New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman Has Monster Week
By Ron Juckett
After convincing owner Hal Steinbrenner to sell, New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman restocked the farm system and refreshed the team for the future.
The New York Yankees were sellers this trade deadline season. And, as you would expect from a city boasting fine shopping on Park Avenue, they turned a tidy profit.
It is not in the Yankee vocabulary to sell. George Steinbrenner never did. Instead he bought at bad prices too often. The fans still expect a championship every year despite their last World Series visit coming back in 2009. The words fire sale and rebuild are spoken as often as love for the Boston Red Sox and David Ortiz. Yet somehow, general manager Brian Cashman convinced Hal Steinbrenner to do just that.
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No, not love the Red Sox, but rebuild. The aging team in the Bronx is now yesterday’s news. In moving Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Ivan Nova and Carlos Beltran, the Yankees scored three new prospects ranked in the top 100 by MLB.com and the number four pick in last year’s draft.
No dramatics or tantrums. No back page backstabbing in the tabloids. Cashman remodeled the Bronx Bombers while keeping their fading Wild Card hopes alive.
In this year of exacting a steep price for pitching, New York demanded Gleyber Torres—the top shortstop in the Chicago Cubs system—along with old friend Adam Warren and two others so Chicago could rent Chapman until the season ends. For Miller’s services, the Cleveland Indians handed over Clint Frazier—who is now considered the top prospect in the Yankees’ system—along with 2014 first-rounder Justus Sheffield along with two others. The Texas Rangers needed Carlos Beltran in the worst way. And they handed over Dillon Tate, their first pick last year. New York immediately announced Tate would get a breather in the bullpen in A-Ball after he struggled in getting hit around a bit.
Torres, Frazier and Sheffield are huge prospects with Tate not far behind. With careful drafting the last few years, the Yankees have restocked the farm in ways not seen since Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte climbed the ladder. The transformation is stunning.
As recently as a couple of weeks ago, it looked like the Yankees were in limbo. Not quite out of the playoffs, but needing the Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles pitching to implode more than they have. If they held firm some would be upset, but their path to the playoffs was plausible. Just not likely.
Along with Chapman, Beltran is a free agent in waiting. CC Sabathia has a team option next year. Mark Teixeira will be a free agent as Alex Rodriguez’s albatross deal hits its last year. Aside from a fresh crop of kids, the Yankees will have room on their payroll.
Not all of the prospects pan out as they never do. But as players such as Bryce Harper test their fair market value, New York is poised to buy who they think can put them back into October’s spotlight.
Cashman, at times, has been a punching bag for critics. With hundreds of millions invested in horrible contracts, the criticism was deserved. His work over the last ten days is praiseworthy. If you are a fan of a rival, you must be cringing.
Next: MLB Trade Deadline Biggest Winners
It may not be next year, but soon.