by Stop Mike Lupica on December 5 at 10:17AM
Interesting article by Bill Madden in the Daily News today, in which he calls out Brian Cashman for taking the Yankees out of the mix for a Johan Santana deal.
While Bill Madden isn't among my favorites (I disagree with his view on steroids and "the history of the game"), he does earn some respect from me in that he's still working hard. Unlike some other writers who have mailed in so many columns (Lupica), Madden has in the past week sat down and done a nice interview with The New Boss, Hank Steinbrenner, and now come up with the Yankees final offer in the Twins deal for Santana.
According to Madden, the Twins were okay with the Yankees offer of Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and two second-tier prospects (specifically Double-A pitcher Jeff Marquez and Single-A 3B Mitch Hilligoss, two guys years away from being major-leaguers, if at all). So why didn't the deal go down?
Brian Cashman.
According to Bill Madden, Brian Cashman never wanted the deal for Santana, due to his reluctance to deal Hughes and add $20 million to the payroll. In fact, when Andy Pettite re-signed with the Yankees this past week, his $16 million effectively made Cashman payroll max out, and he couldn't "find" another $20 million to sign Santana. This despite his owner being more than willing to shell out the $20 million. Cashman does not want to exceed his desired payroll.
Of all the reasons to not make a trade....
Madden then puts the hammer down on Cashman, pointing out that it was Cashman's signings of Carl Pavano and Kei Igawa that have the Yankees payroll as high as it is. Oh, and that if he had signed Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada at the start of last season, instead of waiting until they became free agents, he could have had them for cheaper and less time, too.
That in particular bothered me, because at the time it made no sense to me. Even back then I knew this: Regardless of how Rivera and Posada performed during the 2007 season, they would have to be re-signed by the Yankees. They are heroes, and born and bred Yankees who came up through the minors. Like Jeter and in particular Bernie Williams, they mean too much to the history of the franchise for the Yankees not to match any offers for them.
So by letting them potentially become free agents, you are playing a game with high risk and low payoff. The high risk is that someone would offer them a huge contract (even if they had a poor season), just to drive up the asking price for the Yankees. The Red Sox did this when Bernie Williams was a free agent, and so the Yankees had to overpay ($13 million a year) to keep him. The Mets essentially did that this year, when they let it be known they were interested in Jorge Posada. Even if he hadn't had a career year, the situation might have played out almost exactly the same.
It was a terrible business decision, or so I thought at the time. In this case, I still think I was right to think so. These guys are just special cases; normally treating a normal guy like that would be okay - like A-Rod, who the Yankees may have actually gotten for cheaper than if they had re-signed him prior to the season. But with these rare "real Yankees", these guys who came up thru the system, and whom the fans feel are an essential part of the team's history... you can't f*ck with them.
Now, back to Santana. By not finding the "room" for him in the team's plans, I have to say I feel very very worried about the team's future. It's especially short-sighted, because as Madden writes:
"In fact, the payroll glut would have been for only one year as some $80 million for Pettite, Pavano, Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Mussina, Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi come off the books after '08."
Indeed, Santana's salary easily fits into the Mussina/Giambi slot, with a savings of $15 million still left, if the Yankees want to replace Giambi at first base (my recommendation - just move Johnny Damon or Matsui there, or more likely, Posada).
Stupid decision by Cashman.
It's even worse when you place it in context with the rest of the happenings at the meeting: The Tigers have added Miguel Cabrera and Dontrille Willis (an innings-eater) to a team that has Gary Sheffield and one of the top offenses in baseball now, and a starting pitching staff that is young and capable (anchored by Jeremy Bonderman). The Red Sox now seem the favorites, the only other option for the Twins in fact, to land Santana. Whose staff wins in the AL East:
Red Sox: Santana, Beckett, Schilling, Dice-K.
Yankees: Wang (a winner, but arguably not an ace, or not better than any of those four Sox pitchers).
Pettite and Mussina (both old and injury-riddled).
Hughes, Kennedy, maybe Joba (all unproven as starters).
My guess? Brian Cashman and the Yankees are not really this stupid. They probably have inside knowledge that the Twins are moving Santana to the Red Sox, and instead will keep him this season. The Yankees will then sign him as a free agent next season, the Yankees get him and keep Hughes plus Melky, and all this speculation right here was one season early.
Either that or Brian Cashman done messed up badly.
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While Bill Madden isn't among my favorites (I disagree with his view on steroids and "the history of the game"), he does earn some respect from me in that he's still working hard. Unlike some other writers who have mailed in so many columns (Lupica), Madden has in the past week sat down and done a nice interview with The New Boss, Hank Steinbrenner, and now come up with the Yankees final offer in the Twins deal for Santana.
According to Madden, the Twins were okay with the Yankees offer of Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and two second-tier prospects (specifically Double-A pitcher Jeff Marquez and Single-A 3B Mitch Hilligoss, two guys years away from being major-leaguers, if at all). So why didn't the deal go down?
Brian Cashman.
According to Bill Madden, Brian Cashman never wanted the deal for Santana, due to his reluctance to deal Hughes and add $20 million to the payroll. In fact, when Andy Pettite re-signed with the Yankees this past week, his $16 million effectively made Cashman payroll max out, and he couldn't "find" another $20 million to sign Santana. This despite his owner being more than willing to shell out the $20 million. Cashman does not want to exceed his desired payroll.
Of all the reasons to not make a trade....
Madden then puts the hammer down on Cashman, pointing out that it was Cashman's signings of Carl Pavano and Kei Igawa that have the Yankees payroll as high as it is. Oh, and that if he had signed Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada at the start of last season, instead of waiting until they became free agents, he could have had them for cheaper and less time, too.
That in particular bothered me, because at the time it made no sense to me. Even back then I knew this: Regardless of how Rivera and Posada performed during the 2007 season, they would have to be re-signed by the Yankees. They are heroes, and born and bred Yankees who came up through the minors. Like Jeter and in particular Bernie Williams, they mean too much to the history of the franchise for the Yankees not to match any offers for them.
So by letting them potentially become free agents, you are playing a game with high risk and low payoff. The high risk is that someone would offer them a huge contract (even if they had a poor season), just to drive up the asking price for the Yankees. The Red Sox did this when Bernie Williams was a free agent, and so the Yankees had to overpay ($13 million a year) to keep him. The Mets essentially did that this year, when they let it be known they were interested in Jorge Posada. Even if he hadn't had a career year, the situation might have played out almost exactly the same.
It was a terrible business decision, or so I thought at the time. In this case, I still think I was right to think so. These guys are just special cases; normally treating a normal guy like that would be okay - like A-Rod, who the Yankees may have actually gotten for cheaper than if they had re-signed him prior to the season. But with these rare "real Yankees", these guys who came up thru the system, and whom the fans feel are an essential part of the team's history... you can't f*ck with them.
Now, back to Santana. By not finding the "room" for him in the team's plans, I have to say I feel very very worried about the team's future. It's especially short-sighted, because as Madden writes:
"In fact, the payroll glut would have been for only one year as some $80 million for Pettite, Pavano, Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Mussina, Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi come off the books after '08."
Indeed, Santana's salary easily fits into the Mussina/Giambi slot, with a savings of $15 million still left, if the Yankees want to replace Giambi at first base (my recommendation - just move Johnny Damon or Matsui there, or more likely, Posada).
Stupid decision by Cashman.
It's even worse when you place it in context with the rest of the happenings at the meeting: The Tigers have added Miguel Cabrera and Dontrille Willis (an innings-eater) to a team that has Gary Sheffield and one of the top offenses in baseball now, and a starting pitching staff that is young and capable (anchored by Jeremy Bonderman). The Red Sox now seem the favorites, the only other option for the Twins in fact, to land Santana. Whose staff wins in the AL East:
Red Sox: Santana, Beckett, Schilling, Dice-K.
Yankees: Wang (a winner, but arguably not an ace, or not better than any of those four Sox pitchers).
Pettite and Mussina (both old and injury-riddled).
Hughes, Kennedy, maybe Joba (all unproven as starters).
My guess? Brian Cashman and the Yankees are not really this stupid. They probably have inside knowledge that the Twins are moving Santana to the Red Sox, and instead will keep him this season. The Yankees will then sign him as a free agent next season, the Yankees get him and keep Hughes plus Melky, and all this speculation right here was one season early.
Either that or Brian Cashman done messed up badly.
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No-chance-Lance-Ito that the Red Sox are mortgaging their future without signing Johan to at least a 7 year extension, first. So either your last statement has a typo, or your weed needs to go unsmoked for a couple of days..
the Red Sox will give up more for Johan than the Yankees.. all the posturing by Hanky boy will soon catch up with him