Madden: Brian Cashman halts Yankee spending spree, commits to young guns

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/12/09/2007-12-09_brian_cashman_halts_yankee_spending_spre.html?ref=rss


Brian Cashman halts Yankee spending spree, commits to young guns
Sunday, December 9th 2007, 4:00 AM



The winter meetings in Nashville were mostly a big nothing, the
Yankees coming home with Jonathan Albaladejo and the Mets with Steven
Register - both a far cry from Johan Santana - and the general
consensus among rival execs was that Brian Cashman is showing the
patience of Job, not to mention unwavering faith in Joba.

You would think, with the Red Sox continuing to hang in as the only
acknowledged bidder for Santana and the Tigers' reemerging as an AL
superpower with their blockbuster deal with the Marlins for Miguel
Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, that Cashman would feel pressure to
reconsider his stance about not sacrificing Phil Hughes in a deal for
the Twins' lefty ace. Indeed, most GMs at the meetings were still
convinced the Yankees would re-enter the Santana sweepstakes,
especially if they were able to shed a big contract.

Still, I'm becoming more and more convinced Cashman is absolutely
committed to his agenda of building an enduring contender around young
pitchers Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy and isn't going to
budge on this. It's a commendable - if very un-Yankee-like -
philosophy and underscores Cashman's obvious determination to prove he
can be a winning GM without the benefit of a $200 million payroll.
It's commendable, too, that Hank Steinbrenner didn't overrule Cashman
- as his dad almost certainly would have - when it came to pulling out
of the Santana deal.

Left to his own means, Cashman would have also held the line on three
years for Jorge Posada, two years for Mariano Rivera and no years for
Alex Rodriguez after his opt-out. But after ponying up the extra bread
to keep all those Yankee mainstays in pinstripes, Hank felt he
couldn't usurp Cashman and his baseball people about trading Hughes
and committing another $120 million to Santana.

"That (monster contracts) is precisely what Brian is trying to get
away from with his commitment to the kid pitchers," a Yankee source
said, "and as much as Hank wanted Santana he had to let Brian do his
job."

So don't believe the speculation that Cashman is going to reverse
course on Santana. Rather, expect the GM to continue to act with
prudence this winter, retooling the bullpen through under-the-radar
deals such as the one that brought Albaladejo from Washington and with
free agents on one-year deals. Purists will contend it's the right way
to do it. Realists will counter it's too much to expect three rookie
pitchers to fulfill the great expectations for them and make up for
the lack of a bona fide No. 1.

Trey was on Yanks' table

Trey Hillman managed 11 years in the Yankees' minor league system,
beginning when he was 27, winning pennants in the rookie league,
Single-A and Triple-A while three times being named organization
manager of the year. But as far as entertaining any ideas of managing
the Yankees, Hillman knew the deal. No way George Steinbrenner was
going to ever hire a no-name manager - or as Hillman put it the other
day at the winter meetings: "I didn't have a bubblegum card."

Not only that, Hillman couldn't even get a call to serve on the
Yankees' coaching staff. "I was passed by twice by the Yankees for
jobs I felt qualified for at the major league level," Hillman said,
"which is why I left the organization."

In 2003, Hillman went to Japan to become manager of the Nippon Ham
Fighters and continued his success over there, winning the Japan World
Series in 2006 and finishing runner up this past season. Meanwhile,
Cashman was given full authority as Yankee GM as Steinbrenner began
pulling back - a development that did not escape Hillman. "Brian and I
have been good friends for a long time," Hillman said, "and there's a
lot of mutual respect there."

So when Cashman contacted him in early October as Joe Torre's
situation was still unsettled, Hillman knew his lack of name
recognition no longer was a factor as far as the Yankees were
concerned. "Basically, Brian said, 'I can't tell you what I have down
the road' but by then I already had an offer (from the Royals) in my
back pocket," Hillman related. Conceivably, Hillman would have had a
good shot at the Yankee job as Cashman's own man and a compromise
between Joe Girardi and Don Mattingly, but he didn't allow that
possibility to play out. Instead, when Royals GM Dayton Moore offered
him the Kansas City job, Hillman didn't hesitate. "Dayton and I
clicked right away," Hillman said, "and I said to him, 'I think we've
got a tremendous opportunity here with our personalities matching up.'
After I accepted the Royals job, I called Brian and all he said was it
could have been interesting."

Mad money

"The price of toys is really going up," said Eddie Einhorn. The White
Sox vice chairman, walking through the lobby of the Opryland Hotel in
Nashville, was talking about the dramatic salary escalation in the
contracts doled out this winter, most notably the five-year, $90
million deal the Angels gave Torii Hunter (who had been hotly pursued
by the White Sox) and the deals the Yankees were compelled to give
Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera. I couldn't help but remind Einhorn
that his own White Sox were responsible for considerably raising the
bar in the setup reliever market with the four-year, $19 million they
gave Scott Linebrink. "I know, I know," Einhorn shrugged. "What are ya
gonna do? We're all guilty."

The Linebrink deal begat the three years, $13 million the Brewers gave
David Riske and has emboldened Luis Vizcaino and Ron Mahay, among
others, to hold out for three-year deals. As Einhorn was talking, word
came down that the Dodgers had given Andruw Jones, who hit .222 this
year, a two-year, $32 million contract - from the five years, $100
million his rep, Scott Boras had proclaimed he'd get. Getting Jones
for only a two-year commitment was considered a victory for the
Dodgers. Nevertheless, it left heads shaking in disbelief and Boras
saving face by getting the same annual average value ($18 million) as
Hunter. It's probably unrealistic for MLB to reconsider contraction,
but with middle relievers getting over $4 million per and .222 hitters
getting $18 mil, it's obvious there's just not enough good players to
go around for 30 teams.
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