"You try to do this job. It aint as easy as you think"
Right now, it’s really easy to jump all over Brian Cashman for the Feliciano signing. He’s heading for shoulder surgery, everyone knew about his heavy workload the past three seasons with the Mets prior to signing and I’m sure everyone had their own pet LOOGY they would have preferred. But the decision Cashman made was a fairly conservative one at the time, but one that simply didn’t work out. Let’s walk through it.
First, take a look at the available Lefty specialists this past off season. The ones that were really good (, ) were closer types who commanded big money (5 mil+) and/or 3 year deals, which I think we can all agree would be way too long for a Lefty specialist. Guys like that are overqualified for the role Brian was looking to fill, and most likely would want to go somewhere they can close games. was cheap (signed for 2 yrs/2.5 mil) but is as pure a LOOGY as there is and you’d like someone who at least has a chance against Righty batters. JP Howell went back to the Rays on a below market 1 year deal (1 yr/1.1 mil) as did JC Romero (1 yr/1.35 mil) which leads me to believe they wanted to stay put. is 40, wasn’t worth giving up a draft pick, and would get killed in the AL East. Guys like , , Radny Flores, , Joe Flotsam, Jack Jetsum, etc all got minor league deals. Players in that position will choose teams that they have a chance to make the roster with out of Spring Training, which typically isn’t the Yanks.
So in the context of the marketplace, Feliciano was a decent bet with his collection of plus and minus. He has above average stuff, could get out Righties, pitched in New York the past 3 seasons and only commanded a 2 year deal for reasonable money (4 mil per). He also dominated guys like Ryan Howard, who the Yanks might have had in the backs of their minds with the Phils as the favorites to get to the Fall Classic. On the minus side, he had a heavy workload of appearances (led the NL all 3 years) though not innings pitched. In the past 3 seasons he pitched 53.1 IP, 59.1, and 62.2 IP, respectively. Signing Feliciano balanced the need for ability and signability, and his workload appeared to be offset by the relatively low number of innings pitched.
Finally, understand something about MRI’s. Players will undergo a pre-signing physical as standard operating procedure, which will include an MRI. But by their mid 20s, every pitcher in the sport will show signs of wear and tear by then. Wear and tear alone is no reason to pass on a player. If it was, you’d never sign anyone that age or older. The standard physical is designed to look for obvious red flags, but so often injuries that occur are much smaller, much harder to detect. Especially when looking at something as complex as a human shoulder. Understand this, it took not one, but two MRIs after the injury occurred (and they knew where to look) to find out what was wrong. That should tell you something about how difficult it was to detect.
Brian Cashman assessed the marketplace and made a determination, the player took his physical and they proceeded with the signing. Given the information he had at the time, it was a calculated risk that appeared to be worth taking. It’s easy to jump all over him after something doesn’t work out, but put yourself in his shoes for one minute. These decisions aren’t easy, and every GM has his share of blunders.
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Sorry, but has any free agent reliever worked out well for the Yankees? Cashman is a guy who won’t trust two rotation slots to kids because he tried it once and it didn’t work out (and because the offense collapsed too). But signing overpriced relievers? Why does he keep picking that scab?
That said, signing Downs or Fuentes is made moot by the Soriano deal. They wouldn’t have lost a pick and they get significantly better. Choate would have been fine redundancy with Logan. Howell was a decent injury case. All would have been better choices.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 10:24 am
Except Feliciano was signed before Cashman knew he’d be forced to take Soriano, and Howell took less money to stay in TB. The only real option was Choate, and he can’t face righties at all. I think Cashman is at fault, but it wasn’t a terrible calculated risk.
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Steve S. Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Exactly.
And BTW-James, if they Soriano and Downs/Fuentes the Yanks would have still lost a draft pick, just not their #1. Not sure where you were going with that.
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Seems like Cashman has been on the wrong end of a couple of these “calculated” risk type decisions lately… just sayin’
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How is $5m big money compared to $4m? Especially considering how much better those guys were? And it’s actually $4.5m when you count his buyout.
This signing was so painfully stupid. A 34 year old, overworked, National League LOOGY who throws 87mph for 2 yrs at $4.5m instead of an Brian Fuentes for 2 yrs at $5.25m
“You try to do this job. It aint as easy as you think.” Oh really? If you handed an invalid $40 million dollars I’m sure he could come up with something better than Damaso Marte, Kyle Farnsworth, Pedro Feliciano, Latroy Hawkins, and other assorted crap.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 10:21 am
Fuentes was insisting on 3 years at the time, and Downs was a Type A free agent. And for all of Feliciano’s work, he had never been injured.
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James Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 10:36 am
And Fuentes didn’t get that, did he?
As for Soriano, some one in that organization will take responsibility, but committing to another dumb contract doesn’t helps Cashman’s case. If anything, that money to a guy like LOOGY could have helped justify the argument for Soriano.
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clintfsu813 Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 11:56 am
And Fuentes didn’t get that, did he?
How do we know Fuentes would have even gone to the Yanks? We all know that some players have two types of contracts in their head when they hit free angency. What can I get from the Yanks? And what can I get from someone else? Just because Fuentes took less from OAK doesnt mean he would have accepted less from NY. See: Damon, Johnny
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Soup Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
Who cares? Give Fuentes $7m, it’s still better than giving an abused NL LOOGY $4.5m
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clintfsu813 Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Moshe already said that Fuentes was insisting on 3 years at the time. Again, we’ve seen time and time again that guys will demand years/money from NYY only to take less from another team.
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Soup Reply:
April 14th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
We should have let Feliciano go to another team, where I’m sure he wouldn’t have gotten half of this dumb deal.
That’s no guarantee that he wouldn’t get injured or, more importantly, that he would be able to perform in the AL East. Fuentes for three years is a much better investment than a straight up LOOGY. Especially considering the make up of this team with it’s shoddy starting pitching. We don’t have the luxury of carrying two LOOGYS when we’re going to need so many innings out of the pen.
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I think it’s important to also point out that feliciano threw very few innings in those games. this is hand wringing over nothing
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He was a dominant LOOGY…that was relatively cheapy..(in yankee $) was used to pitching in New York. Risk is relative moneywise to the amount you started with…. if you have $10 to your name and lose one dollar..you feel it.. If you have $1000..the dollar doesnt hurt so much…(especially since he was probably insured)
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