Ninja Cash moves in silence.
(The following is being syndicated from An A-Blog for A-Rod)
Say what you will about how he handles his marital business, but there’s no denying that Brian Cashman has been on a real hot streak over the last couple years as GM. He has made moves that have made the Yankees better, younger, and deeper as a Major League team and an organization, and has kept them consistently balanced for the present and the future through a combination of aggressive big-dollar signings, smart low-dollar signings, and wise decision making in the trade market, for trades both made and not made. He’s continued that hot streak this offseason, pulling of a collection of smart moves that few saw coming, and doing it under the first semblance of a real payroll budget.
It seems like it was ages ago now, but Cash’s best move this offseason might very well have been the his first one, the re-upping of before he opted out and became a free agent. It looked like a done deal that CC was heading for the opt out when the Yankees swooped in on Halloween night and swiftly announced the signing before he could officially hit the market. Cash was able to orchestrate a deal that was both fair and attractive to CC and in line with the team’s desire to not get locked into another super-long contract. Cash took the biggest free agent pitcher off the market before he could even reach it, forcing any teams that were focusing on offering CC a deal to rethink their strategy, guaranteeing that the Yankees would be winners in their search to upgrade their rotation, and starting the wheels turning on the rest of his plan to complete that upgrade.
The quick and painless process with which the Yankees and CC made their deal gave the impression to everybody out there that Cash was fully intending on being aggressively active at the Winter Meetings to try to lock up another big name to go with CC. Cash played to this expectation perfectly, meeting with enough agents and having enough involvement with all the big pitching targets that the teams who were really interested in them had to make serious offers, perhaps more serious than they were intending based on the Yankees’ perceived interest and big-money reputation. And while all the focus was on the free agents, Cash was busy laying the groundwork for his deal with the Mariners. He used the team’s perceived interest in guys like , , and Yu Darvish as a smoke screen to throw everybody off the path he really wanted to take to improve the rotation.
When Cash finally revealed that path to the world, we got the Pineda-Montero trade. It was a move that nobody saw coming, and it was a move that was beneficial to the Yankees in many ways. It allowed them to address their biggest area of weakness both for the present and for the future, and while it cost them their top prospect, it allowed them to deal from their deepest deck of prospect cards and not sacrifice any of the young pitching depth they’ve built. It also allowed the Yankees to improve that area of weakness without taking on significant salary, thus fitting in with their potential long-term goal of cutting payroll. It’s that kind of forward thinking and big picture consideration that made this a no-doubt winning move, and it was all Cash. I mean, come on. You think Randy Levine could have pulled the Pineda trade off without giving up ManBan or Betances?
The way Cash has handled the follow-up to the big trade was brilliant as well, immediately announcing the signing. Kuroda was arguably the best free agent starter still available, and the Yankees got him for less than his asking price. He provides increased depth and stability to the rotation, should provide above-average production, and on a one-year deal, also fits right in with the long-term payroll flexibility plans. Cash could have gone after Kuroda aggressively during the Winter Meetings but was smart to not jump all over him then, instead choosing to give it some time until the FA pitching herd had thinned out and prices started to come down. This was a patient, calculated, well thought out plan to address the rotation and it was pulled off without anybody being tipped of to what the Yankees were doing. That’s Ninja Style 101.
Since the big rotation additions, Cash’s approach to the rest of the offseason has continued to be cautious and smart. Having seven men in the rotation could have been perfect justification for giving A.J. away for a plate of stadium nachos, but Cash has been patient in his efforts to move A.J. He’s not trying to make it look like a straight salary dump; he’s trying to see if something useful can be had back in the deal. And instead of rushing to sign a big bat to fill the Jesus-sized hole in the DH spot, Cash again patiently waited out the market to see if anything fit what the Yankees wanted to spend. And while we’ve all been sitting around debated the merits of the Matsuis and Damons of the world, Cash went out and signed a guy in who could turn out to be a better lefty DH option than all of them. Sure he had a bad year last year, but he still owns a .242/.346/.500 slash against right-handed pitching, along with a .360 wOBA. And he’s on a non-guaranteed MiL deal. That’s a low-risk signing that could turn into not just a high reward, but highway robbery.
Yes, Cash operates with the biggest bankroll in baseball backing him, a luxury that no other GM has. That kind of money can certainly make life as a GM a little less stressful, so I’m not trying to make it seem like he’s been scraping two nickels together this offseason to build this team. But to deny that Cash has done an excellent job accomplishing what he set out to do this offseason would be foolish. He has made the team better, both in the present and for the short- and long-term future, and has done it operating under what seems to be the first real attempt by ownership to cap spending . He has surprised us with the moves he’s made this offseason, distracting us with rumors while moving in the shadows to complete his trades and signings. He has also seeked out potential value in the market where most others have not looked. These are the arts practiced by only the true Master Ninja GMs, and Cash has shown us this offseason why he’s worthy of that title and worthy of wearing the black belt that comes with it.
P.S.- Does that Photoshop look like Ninja Cash or Terrorist Cash? I’m having a hard time deciding.
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Cashman’s recent indiscretions means he has lost all Ninja status. A Ninja does not appear on back pages of NY tabloids. And they are getting more dirt every day. Sorry no more Cash Ninja nonsense. You can like his player moves but he is not a ninja.
The argument could be made that his outing as a non-Ninja Husband or Ninja Adulterer is serving to strengthen his Ninja GM status.
People paying too much attention to his personal life could be missing the great job he’s doing in his professional life. He’s had a TREMENDOUS offseason and still has time to make it even better.
It’s going beyond his personal life. Read up on her latest comments from Rykers. If there’s any truth to her stories, they dont have to be proven in a court of law, team brass will know, he’s done as a ninja and maybe as a GM. Good thing he’s not samurai cash or he would have
To commit ritual suicide.
Read up about her background and history and explain why you would believe a word that she says about anything.
Oh no doubt her credibility is questionable at best. It doesn’t matter who believes them there are those who know, they happen to be his bosses. If it’s nonsense talk then ok, but there’s a possibility he pillow talked himself into big trouble. Not a ninja.
The thing to keep in mind here is that these are 2 separate stories. There’s the whole stalker/marital infidelity/divorce thing and whatever the fallout may be from that, and there’s the strictly baseball business story of the job Cash has done this offseason.
I didn’t want to completely gloss over the personal stuff, hence the quick mention in the beginning, but I don’t think that takes anything away from what he has accomplished as a GM with the moves he’s made this offseason.
You’re absolutely right. As is commonplace with public reactions to the media-they overshadow every other facet of a person. In this case, those facets are the brilliant baseball moves of Brian Cashman. Tis a shame.
While I do think that resigning CC before he hit the open market was a shrewd move, the Montero-Pineda deal is the one that will make or break if this offseason can be deemed a success for Cashman. Pitchers inherently carry more of a risk than hitters, and I am still concerned about Pineda. If the Mariners really thought Pineda was going to be a true ace, or even a number one pitcher, then wouldn’t it make sense for them to keep the younger more inexpensive pitcher for longer and trade Felix?
No. Felix Hernandez is loved in Seattle and puts butts in seats. They know once every 5 games they are going to have close to a full house because he is pitching. People like Pineda in Seattle, they all hated to see him go, and they expected great things, but he isn’t the gate attraction Felix is. In fact had they traded Felix you would’ve had people so disenchanted with the whole idea of trade him they would have stopped going to games altogether for at least a short time. I know of the conversations I had with people that they would have cancelled/not re-newed their season tickets. Felix isn’t in his 30′s either, so this isn’t chosing between a young player and a player past his prime. This was chosing between the face of the franchise, the reason people go to Mariner games, the one who still hasn’t even reached his prime athletic years, versus a 23 year old rookie. The rookie has tons of promise, but financially it wouldn’t make sense to trade Felix. Especially because he has given every reason to believe that he will be willing to re-sign once this current extension runs out. If Montero, Ackley, and Smoak become a good offensive trio they can build to win around that and Felix while maintaining fan interest in the mean time.
Okay that is one concern put to rest. The velocity decline was just him getting tired in his first full season starting too right?
Yeah I believe that’s what it was. The whole velocity decline has been overblown anyway, it was down some in the stretch run but not drastically. It was only the last game of the season in which is was significantly down, and that was on around 10 days rest at the end of the year.
Here is his velocity chart from last year. As you can see it dipped slightly towards the end, but he fluctuated in the same area pretty much all year, the only outlier being the last start.
http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfxo.aspx?playerid=5372&position=P&pitch=FA
He did up his strikeout rate in the second half last year too I remember reading. There is nothing I would rather have than a young cost controlled stud pitcher who actually pans out. Really just trying to guard my optimism. Lets see how else can I poke holes…he is still basically a two pitch pitcher and throws with that inverted W motion like Prior and Strasburg.
He is in fact a two pitch pitcher, but he has shown signs of mixing in a split-change, 2-seamer, and cutter. The cutter he threw around 5% of time, the split-change came in around 3% of the time, and the 2-seam 2%. These aren’t very high percentages at all, but it’s a start. He has the kind of stuff that he doesn’t need to develop all these pitches into pitches that he throw 10+% of the time. In fact just developing one of these into a league average pitch, while showing the others, would give him a good enough repertoire to be a potential ace. While most people will focus on the split-change even just the development of the cutter or 2-seam to a league average level would show enough of a difference in movement and velocity to do the job. At 23 (22 last year) he is far from a developed product, far from it in fact, but he has the most important thing already down. His control is above average for even a veteran pitcher, just ask AJ Burnett. With the kind of control he showed not just last year but throughout the minor leagues he’s a leg up on the game. Having the kind of stuff he does, with the frame he pitches from, with that kind of control is almost unheard of.
Let’s not forget that when Sabathia broke into the league he was almost a pure 4-seam/slider pitcher, striking out less batters per 9 than Michael, walking almost 5 batters per 9, with a much lower swing and miss percentage (8.8 for CC and 11.8 for Pineda).
I don’t look too much into the W. It’s not anything you can control, it’s not something that’s going to change, and there is nothing written in stone about it causing an injury. Certain high profile pitchers have pitched with those kind of mechanics and gotten hurt, and many haven’t. It’s all up in the air. You could argue that Sabathia pitches with an inverted W, though not as pronounced as a Strausburg or Prior, and he’s the most durable starter in baseball not named Halladay.
Pineda has his flaws no doubt, but he is in very, very, rare air when it comes to skill set. As a couple of authors here at TYA have written about, very few pitchers in baseball history have had his kind of strike out rate, control, and success at his age, and none of them had a 6’7 frame that I’m aware of.
I’ve linked this before but this is a good scouting report from a Rays blog.
http://www.draysbay.com/2012/1/14/2706951/scouting-michael-pineda-new-york-yankees
Yes I have read the articles which is why I am trying to hard to temper my expectations. I have this idea in my head that he can be a 200+ inning 200+ strikeout kind of guy year in year out that I am trying to shake. That and I was really looking forward to Montero. I agree with the idea that the best use of Montero was to trade him for a young cost controlled potential true ace but its still tough to let go.
At his peak he does have the potential to be a 200-200 guy. He has all the tools to develop into the right handed version of Sabathia. That doesn’t mean he will become that, or even that it’s likely, but it’s crazy to think he could put it together in that way. Especially when you consider that strike outs and control were the last thing to develop for CC consistently with a very similar repertoire. CC just has the added advantage of being left handed.
Yeah see this is what I was worried about. Getting my hopes up really high and seeing another young Yankees pitcher flame out, only this time at the cost of Montero.