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May 09, 2007
Cashman Talks Pitching
Via Bob Klapisch -
In general -
"We're sitting where we're sitting [six games out of first place] and I'm responsible for that. I take full responsibility for what's happened to date."
On Igawa -
Cashman admits Igawa has been, at times, awful. But he says, "It's a long season, we're going to get him fixed. People who know pitching, people we trust, say he has major league stuff and it's just a matter of fixing his mechanics. All I ask is that people not judge him on six starts, three of which were bad."
On Matsuzaka -
"That was an aggressive bid. We thought it was a winning bid. No one can call that conservative," Cashman said. "If it had been the winning bid, it would've been a record-setting bid. Ask Omar Minaya [whose Mets bid $36 million] if he thought his bid was conservative. I'm sure the Mets thought they had the winning bid, too."
On Pavano -
On this matter, Cashman exhales long and slow. There's certainly no defending the pitcher's Yankee resume, which is littered with injuries and non-performance. The GM knows he's the only member of the organization still trying to rationalize signing Pavano, when just about everyone else has written him off as the worst mistake in a decade. For now, all Cashman will say is, "We're going to hold off any announcement until he's examined [by Dr. Frank Jobe] in California."
I wonder if Cash misses the days where he could just hint that the deal which went bad was not his - and imply that someone in Tampa was the one who made the mistake?
Posted by Steve Lombardi at May 9, 2007 12:42 PM
Comments
Clearly, some of Cash's moves have been hugely ill-advised. Still, he doesn't have to be this forthcoming about his mistakes. I, for one, appreciate the honesty.
Steve, that Pavano reference has me thinking that the winter of '04 was perhaps the worst off-season in Yankee free agent history, both for the players acquired (Pavano, Wright, Womack) and passed over (Beltran). I was wondering if perhaps at some point you might put together a couple of posts on "best" and "worst" Yankee offseasons during the free-agent era. Not sure how you could quantify them - perhaps aggregate RSAA?
Just a thought.
Posted by: brockdc ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.waswatching.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 9, 2007 01:41 PM
Good idea for a winter time project. Thanks.
Posted by: Steve Lombardi at May 9, 2007 02:08 PM
What else is supposed to be done with Pavano? A public flogging? We will never know what the story was there. I thought he was a good signing at the time. Many seem to forget that he was highly sought after by a number of teams, including Boston.
In terms of Igawa, I'm surprised. Posting money does not count against the luxury tax so maybe the Yanks thought they were getting a bargain. Cashman was certainly in that "cost-conscious" mode in the off-season. He probably thought that at 27, if Igawa was good locking him up at $20 million for 5 years would be a steal.
Moreover, regardless of what Cashman says, I think the Igawa signing was something of a marketing decision. All things being equal, a number 5 starter who is decent and was also a star in Japan helps build the "international Yankees brand" that we keep hearing about a lot more than just a non-descript number 5 guy. The bar was never set that high for Igawa, he could have been a Japanese Darrell Rasner and been fine.
Posted by: Joel at May 9, 2007 05:22 PM
I thought he was a good signing at the time. Many seem to forget that he was highly sought after by a number of teams, including Boston.
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Posted by: Raf at May 10, 2007 12:06 AM