New York, NY (WFAN) -- Brian Cashman has taken a lot of hits over the last six years. Now that he's built the Yankees into a pennant winner again he deserves some credit. Yes, there is still one more hill to climb. But several key decisions on Cashman's part have shaped the 2009 Yankees:
*Hire Joe Girardi:
When Joe Torre was sacked after the 2007 season, the popular choice among fans was Don Mattingly and for a while he was thought to be the front-runner. But Joe Girardi was Cashman's first choice all along. His first year didn't turn out so good, but his second year was better. His decisions will make you scratch your head sometimes (See ALCS, 2009). But no one is more prepared than Girardi and he is now manager of the American League champions.
*Pass on Johan Santana:
Cashman took a lot of heat for this one in the 2007-08 offseason, especially when Santana ended up across town with the Mets. But a package including
Phil Hughes and
Melky Cabrera plus a $100 million dollar-plus contract extension was deemed too much. What Cashman knew was that
CC Sabathia would be available as a free agent the following winter and he felt the pieces he was being asked to trade were worth holding on to.
*Sign CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira:
Yes, he had a big wallet to work with. But it took a little more than that to reel in the big free agent class this past winter. Word was spreading that Sabathia preferred the West Coast, Burnett might be comfortable moving to the NL with Atlanta, and Teixeira was being pursued by the Angels, Red Sox, and Nationals too.
Cashman made the big sell. Yes, he wrote the biggest checks, but he also had to convince these players that New York was where they wanted to go. It wasn't as easy to do in 2008 as it was in 1998. Cashman was prepared to land none of these three. He ended up with all three.
*Commit to younger players:
This actually began in 2005. A rough start needed a quick fix that forced Cashman to bring up
Robinson Cano and
Chien-Ming Wang. Wang's injury kept him from being a factor in 2009, but Cano is an All-Star. In 2004, the Diamondbacks couldn't be convinced that Cano was good enough to be put in a deal for Randy Johnson. Good thing for the Yankees. Melky Cabrera and
Brett Gardner are also good pieces that have made this team younger.
And after years of burning through veteran relievers with hundreds of innings already under their belt, Cashman built this year's bullpen from within, using younger arms (less expensive and less mileage). Phil Hughes,
Joba Chamberlain,
David Robertson,
Phil Coke are all relievers who would have had a hard time cracking the Joe Torre bullpen because they weren't veteran guys.
When Brian Cashman came on board as GM in 1998 he rode a wave through 2000 as the Yankees rolled through their dynasty years. But the task became difficult as this past decade rolled on. Every team in every sport, no matter how good, gets old and falls from the top of the mountain at some point. It was inevitable that the Yankees fell too. But how far they fell and how quickly they could be rebuilt is what lay in Cashman's hands. The payroll numbers made sure they didn't fall too far, and smart decisions made sure they came back quickly.
The Yankees of the last few years had Brian Cashman's imprint, no doubt, and he took the heat. But Cashman has made positive and significant impacts for 2009 and they shouldn't go unrecognized.
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