WasWatching.com

Was he ever away? Or was he ever actually in during the 1996-2005 period? Does anyone really know? What were his duties, his responsibilities? Where did they interesect, if at all, with Cashman's major league or minor league oversight? If anyone out there can tell me with any semblance of certainty, I'd like to hear it. For example, the Tony Womack affair. Most fans and observers believe this was a "Tampa" signing. However, indications are that it was strongly advised by Gene Michael. Cashman, himself, said it on Mike & the Mad Dog in May of 2005, when asked to explain the signing. Michael, of course, has said nothing on the matter...other than, curiously, that Womack's a good player. Like everything else within the Yankees hierarchy, there are mysteries within mysteries. If the writers would stop taking sides, we might actually one day approach the truth about the goings-on within the "braintrust." And, say, with the farm system zooming up the charts, deep in hard-throwers and younger athletic position players, they've stopped demonizing Damon Oppenheimer. I wonder why.