long reliever. Hearing Cashman say that he is in makes me cringe. I only hope that this is the plan to start the season as a way to avoid Joba's innings limit(~160) and once the calendar turns to June, Joba takes over every fifth day.

Joba and Johan

The Daily News has an article headlined "Joba Chamberlain may start next season in bullpen for Yankees " but the headline does not jive with the content. Cashman is non-committal to any strategy other then preparing Joba as a starter;

"We're going to prepare him as a starter and we see him as a starter," Yankee GM Brian Cashman said yesterday. "But we have an innings limit that he won't exceed. How we manage the innings limit remains to be seen. The plan is to have him start, but there are a number of scenarios that we'll review."

A non-story.

Also, there is now talk that the Yankees are out of the Johan sweepstakes and this comes a week after Hank said the Yanks were still in it. So now the Red Sox were about to make a deal, then they were the clear leaders, then Johan was not going to be traded, then the Yanks were the leaders and now they are out of it with the Mets in the lead. Got it? Ignore all the talk until something happens. I still say he ends up in the Bronx.

2008 - The Cashman Swan Song?

Brian Cashman made some interesting comments at Theo Epstein's charity round table;

On Hank and Hal
"So I’m focused fully on doing everything I possibly can to assist them in their emergence now as decision makers.”

On His future with the Yankees;
"Because of all the work that gets involved with doing the job, it kind of prevents me from really looking ahead past this year,” he said. “I’m just doing everything I possibly can to assist the transition with the new manager, the new owners, with the involvement now with the Steinbrenner sons. And then the rest will take care of itself at another time.”

Now Cashman fought hard to have the final say on all baseball decisions and that power has clearly been transferred to the Brothers. I would expect that at the end of this year we might be looking at another power struggle by Cashman and this one I think he will loose. George was aging in 2005 and clearly needed to get out of the day to day operations of the Yankees Hank and Hal are just getting their feet wet and Hank clearly loves the spotlight.

So the question is will Cashman except less control and if he doesn't do we as Yankee fans have reason to feel concerned?

I can see Cashman walking. He has spent 10 years with the Yankees and is well respected in the game. He probably will have no trouble finding another job.

So do we care? You have to give Cashman some credit for the recent success of the player development program but really the man who deserves the bulk of the credit is Damon Oppenheimer. With Hank at least publicly stating interest in the youth movement and Hal's tight purse strings you can expect Damon to continue to make a large impact without Cashman and for the Yankees to give some of these guys a shot. Cashman has not had a lot of success with his veteran player moves especially pitchers in recent years (Wright, Pavano, Randy, Vasquez, Weaver) and continues to make questionable decisions(1 year of Hawkins instead of 2 with Vizcaino) so in the end I am not sure if this would really be a lose at all.

My take - thanks for time serve Cashman turn off the lights on your way out.

Cashman

Saw this and couldn't resist. Something about seeing Brian Cashman on the cover of a magazine with "Mad Hot Dancing" made me smile....think he is dancing now?