A Spending Spree Brian Cashman Can Be Proud Of

The New York Yankees are attempting to break through a much publicized postseason “slump” in which they haven’t advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs since 2004. The Yankees have made various attempts to rectify this national tragedy, most recently by the free agent acquisitions of A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia, and Mark Teixeira. It is hard to believe, but spending over $400 million on the best free agents available was quite a gamble for Brian Cashman. This particular venture into the free agent market has so far proven extremely valuable to the Yankees and Cashman’s job security.

Brian Cashman’s history as Yankee general manager is littered with free agent signings gone awry. There are many vocal circles in the media that attribute any success he has achieved to the ability to spend without consequence, allowing Cashman to make up for his mistakes by spending more money. Cashman’s biggest free agent flops give credence to this accusation. Despite colossal failures such as Carl Pavano, Kyle Farnsworth, Jaret Wright, Kei Igawa, Jeff Weaver, and Randy Johnson (Weaver and Johnson were acquired via trade, but given a hefty raise upon arrival), the Yankees made the postseason every year  of Cashman’s tenure except 2008.

The plan was simple. Here is a typical scenario that played out over the course of the 2003 – 2004 off seasons:

After a 2003 season where the Yankee pitching was dominant with the lone exception of newly acquired Jeff Weaver, the staff lost Andy Pettite, Roger Clemens, and David Wells, whose late scratch in the 2003 World Series left a bitter taste in the mouth of many in the front office. The Yanks overhauled the starting staff, trading the ineffective Weaver for Kevin Brown, his fragile psyche, and his enormous contract, bringing in Javier Vasquez through a trade with the Montreal Expos, and giving a spot to Jon Leiber who had been signed while rehabbing an injury the previous year. That offseason Cashman also supplemented the bullpen by bringing in Paul Quantrill and Tom Gordon. In total, the Yanks spent $67.8 million on new pitching contracts just for the 2004 season, and traded away numerous prospects, including Juan Rivera and Nick Johnson, who actually turned out to be major league talent.

Of course, the offense need a new look too. Sprucing up your pitching and leaving the offense stagnant is like buying new seats for your 1978 Nova. Cashman signed Gary Sheffield (on orders from the Boss; Cashman reportedly wanted Vladimir Guerrero) and traded Alfonso Soriano for the expensive Alex Rodriguez.

In the 2004 offseason, with the worst series collapse in the history of baseball behind them, the Yankees and Cashman again retooled the roster. Gone was Vasquez, traded away for Randy Johnson and a new contract extension. New starters also included free agent signees Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright.  These new contracts cost the team $30.6 million for the 2004 payroll and the fans years and years of heartache.

In just a two year span Cashman and company spent a shade under $195 million to “fix” teams that lost under spectacular scrutiny from the local and national media. Some poor choices were made and some players did not perform up to expectations, but Cashman was the one who put his stamp on most of the new signings.

It’s not that simple doing Brian Cashman’s job. His acquisitions this past winter were no slam dunk regardless of the amount of money he put on the table for three top flight free agents. What Cashman did right this year was he chose his targets much more wisely than he had in the past. Signing the best free agents is not a panacea as Cashman has inadvertently pointed out for many years. Signing the right free agents can be.

Along with beneficial signings, the Yankees had a number of other gems fall into their lap. Francisco Cervelli filled in admirably while Jorge Posada was out. Cody Ransom did not do as good of a job in place of Rodriguez, but he was eventually displaced by trade deadline utility player Jerry Hairston, Jr., who rounds out the roster nicely. Phil Hughes, slated to return to Triple-A upon Chien-Ming Wang’s return, offered to go to the pen in order to stay in the bigs and has been as good as the Yankees have had in the 8^th inning since Mariano himself. (And he was 1/10 of the cost of Gordon, Farnsworth, and Karsay.)The rest of the bullpen, slated to be filled with the likes of Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veres, instead has found deep quality with David Robertson, Phil Coke, and, for the playoff run, Joba Chamberlain.

Chemistry is nice. Kangaroo courts make for good columns on an off day. $200 million payrolls are a big plus. None of it means anything if you don’t get a little luck and choose the right personnel. It looks like Cashman finally got it right this year.

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