1. Brian Cashman agreed to a three-year contract to return as Yankee GM, and you could have made a pretty strong case either way on the decision. Cashman has had enough failures, especially when it comes to starting pitching, over the years that the Yanks could have decided to go in a new direction. Or you can recognize what a bear the job of Yankee GM is — maybe something you only truly understand if you are around the team all the time — and appreciate the myriad skills that Cashman brings that keeps the front office from imploding. As one admiring competitor said recently, “The day Cashman leaves is the day they begin to go through five GMs in nine years.”
But here is the thing I was always certain about: The Steinbrenners were going to want him back. In part, that is because owernship, namely Hal Steinbrenner, is comfortable with Brian in this role, and ownership comfort is an important part of this job. Mainly, however, I do not believe the Steinbrenner children have the nerve and ability to go out and actually do a competent job of hiring a GM. And, really, it would have had to be somebody outside the organization that the Yanks would have had to tap.
Twelve months ago, the VP of Scouting Damon Oppenheimer probably would have been the obvious successor. He is young and bright and talented. But 12 months later, his drafts don’t look quite as strong with, for example, Ian Kennedy tanking and this year’s first-round pick, Gerrit Cole, going to UCLA rather than signing. I know there is a lot of sympathy out there still for Gene Michael, and I am a big fan of his work. In my book, Birth of a Dynasty, Michael is one of the heroes and I detail all his deliberations in putting together the championship Yankees. But Stick is 70 now and does not have near the energy any more for this kind of overwhelming job.
Yammerin’ Hank Steinbrenner had tried to hint at his displeasure at Cashman by saying he would form an advisory committee that Cashman would answer to if the GM was retained. But, as usual, Hank was hot air. If he really had the power — which, of course, he does not — to install an advisory committee that means you think your GM is inadequate, which means you have to change the GM, rather than just undermine him. But Hank was never going to replace the GM and have to prove he knew how to run a search committee to replace Cashman. Heck, you can hardly get Hank to games or meetings now.
So if the Yanks were not going to reach outside the organization for new blood and fresh ideas then they had to return to Cashman and hope that his vision of reloading the farm system while stile big-game hunting on the trade/free-agent markets would restore greatness to the franchise.
2. More than breaking that 100-year hex is in play with the Cubs this postseason. Because if Chicago wins its first World Series in a century, that would probably put Lou Piniella over the top for the Hall of Fame. In some ways, Piniella has had a junior version of Joe Torre’s certain Hall career. Piniella was a very good player, though not nearly as good as Torre. Technically, Piniella very well may be a better manager than Torre, but Torre has those four World Series victories with the Yankees. Now Torre and Piniella square off in an NL Division Series, Dodgers vs. Cubs, ice in the manager’s seat vs. fire. The two previous times they faced each other in the playoffs, the 2000 and 2001 ALCS, Torre’s Yankees beat Piniella’s Mariners. In 2001, that meant Torre’s Yankees beat a Mariner team that won a record 116 games.
But those 116 wins are still part of Piniella’s strong candidacy. They are part of the 1,701 overall wins he has, 14th all-time. Piniella was the manager of the World Series champion Reds, whose sweep of the powerhouse A’s is one of the most stunning Fall Classic results in history. He had four playoff stints with Seattle, including the rousing comeback to a division title in 1995 that possibly saved baseball in the city. This is his second playoff stint in two years as Cub manager and the Cubs are the NL favorites. If Piniella wins his second World Series, my hunch is that will pretty much guarantee a date in Cooperstown.
3. In today’s Post, I wrote a column remembering what a valuable recruiter Joe Torre was and wondering if the rather charmless Joe Girardi is going to be any use in free agency. Actually, I wonder if Girardi is going to serve as a repellent. If offers are close between the Yanks and other teams could the idea of playing for Girardi be enough of a turnoff for veteran players that it will tip the scale against the Yankees. Remember players talk to each other constantly during the season and life in the clubhouse is one of the major topics. Also, players from across the league share similar agents. Over the previous decade-plus, the Yanks could always count on the positive buzz their veterans would offer about playing for Torre. I am not suggesting there is open hostility against Girardi in the Yankee clubhouse. But there certainly is not anything approaching warmth or overt comfort. I cannot imagine Yankee veterans selling the manager to a friend considering playing for the Yankees. It is one strike against the organization as the offseason begins.