Cashman The Great....

It has been FRIGGIN FREEZIN in the NYC area this last week. I have been thinking about warmer spring weather. Ah, spring training cometh and with it hope springs eternal for legions of Yankees fans. Is this the year we regain the crown, the 27Th championship? Dare I say it......YES!!!! Ballgame over, world series over, the Yankees win, the Yankees win. There I said it , write it down, print it and mail it. We have Brian "The Great" Cashman to thank for this. I believe that Mr Cashman's off season moves are some of the best that the Yankees have done in a long, long time. It kinda looks like what the consummate baseball guru Gene "Stick" Michael was orchestrating way back when the Boss was exiled. Let's take a looky see wha happen?

November 2006;

1) Mike "Moose" Mussina was signed to a reasonable two year extension. Say what you want about the moose but he has been one of the few pitchers that had been signed to a long term contract and actually performed well winning 92 games during his 6 year contract. That's an average of +15 wins a year folks. This was without any disastrous seasons or devastating injuries. He is still a solid no 2-3 starter who can get you 15 wins.

2) Jaret "4-5 innings" Wright was traded to Baltimore for RHP Chris Britton. I initially thought that the Yanks could have gotten more for a starting pitcher but as they say in the NFL on further review they made a great deal! They got a 6'3" 280 lb 25 year old hard throwing reliever who's opponents batted a combined .228 BAA. This was with the Orioles no less. He will be a fine addition to the bullpen. He pitched almost 54 innings which was about 11 starts for Jaret Wright!!! Getting rid of Wright probably saved half the bullpen for 2007. You knew Torre would pull him out after 5 inning max! This put some serious strain on the bullpen every 5 days contributing to the wearing out of Scott Proctor & Ron Villone.

3) Gary "I AM NOT APPRECIATED" Sheffield was traded to Detroit for RHP's Humbert Sanchez, Kevin Whelan & Anthony Claggett. A brilliant move by The Great Cashman. We received 3 pretty good RHP's for a no longer needed outfielder / DH. I will admit that I liked to watch Sheff's violent swings at the plate but you look at his record and he really did not do much in the playoffs. Not so clutch indeed. This also gives us a full season with Matsui, Damon & Abreu patrolling the outfield with the Melky as backup.

4) Don Mattingly named bench coach. Yes Donnie Baseball takes his place next to Mr Torre in 2007. The question is will the beloved Mr Mattingly need more than one year of seasoning under Torre to take the reins in 2008? We shall see!!


December 2006

5) Kei Igawa signed a five year deal to be a LEFTY pitcher with the NY Yankees. All I will say is that the whispers are that this kid will turn out to be a better MLB pitcher than the $50 million dollar guy up I95 in Boston! He has the confidence and the right stuff to make here in NY. Yup mark it down, I said here first. He will be a better pitcher than the other Japanese lefty playing for Boston. True that!


6) Andy Pettitte... What can I say that has not been said. Check out my comments from my blog on December 12, 2006. Christmas comes early for all ye faithful Yankee fans.

7) Josh Phelps.......Josh Phelps??? I do not know why but I think this guy may be a sleeper. He is a Rule 5 draft pick. He is only the second player ever chosen by the Yankees in this type of draft. He is a righty first baseman. I think he may be one of those role type player the Yanks had back in the mid to late'90's days .
he may compete with Andy Phillips and Doug Mientkiewicz for first base. Lets see what happens in spring training... I could be wrong I could be right!! I mean he did play for the famous Toledo Mudhens and was born in Alaska? Boy, am I reaching ?

January 2007

8) Miguel Cairo is back again. He is the Luis Sojo of this Yankee team. A good luck guy who is a tough, gritty, reliable back up infielder. The bonus is that he is capable of getting some clutch hits as well.

9) Randy Johnson clicked his heels three times and went back to Arizona for Luis Vizcaino, Steven Jackson, Ross Ohlendorf & Alberto Gonzalez. Another brilliant move by The Cashman. Lets face it "The Unit" was "The Big Disappointment" in the Bronx. The Yanks got another three young arms in return. DO you notice a pattern here? The stockpiling of valuable, coveted young pitching. Some are ready for the majors some will go to the farms system. This is a good thing, this is how you win! Vizcaino had 72 K's in 65.1 innings. Another hard thrower for the bullpen.

10) Doug "The Glove" Mientkiewicz signs as a free agent. I am not sure about this one. After watching The Giambino & Sheffield bungling at first, The Cashman must have decided that we must have a bonafide glover at first. I think there will be an interesting spring training for the battle at first base. Regardless any of the contenders will be a defensive improvement over last years pretenders. This will also help our fine 3rd baseman!


The Great Cashman has strengthened the starting pitching, bullpen, defense and stockpiled some young talent in the minors. There is some depth in the starting rotation and some strong arms in the bullpen...both keys to October baseball. I am sure there will be some surprises on the along the way.

YANKEE BASEBALL 2007 PREDICTIONS

A-Rod will have a great year and like Peyton Manning and finally get his ring......ahem,cough, ugh, cough

Carl Pavano will win at least 15 games and be in contention for the AL Cy Young Award if he does not get hurt.........cough, aargh, cough, gag, choke

Jason Giambi will become the Yankee's version of Big Poppy, we will call him Big Sweaty

Bernie Williams will retire a Yankee and have his day at Yankee Stadium.
He deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame just on his post season records alone. Remember these record were attained with his hard work, skill and dedication and sans any steroids or drug use.

Todd Pratt will not make the team

The Mercenary Roger Clemens will be in Pinstripes to get a another ring yet again

Kyle Farnsworth will get traded to a NL team

Mo will have another great year

Cashman will make at least 2 more great deals

The Boston Red Sox will still suck

Yanks beat the Mets in six games to clinch their 27th world championship!!