Hot Stove Coal: Is This Brian Cashman's Swan Song in the Bronx?

A quick post for this morning, but as I sat there watching football yesterday, I wondered if this could be Brian Cashman's final season as the General Manager of the New York Yankees. We've had this discussion a few times previously only to have Cashman return to the only team he calls home. We've seen his name in the newspapers linked to dozens of teams, especially when the stress of George Steinbrenner's reign seemed to rob him of every one of his remaining hairs. There's a whole section in Buster Olney's "Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty" that is dedicated to Cashman's stress level. But with The Boss having passed, Cashman in control, and a seemingly gentler regime in charge, it seemed like the days of Cashman leaving were well into the future. After the last few weeks of the Yankees' off-season, I'm beginning to think they're closer than we think.

Is this Cashman's final year answering that question in NY?

Brian Cashman has an odd sort of off-season as General Manager. He and the rest of the Yankees management had a very public negotiation (spat?) with the Yankees' captain, Derek Jeter. They put all their eggs into signing Cliff Lee and then watched him make them his third choice in the process. They signed Russell Martin and all seemed to be quiet except for rumors of a possible Rafael Soriano signing. But many of us thought that Cashman wouldn't make a move like that and when he came out and blatantly said he wouldn't give up a first round draft pick for Soriano, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

And then news of the Soriano signing broke. We all wondered what had happened and figured that we would never know if this was a move done by Cashman or by ownership. We figured that Cashman would toe the company line and talk about building that beautiful mythological "Bridge to Mariano" and we would just continue to push out the motto of "In Cashman We Trust".

That didn't happen either. Cashman didn't totally go all Peter Gibbons from Office Space and try to get himself fired, but he did make sure to let everyone know that he wasn't the one pulling the strings of the Soriano signing--even doing so at the press conference with Soriano sitting there. He went so far as to admit to a confused Yankee fan base that he had actually tried to bring back Carl Pavano--the American Idle himself--for another run in Pinstripes. At a time when the fruits of Cashman's drafting and developing labor are starting to ripen, we have to wonder whether he will be around to see the results.

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Front Page: A Look at the Newspapers the Day After a Texas-Sized Comeback

I'm not sure whether a board has to vote or if there's a way to just fast-track it, but last night's Yankee game has to be declared an Instant Yankee Classic on YES Network. It is as easy a decision as Ron Washington bringing in his closer in the 8th inning last night...oh wait. There are even better visuals from last night and make sure to check out Rebecca's post from This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes to see them. Mostly courtesy of Newseum, here are the front pages:

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Checking Out Today's Papers: Joy in Gotham

New York Post and Daily News From Today Looks Awfully Similar

Just saying...

Some Thoughts Before The Final Subway Series Game Tonight

Again, why is Robinson Cano batting 5th?

• 0 for his last 9 ABs in RISP. Last hit with RISP was June 16th against the Nationals.
  
• Men on: .263/.299/.431
  
• With RISP: .222/.258/.356
• Runner on 3rd, less than 2 outs: .200/.222/.333
  
• Runner on 3rd, 2 outs: .200/.231/.200
  

Chien-Ming Wang against the Mets (sorted by OPS):

                   PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Ryan Church         4   3   1  0  0  1   2   1   0  .333  .500 1.333   1.833     0   0   1   0   0
Alex Cora          18  18   5  0  0  1   4   0   0  .278  .278  .444    .722     0   0   0   0   0
David Wright        8   8   2  1  0  0   0   0   1  .250  .250  .375    .625     0   0   0   0   1
Jeremy Reed         7   6   1  1  0  0   1   1   1  .167  .286  .333    .619     0   0   0   0   0
Luis Castillo       6   5   1  0  0  0   0   1   0  .200  .333  .200    .533     0   0   0   0   0
Gary Sheffield      3   2   0  0  0  0   0   1   0  .000  .333  .000    .333     0   0   0   0   0
Brian Schneider     4   4   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Total              50  46  10  2  0  2   7   4   3  .217  .280  .391    .671     0   0   1   0   1

Livan Hernandez against the Yankees (sorted by OPS):

                   PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Mark Teixeira       6   6   3  0  0  2   3   0   1  .500  .500 1.500   2.000     0   0   0   0   0
Alex Rodriguez     22  19  11  5  0  3  10   3   3  .579  .636 1.316   1.952     0   0   0   0   0
Hideki Matsui       8   7   3  0  0  1   3   1   0  .429  .500  .857   1.357     0   0   0   0   0
Robinson Cano       9   9   4  0  0  1   1   0   0  .444  .444  .778   1.222     0   0   0   0   0
Jorge Posada       16  12   4  1  0  1   2   4   4  .333  .500  .667   1.167     0   0   0   0   0
Derek Jeter        21  19   8  3  0  1   2   1   0  .421  .429  .737   1.166     0   1   0   0   0
Brett Tomko         5   4   2  0  0  0   0   0   2  .500  .500  .500   1.000     1   0   0   0   0
Brett Gardner       2   2   1  0  0  0   0   0   0  .500  .500  .500   1.000     0   0   0   0   0
Melky Cabrera       5   5   2  0  0  0   1   0   0  .400  .400  .400    .800     0   0   0   0   0
Nick Swisher       14  14   5  1  0  0   0   0   3  .357  .357  .429    .786     0   0   0   0   0
Johnny Damon       15  13   2  0  0  0   1   2   3  .154  .267  .154    .421     0   0   0   0   1
Cody Ransom         1   1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Total             124 111  45 10  0  9  23  11  16  .405  .455  .739   1.194     1   1   0   0   1

The Yankees have had much more success against Hernandez, but how Chien-Ming Wang has pitched so far this season, that's not much of a predictor of future success. ESPN Insider says that Wang continues to get less ground balls per start, which is usually bad news but may be OK in this cavernous ballpark, Citi Field.

Yankees lineup with have Derek Jeter back in it according to the New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand via Twitter: @bloggingbombers: June 28 vs Mets: Jeter SS, Swisher RF, Teixeira 1B, A-Rod 3B, Cano 2B, Posada C, Cabrera LF, Gardner CF, Wang RHP. With Damon having struggled in the past against Hernandez and coming back from injury, this makes sense.

Meanwhile, Buster Olney on why A.J. Burnett dominated yesterday:

Why Yankees starter A.J. Burnett won, from ESPN Stats & Information:

• Dominant curveball: 48 percent chase percentage, 63 percent miss percentage, 19 percent in-play percentage

• Finished the job: 21 of 26 pitches with two strikes in the count were strikes, and he earned a season-high 10 strikeouts

• No-fly zone: Season-low five fly ball outs in seven innings of work

Yankees go for the sweep and I head out to Flushing tonight to see if they can accomplish it. More updates later.

Play Clean and You Don't Lose

One of the big knocks on the Yankees coming into this season was that they even though they were improved from last year, they were a poor defensive team. Well one of the things they've done during this amazing streak they've been on is play good defense. Even with the lack of errors, they still don't always play great defense (Derek Jeter is a prime example). But they've made some great plays (including Teixeira today) and have found a way to make all the routine ones.

And, for all those who doubted him, Mark Teixeira is not only playing great defense and making great plays, but he's saving errors from the other infielders as well. He may not be as good as Don Mattingly, but if he isn't, he's close.

From the New York Daily News' Anthony McCarron:

I leave you with this tidbit, some praise for the Yanks - they have gone 10 straight games without an error, the longest current errorless streak in the majors and third longest this season. The last boot came on May 13 in Toronto. It’s the team’s longest streak since 1995. You win when you catch and throw, too - Yanks are 9-1 over that span and 22-5 this season.

Good job by the Yankees. Let's hope they keep it up.