Making The Call: A Swing And A Miss So Far

Photograph of Javier Vazquez from the AP

The Yankees are sitting just a half game out of first place this morning with a sparkling 21-8 record. They are winning games convincingly, but they are also winning them without any significant contributions from their offseason acquisitions.

Flash back to the start of 2009. The Yankees brought in three big pieces, CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Mark Teixeira. Sabathia and Teixeira had dominant seasons and while Burnett scuffled at times, he provided over 200 innings of pitching at levels above the league average. Without those acquisitions, the Yankees would not have come close to winning the World Series.

Fresh off those triumphs, Brian Cashman set out to make the Yankees younger and better in the 09-10 offseason. He made three trades and a free agent signing and so far the results have been disastrous. His first trade, a deal to send Brian Bruney to Washington netted the Yankees a player who didn’t make it out of camp, but the other two trades have been even worse.

The Yankees gave up Austin Jackson and a package of players for Curtis Granderson. Granderson is hitting .225 and is currently on the DL with a strained groin. Jackson is hitting .370 in Detroit with a .420 OBP. In the second deal the Yankees gave up Melky Cabrera and a couple of young pitchers for Javy Vazquez. Cabrera has done nothing in Atlanta, but Vazquez has been a disaster in his second go around in the Bronx. His 9.78 ERA and 2.04 WHIP are atrocious and the Yankees skipped his turn in the rotation this weekend to avoid subjected him to the horrors of Fenway.

As bad as those acquisitions have been it is the last one, the free agent singing of Nick Johnson and the subsequent spurning of Johnny Damon that remains the most questionable. Johnson has always been an incredibly fragile player and he is now on the DL again with an injured wrist. Before he got hurt, Johnson was hitting an anemic .188 with only 2 home runs. Damon is off to a good start in Detroit, but you have to imagine the Yankees will miss him most in the postseason.

Ultimately it’s Brian Cashman, who will have to answer for these moves. If the Yankees go on and win the World Series, nobody will worry about them. Maybe the players in question will turn things around and validate his faith. It’s a long season, but as of May 9th, the newest Yankees have a lot of work to do.

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By Peter Trinkle in News on May 9, 2010 3:30 PM

Comments [rss]

Papercutninja

i don't even understand why this is being discussed. There's still 273 games left in the season, so it doesn't even matter what is happening right now.

jaycjay

"Flash back to the start of 2009. The Yankees brought in three big pieces, CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Mark Teixeira. Sabathia and Teixeira had dominant seasons and while Burnett scuffled at times"

You start by saying "Flash back to the start of 2009," but then make a comparison based on the end of the season. If you actually "flash back" to May 9 of 2009, you'd probably be writing this same article calling the move to acquire those three players a bust.

"the subsequent spurning of Johnny Damon that remains the most questionable."

Spurning by Johnny Damon (and agent Scott Boras). The Yankees made clear that they wanted to sign Damon both before and after he went to free agency. The demand from his side what that be he paid at least the $13 million/year that he made under his expiring contract, and the Yankees shouldn't even bother getting in touch if they weren't going to match that figure.

Damon ended up taking $8 million in Detroit.

And Randy Winn, by the way, is the player who actually was took Damon's spot on the roster -- not Nick Johnson. For $2 million.

mx0

His first trade, a deal to send Brian Bruney to Washington netted the Yankees a player who didn’t make it out of camp, but the other two trades have been even worse.

Is the first argument in here supposed to be that they should have kept Bruney? He's been horrible so far and there's no reason to think he was worth keeping and paying.

As already noted, it's much too early for this sort of hand-wringing otherwise, especially when "They are winning games convincingly".

I like it that there are attempts to cover sports on here, though.

jaycjay

"I like it that there are attempts to cover sports on here"

Well put.

Spongeworthy

It's WAY too early to deem these trades to be failures. I'm happy for Austin Jackson, but he still strikes out a lot. Just wait until after every team gets a second look at him. Vasquez can't keep sucking so much, and Granderson had been doing great before he started to slump and got injured.

Check back in July before you call the trades FAIL.