Friday, May 29, 2009

Someone is Going Around Pretending to be Brian Cashman

I am a big fan of Brian Cashman as a general manager. Sometimes I may even go so far as to fall intowhat one might deem Cashman apology. One thing that does bother me sometimes about his approach is his seemingly laid back public persona. Maybe its because I’m used to George coming out after a 5 game losing streak in April and calling the player with the worst average a pansy, or Mr. April or something equally as derogatory yet blissfully entertaining to us plebes, or maybe its not. What I do know is that Cashman almost always seems to eschew what showing emotion or voicing an opinion for the cryptic or the corporate speak response. What I like to see is someone telling it like it is or at least how they think it is. One problem with this, though, is that people (I’m looking at you Mike Francesca) don’t know when to shut up and blather on and on even after they have been proven to be misinformed or completely, utterly, and embarrassingly incorrect, but, as is my wont, I digress. As for the Yankee’s gm, we might be witnessing his bursting from his corporate shell. Allow me to elaborate.


This morning, when perusing my favorite blog (River Avenue Blues), and overall best Yankee site hands down, I read an interesting quote in one of the articles there. It was about comments made by Andrew Marchand regarding Chien-Ming Wang. In it Marchand mentions how the Yankees, having no experience with the Lisfranc injury that Wang suffered last year, told him not to work out his legs this offseason for fear of reinjury. The meat and potatoes comes when Marchand mentions he talked to Wang’s agent, Alan Nero, and details what he said and Cashman’s response. Mike Axisa writes:


"Marchand also said he spoke Alan Nero, Wang’s agent, who said his client is upset about being told not to work his legs, as well as having to work out of the bullpen. He’ll go along with it for the time being because he’s a team player. Cashman’s response: “His contract says baseball player, not starting pitcher.” That’s an OH SNAP! moment if there ever was one."


OH SNAP! just about hits the nail on the head. I think this is such a great response in so many ways. The Yankees and Brian Cashman do not owe one player on that roster a damn thing. They get paid to show up and play. Chien-Ming Wang won 19 years in 2006 and 2007. That’s awesome. He had an era over 30 this year. That is Teh Epic Suck©®™ and deserves nothing more than a reality check. He gets nothing handed to him nor deserves a damn thing until he proves he can get people out in whatever way the Yankees see fit. He is, in fact, a baseball player under contract to play baseball. If he feels disrespected for that and is unable to forgive the Yankees for their blatant mishandling of his DL stint and subsequent activation (my opinion obv) then let him walk when he is eligible for free agency and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out Monsieur Wang.


Now, had this been an isolated incident, I would have thought nothing of it other than +1 for Cashman and his portrayal of someone who has a set of balls. But, as Erik Boland’s Newsday.com article shows us, we might just be seeing Brian Cashman taking his set of brass balls off the mantle and finally putting them to good use. In the article Cashman discusses none other than Joba Chamberlain and (for God sakes already) the bullpen. I plowed through the first few sentences expecting the typical line of he is in the rotation and we have no plans to move him back to the bullpen at this time yada yada yada. But, much to my surprise and joy, there was more. The topic turns to Joba’s velocity, or lack thereof at the beginning of games and Boland brings up the argument (sorry, the really stupid and “but I see it with my own eyes” argument) that there may be an adrenaline rush resulting from pitching out of the bullpen that would allow him to come in and pump 1000 mph fastballs that would burrow holes through the barrels of the bats and be completely unhittable for one inning a game every couple days. Cashman’s response is great:


"That's all crap," he said. "Wake up and smell the coffee. If he's on national television on ESPN and throws 91 on the 22nd pitch, why would you think if he comes in in the eighth inning protecting a 4-3 lead [he'd throw 96]? Stop, he's a starter.''


While not quite an OH SNAP! moment it does seem to be a concrete dig at B-Jobbers the world over and only moves him higher up Teh Awesome scale coming on the heels of today’s earlier comments from Marchand. Will Joba be moved back to the bullpen? "It's not even an option," quoth the Cash$$. We are all witnesses.


What caused this shift in Brian Cashman? Is it not being in fear of a whimsical Big Stein who could snap at any minute and feeling like he has some job security so he doesn’t have to produce generic answers? Is it a better relationship with Hal? Maybe he is just fed up and wishes everyone would so totally just STFU and leave him the hell alone? Or maybe he has always been like this and I have just never noticed. Who knows? He could totally be an alien like Dennis Leary and Alec Baldwin and be counting the days til he can suck out our mushy brains. Frankly, I couldn’t give a damn as long as he doesn’t retire that set of balls anytime soon and keeps on bringing the entertainment. Up next, I want to hear what Cash$$ really thinks of Carl Pavano.

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