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Yankees GM Brian Cashman is a free agent at the end of this season.
In a post to Was Watching, Steve Lombradi wonders if Cashman could be of interest to the Mets, in the event Omar Minaya is fired between now and next season.
…i do not think omar will be fired…but, it is interesting, in that he has really received very little criticism, which is odd, since most people are putting a ton of blame on the players…and since he acquired most of these players, it stands to reason that he should get some of the criticism…
Last Friday, in a post to his blog for Daily News, Adam Rubin explained why Minaya deserves a lot of blame, adding that it’s too easy to just scapegoat Willie Randolph.
…i like when rubin gets critical…he writes with a clear-cut, insightful passion that i enjoy…it may be time to make him a columnist, though he does a great job on the beat…
Ugh. Is this for real?
Cashman has made his fair share of terrible moves, Igawa, Pavano, Brown, Damon
Not to mention, he has the ability to spend more cash than anyone else to cover those mistakes.
$240 Million payroll and a bullpen consisting of Farnsworth, Hawkins, Ohlendorf, Veras, Edwar Ramirez, and the great Mariano. Not a single lefty.
Not to mention, a starting rotation of Mussina (whose 2 yr contract last year, rivals Castillo’s 4 yr), Pettitte, Hughes, Kennedy, and Wang.
No bench.
No thanks. Omar Minaya blows this guy away.
Fire Willie…..please.
From ESPN:
“With few fans remaining at Shea Stadium in the late innings of Monday night’s loss, a chant of “Fire Willie!” could clearly be heard.”
I hate what the Met fans have become. I go to less games because it’s frustrating as a fan to sit there and listen to the entire stadium boo their favorite team, or a 1B who’s at the end of his career, or a relief pitcher who has been big for us for many years and is having a rough season (look at his splits, they need to stop putting him in against lefties). Are they going to boo Nick Evans next because he hasn’t had a hit since his 3 doubles?
The fire Willie chant is obnoxious – sure a lot of us want it, but its ridiculous to chant that at a game. Especially when if we were winning the game, the fans at the stadium would be more than happy. “Fire Isiah” chants made sense, because he needed to be fired and caused sooo many problems.
um….NO. As far as executives go, I don’t think anyone has ever gotten a bigger pass in the history of baseball than Brian Cashman. I loved it when Mad Dog called Cashman out live when he said Cashman was full of it that the Yankees wouldn’t do the Abreu deal if Lidle was included. What a crock.
Id rather pick up Delgado’s option than hire Cashman to be GM
here here!
paul depodesta please.
Did Depodesta make any good moves in LA?
i’d say the brad penny trade, even though he got killed for it
Awful.
Interestingly, in an otherwise characteristically hideous essay by MLB scenester Peter Gammons, (which was essentially a mealy-mouthed, sycophantic political diatribe that didn’t say anything except that Randolph and Delgado are “decent” people) he mentioned a name I have yet to hear as a mangerial candidate: Ozzie Guillen acolyte Joey Cora. In my mind, he would be ideal.
Just read that piece. Atrocious.
you had me until “ozzie guillen acolyte”
Everybody wants passion, intensity, a focus on clutch performance, team unity, and crisp, smart baseball. That’s Ozzie Guillen, minus the profanity and clownish image. Cora would not bring that with him, I don’t think. If Oberkfell isn’t the right choice for whatever reason, Cora could be.
I was going to comment on that myself. It may have been the single worst piece of sports writing I have ever read. Horrendous. ESPN is such an awful organization.
Frank Cashen!!!
Isiah Thomas!
Cashman isn’t the answer. No more Yankees.
Minaya… you know, I liked him before. But what I saw this offseason was a very different Minaya from previous years — a complacent GM who was all too happy with his roster and wasn’t really looking to improve it through anything other than the big splash. (That would be one Mr. Santana.) Where in previous years Minaya was adept at digging diamonds from the rough, this time he just decided that all the old diamonds would suffice just fine — Easley, Anderson, Chavez, etc. Well, no. You find the diamonds, then unless they somehow turn into stars, you find the next diamonds. You don’t stick with the same old guys, anticipating that lightning will strike twice. And you CERTAINLY don’t sign Luis Castillo to a four-year contract.
So I think Minaya deserves as much of a share of the blame as Randolph does.
the world is not always raining with Diamonds in the rough.
And you CERTAINLY do not have problems when Castillo is hitting .270 with a near .370 obp, he was not brought in to be Moises Alou, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and for that matter at this moment David Wright.
Uh, actually, I do have a problem when my starting 2B on a $140 million team is hitting .259 and slugging .322, in the midst of the worst full season he’s had in his career. Thank god he walks, but it seems like he’s trying to draw a walk every time he’s up with men on base, which is awful.
The world doesn’t have to be raining diamonds in the rough. But they certainly exist. There’s not some one year and none the next year.
Delgado is way over the hill, and you can blame Minaya there too, for going short-term and acquiring him rather than just playing Jacobs or holding off until a younger power-hitting 1B was available.
So Andrew, I am sure you would not have been bashing Minaya had he let say Atlanta go out and acquire Delgado from Florida after the 2005 season while allowing Jacobs to drop his 2006 Marlins line into the Mets books?
Delgado was not way over the hill in 2006 when he was pummelling in the regular season and the playoffs, but things do happen, gambles can often be short lived as such.
Castillo is here to be a table setter not an offensive force.
I absolutely hate Luis Castillo. How many DPs has he hit into this year? How many strikeouts does he have? How many rallies has he killed this year?
I wish we could bat him 10th. Seriously, I would do what Milwaukee does, bat this bum 9th and make the pitcher hit 8th.
In 2006, Delgado put up his worst batting average and OBP since 1997. Yes, he hit 38 homers and drove in 114, but clearly it was a sign of things to come. He was 34. He was not exactly on the good side of his prime.
Please recall that the Mets had in previous years acquired another slugging 1B by the name of Mo Vaughn at approximately the same age coming off a very similar previous season (not the season he missed, but the season before that, obviously). Vaughn’s line in 2002 was very much like Delgado’s last year. Eerily, in fact. Look:
2002 Mo Vaughn (age 34): .259/.349/.456, 26 HR, 72 RBI
2007 Delgado (age 35): .258/.333/.448, 24 HR, 87 RBI
My point is, the Delgado trade was a good short-term deal, but Minaya knew it wouldn’t be a good long-term deal, and was okay with that. Now I go and point that out, and somehow I’m basically getting called a fair-weather fan.
Actually, LongJohn, Castillo has only 14 Ks to go with 22 walks. He prefers to ground out to second base.
I did not call you a fair weather fan but are you denying that the Delgado trade did not work out?
Do you think the Mets would have been better off in 2006 or 2007 or now had the trade not been made?
“He prefers to ground out to second base” – too true. Thanks for the stats man.
Luis Castillo loves grounding out to 2B. The outfield plays 75 ft off of the infield dirt when he bats. We can’t have that. He still can’t hit the ball over their heads. It’s like batting the pitcher twice. Unacceptable.
Castillo’s OBP is better than most seem to think, but his slugging is just awful.
You cannot be happy with what Castillo has given the team this year. You simply cannot.
Problem is we as fans got a bill of sale for diamonds and come to find out all we got was Cubics Zerconia.
Cubics Zerconia – he’s that new 16 Hispanic player we signed to a multimillion dollar deal right?
no cashman. period. enough yankee.
matt is right, if they are blaming willie, omar is to be blamed too, equally. if willie goes, omar should go too
omar should be gone before the deadline just to prevent him from trading away what little prospects we have.
this team is bad. time to face facts and procede accordingly.
lets analyze the “prospects” Minaya has cost the Mets…
Jacobs (doesn’t hit lefties, above average 1b)
Bell (needed a change of scenary)
Bannister (getting roughed up in KC)
Ring (only pitches to 1 batter a game)
Lindstrom (throws hard, gets hit harder)
Owens (still on the DL)
Petit (long releif on ARI, struggling)
Gaby Hernandez (still in minors)
Guerra (Good in minors)
Humber (struggling in Minn)
Mulvey (consistent, prolly #3-4 pitcher)
Gomez (doesn’t walk at all)
Keppinger (hate that we don’t have him)
With the exception of Keppinger, Guerra, Mulvey, and maybe Gomez, who did he throw away?
my point exactly the ends have justified the means far more often than not in what Minaya has done.
I have said it from day one, Minaya is not going to be pleasing as a public speaker, but I am not looking for a grand orator but someone who can negotiate with and scout and have scouts who bring in good talent.
Now lets recall who he has brought in via trades as well…
Maine, Perez, Santana, Sanchez, Castillo (for a drive thru attendee) Church, Schnieder
Not half bad, unquestionably his gambles on the age and health of Pedro, Alou and Delgado and to a lesser extent El Duque have been problematic, but such is life in the high risk game of talent evaluation.
omar was never on the hot seat before. this is less about omar and more about the organization history of blowing prospects when GMs are in trouble.
what prospects are you in fear of him trading?
Don’t forget we got El Duque for a bag of balls.
I’d fear him trading F-mart.
I think it’s obvious once Willie’s gone, if not now, Omar is the first person all the blame is going to fall on, so it’s not really like he’d have anything to lose if we’re still not a good team. Someone else mentioned before he traded Sizemore, Phillips, and someone else I can’t remember for Colon when he was in Montreal and the team’s future was in doubt. If he thinks his future with the team is in doubt who’s to say he won’t empty out the few decent prospects we have for another attempt at a quick fix?
Cashman is a bigger failure than Omar is.
10 playoff appearances, 9 division titles, 5 pennants and 3 rings in 10 years say otherwise.
Cashman inherited the 1998 Yankees, he had nothing to do with the following, Paul O’Neill, Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius, David Wells, David Cone, Orlando Hernandez, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Joe Girardi, Jon Wetteland etal…
Cashman has principally been responsible for the assembling of talent for the teams from 2002 onward
who have made the playoffs 5 years out of 5 while winning 4 divisions.
and zero world series rings.
Exactly, when you spend over 200 million each year, your goal is not to win the division, its to win a ring. They have been failures for 8 years now
Dykstraw, you are saying then that if the Mets made the playoffs last year and were bounced in the first round you’d be a lot less vocal on dumping Minaya?
And I will give cashman credit this season for sticking with his young players because he knows thats what made them win in the late 90’s. he tried spending money on players and it failed miserably, now at least he is adjusting.
patrick: i am saying that. the playoffs are largely a crapshoot. all a GM can do is get his team into the playoffs and hope luck is on his side.
if the mets coasted to the playoffs last year with no hint of collapse and just suffered a tough-luck first round loss, the atmosphere around the team right now would be very different.
ok
dykstraw is right. The notion that success is measured by rings is a little far fetched. It takes greatness (or very-goodness!) to reach the post season. Once there, greatness can take you all the way, but so can luck.
Were the 2000 Mets better than the 2000 Braves? No. But we went to the WS.
Cashman’s team is one game under .500 while Omar’s is 3. Not a big enough difference to make me want Cashman. He’s a joke
You can’t compare their performance with ours…at all. They have a new manager, they decided to stick with young pitching, which was understanding that there would be speedbumps, and they have missed Jorge and Arod for several weeks, (obv arod is back now).
I’m just saying that they didnt have the expectations we had coming into this season, whether our expectations were unrealistic (which they may have been sadly) or just. I say unrealistic because besides johan, we have the same team that collapsed in Sept and last i checked johan does not bat everyday.
Cashman’s success (and limited) is due to his predecessor, Mr. Gene Michaels.
After that, he’s contributed nothing but one bad investment after another. This guy is a joke.
Cashman is Minaya with more cash. No thanks.
This is the main problem
mets.com
“Certainly, the Mets have talent, but much of it remains lower down in their Minor League system. Look for Terrasas to add more players in the mold of Joe Smith and Eddie Kunz — older prospects who might help the big club sooner rather than later. Terrasas is plenty aware that the Mets have a history of trading away their Minor Leaguers for established talent, so he’ll likely take the best available player regardless of organizational need.”
And if Omar is on the hot seat, this is what worries me most. That he will make a trade with whatever prospects we have left to acquire a stop-gap fix that most likely will be an aging veteran. This exact procedure is what WE DONT want for the future of our team. But if it prolongs his job, I dont doubt he will do so.
this is a tad puzzling in one sense he says pick guys who help now, in the next he says feh he will pick based on talent because the Mets will trade them anyway, lets just see the draft first.
I wanted to kill when I read this. The Mets need a foundation, not a bunch of relief pitchers who might contribute 60 innings next year.
“Mets have talent, but much of it remains lower down in their Minor League system”
Who are these mystery players they keep talking about? And exactly how far away are they? Are we talking 2-3 years or 4-6?
I think Omar certainly deserves a good portion of the blame for the Mets’ failures. I think that having a bad month can be viewed as an anomaly. Having a bad calendar year…I’m pretty sure that means you’re not very good team. That can’t all be pinned on the manager.
As for on-the-field play, the thing I’d like to see the Mets start to do the most is work deep counts. When they dictate pitch sequences at the plate, they are a successful offense. (See: Yankees series.)
very true on taking pitches. Watching them the last few days they have been hacking away early in the counts.
Memorial day 2007 : Mets were 4 games ahead in first place BA=.281
Memorial day 2008 : Mets in 4th place BA= .258
This is not the same team as last year but same problems. So in that case you have to point the finger @ the manager. Since last year Omar replaced the old catcher (LoDuca), the immature outfielder (Milledge) and replaced them with Church ans Schneider. Oh yeah btw he also went out and got the best pitcher in baseball for prospects.
You’re right. Technically, it’s not the same team. But it’s the same cast of characters (Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Delgado, Castillo, Maine, Perez, Heilman…et al), looking very much like the 2007 “collapse” Mets.
What exactly is Willie supposed to do? Or do you think he’s simply incapable of getting his players to perform to their abilities? And if that’s the case, how does anyone do that?
Cashman would be Horrible. Omar has done a pretty good job; it falls on the manager to get it done. Cashman has made mistake after mistake during his tenure. No more Yankee trash!
If omar goes, i definately do not want to see Cashman land the job.
I think Omar is at fault for alot of the problems of this years team, but we can’t really get on him for certian players like Delgado, Beltran, or pedro. THe mets lineup would not have been nearly as potent in 06 without Delgado. He made the lineup beter top to bottom and was a huge factor in Beltrans huge year. Dince then, he has gotten really old, really fast. I have no problem with just cutting him now, but do you think the Mets would have been the force they were in 06 wth Mike Jacobs as the every day 1b? Beltran has not lived up to the contract, but we fans were screaming for a big splash after so many last place finishes. He was the best on the market and coming of an unreal postseason. And for Pedro, even though everyone under the sun knew he probably never be able to play out a 4 year contract, it was another splash that we needed as well as an economic decision since he assured the stadium would be packed every time he pitched.
What about reyes who seems to be digressing…is that Omar’s fault. Not saying it’s Willies either, but it is the maagers job to get the best out of his players…and it isn’t happening.
One of my biggest fears is that Wilpons will jump at the chance to have Cashman as GM. Fact of the matter is, he’s made moves that would’ve gotten him fired anywhere else that money couldn’t be spent on top of money spent on mistakes. For example- Chris Hammond, Paul Quantrill, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Kei Igawa, Tony Womack and even guys like Giambi and Farnsworth could be considered bad signings, as well as Damon and Randy Johnson.
The Wright & Igawa signings alone should prevent him from ever being a GM anywhere again.
yankees press conference today to say that cashman is the team’s gm
Relax everyone. I really don’t think the Wilpon’s are dumb enough to replace Minaya with Cashman. I would think Minaya has through next season.
I’d rather see the Mets jettison Omar and higher one of these up and coming GMs like Mike Chernoff of the Indians. They won’t do it before the draft, and probably not before the end of the season, but let’s get some young minds in here rather than some old retread who’s already failed elsewhere.
sorry, that should be *hire* one of these up and coming GMs…
I agree, but I don’t expect it to happen, it would be taking a risk. And I get the feeling they would rather hover around hover around mediocrity than take a risk with an unknown.
i’d rather have Al Harazin as GM again then pay Cashman to screw up this team even worse.
God no. Are we going to sign Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright to fill out our staff too?
Omar totally deserves to be fired for what he’s done. He’s crippled this team for the next 10 years, unless the Wilpons keep throwing tons of cash at bigtime FAs. And even then, they won’t get them all.
And if they bring in Cashman to clean up, they might as well forget about the new ballpark, it won’t help the team win or bring the fans out while they suck.