The Cashman Isn't Buying...

And I think it's angering some of you out there, but not me. I understand that it's hard for long-time Yankee fans to accept the fact that their team isn't the one doling out the 5-year $55 million contracts, but that's a good thing. Big contracts are big trouble, especially when the free agent market is as thin as this winter's. The trade market is therefore highly competitive, and as such, teams are demanding big packages for their trades (Cashman must be sick of teams requesting Cano & Wang). There hasn't been a deal that's gone down or a free agent that's been signed that makes me regret the Yankee's non-action.

If Cashman can sign another reliever to join Myers and Farnsworth (someone like Julian Tavarez or Roberto Hernandez) and make a deal for a centerfielder to split time with Bubba Crosby (Jason Michaels would be perfect - so perfect that he'd win the job outright by June), then turn his attention to the bench (Bernie will be back, along with maybe Nomar or Miguel Cairo?), the Yanks will have exactly what they need without spending the ridiculous amounts of money (and prospects) that they usually do. The added flexibility of small contracts and cheap players means that in a pinch, the team could be improved with deadline trades, and more than that, the team would also be set up for the future (the future - a strange concept for Yankee fans). The Yanks will be able to make moves over the next few years as more big contracts come off the books and better free agents (and prospects like Cox, Cabrera, Duncan, and Hughes) become available to improve the team.

To hammer in my point here's a little trip down memory lane - an excerpt from Contrary to Popular Belief... a post I made in mid-July:

So Cashman has two options: (1) Plug Along, Stay Afloat, Ride the Wave, Struggle Through, Gut It Out... etc. Keep bringing in your Tim Reddings and Aaron Smalls and maybe make a small deal here or there for a Chacon or a Leiter and just wait for the reinforcements coming off the DL.
OR
(2) Trade the 5 chips (and it will likely have to be all of them) for the one or two "perfect" acquisitions who will play for the Yankees through 2005, maybe take them to the playoffs and then leave for greener pastures in 2006.

The deal with option 1 is simple - the Yankees keep the small but promising farm intact and look to the future without entirely giving up on the present. This is what real baseball teams with real payrolls and real farm systems do. Now that the wonderful fantasy land ride that is the Yankees of 96-04 has come to an end, its about time they start acting like a real professional baseball organization instead of a mercenary camp for the old and expensive. With some luck and healthier arms they might just make the playoffs, too.

Option 2 is the same old story. Hughes, Duncan and Wang (though he can't be traded while on the DL) are shipped for a new starter like Burnett, while Cabrera and Cano are dealt for a guy like Cameron. The Yankees panic and give in to the crazy demands of the pre-deadline trade market. The result? Yankees get the Wild Card, lose in the ALCS to Boston, and head into next year struggling to re-sign Burnett and find that they can't acquire anyone in a trade because they have no trade bait to fall back on any more. Instead of the fantasy ride coming to a stop and turning around, it crashes through a wall and everyone is thrown 300 feet to their deaths.

On that note, I would like to thank Brian Cashman for choosing Option 1, and for continuing to choose Option 1. It's good to see that the Yankees are becoming a real professional baseball organization.