Sorry for getting away from this series the past week, but the Pettitte retirement and Liriano rumors were breaking news stories that had to be addressed. I’ll wrap this baby up today in advance of some big news Moshe has for our readers starting tomorrow.
November 10, 2006
Traded Gary Sheffield to the Detroit Tigers. Received Kevin Whelan (minors), Anthony Claggett and Humberto Sanchez.
Sign and trade deal with the Tigers for perpetual malcontent Sheffield. Yanks picked up his 07 option after Sheff played little in 2006 due to injury. Turns out he had one good year left, producing 2.7 WAR in his first season with the Tigers. With the acquisition of Bobby Abreu the Yanks had nowhere to play Sheff (he didn’t want to DH) so the alternative was letting him walk as a FA. Claggett pitched just 2.2 awful innings for the Yanks in 09, Whelan never made the show, and the oft-injured Sanchez remained so as a Yankee and was released in November 2009. Cash gets points for creativity, and the three prospects were in all likelihood no better than the one he would have gained had he taken the draft pick.
Grade-Neutral
November 12, 2006
Traded Jaret Wright and cash to the Baltimore Orioles. Received Chris Britton.
Roster spot clearing move for Andy Pettitte, which was largely neutral on both sides. Wright produced 0.0 WAR in his one season with the O’s and was soon out of baseball. Britton was a low leverage reliever who spent most of his time riding the bus from Scranton to NY. Considering that the O’s paid Wright 7 mil for 100K of production, I’ll give Brian credit for getting him off his books.
Grade-Net plus
December 8, 2006
Signed Andy Pettitte as a free agent.
After spending the 04-06 seasons with the Astros, a wrong was righted and Andy was brought back to pinstripes. Easy decision, Astros owner Drayton McLayne didn’t intend to bring Andy (or Roger Clemens) back, and Brian pounced on the opportunity.
Grade-Net plus
December 19, 2006
Purchased Kei Igawa from Hanshin Tigers (Japan Central).
Reaction move to being outmaneuvered and outbid by the Red Sox for Dice-K (which turned out to be a 100 mil mistake by Theo). 40 mil that produced -0.2 in value for a 5 year deal. Utter disaster.
Grade-Net minus
January 8, 2007
Signed Doug Mientkiewicz as a free agent.
First base caddy for Jason Giambi, did a nice job in his one season with the team. Plus defender (+4.0) who surprisingly hit a little (+2.5) as well. Overall produced 0.9 WAR (3.6 mil) for a 1.5 mil salary.
Grade-Net plus
January 9, 2007
Traded Randy Johnson and cash to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received Alberto Gonzalez, Steven Jackson, Ross Ohlendorf and Luis Vizcaino.
Brian was starting out with two strikes from a negotiating standpoint. Randy wanted out of New York and needed back surgery that projected to keep him out well into the following season. Johnson never quite fit into the Bronx from day one and never produced as anticipated (ERA+ 112 and 90 as Yank/Career 136) though Randy did manage to squeeze out 8.2 WAR over his two seasons with the team. Johnson was good for the D-Backs, producing 5.5 WAR in just 240.2 innings spread out over 2 seasons. From the Yankee side,
Ross Ohlendorf was given a few chances with the Yanks, produced little and was traded in the Nady-Marte deal with the Pirates. Alberto Gonzalez played little with the team and was subsequently flipped for Jhonny Nunez, who was part of the Nick Swisher deal. Steven Jackson never pitched for the Yanks and was selected off waivers in 2009 by the Pirates. The key to the deal was Vizcaino, who unfortunately became a Torre casualty. He hurt his shoulder by August and was useless thereafter. He left the team as a FA at the end of the season.
Grade-Net minus
May 6, 2007 (Standings)
Signed Roger Clemens as a free agent.
Brian went back to the well with Roger, but should have known from the Randy Johnson experience that pitching in the NL West and AL East are very different endeavors. Roger had little left, producing just 1.8 WAR (7.3 mil) for a whopping 28 mil salary that was pro-rated to about 17.4 mil.
Grade-Net minus
July 21, 2007 (Standings)
Traded Jeff Kennard (minors) to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Received Jose Molina.
Kennard never pitched in the majors, while Molina was a solid if unspectacular backup for the aging Jorge Posada. Nice move by Cash.
Grade-Net plus
July 31, 2007 (Standings)
Traded Scott Proctor to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Wilson Betemit.
Betemit was a neutral move for the Yanks, filling a need for a backup infielder at a minimal cost. Proctor was the one that got away for the Dodgers, having sent him to the Yanks in 2004 for a ready for retirement Robin Ventura. But the real upside was when Cashman flipped Betemit as the centerpiece of the Nick Swisher deal. Proctor had the misfortune of being abused by Joe Torre on two teams. After a good start with the Dodgers in 07 under Grady Little, Scott was horrendous in 08 under Torre and wound up getting TJ surgery soon thereafter.
Grade-Net plus
Total Grades:
Net plus-5
Net minus-3
Correction, Anthony Claggett did made it to the majors with the Yanks in 09. Ed(Quote)
[Reply To This Comment]
Steve S. Reply:
February 13th, 2011 at 10:50 am
Right, I think he pitched one disastrous inning IIRC. Thanks for the correction. I’m also going to change the Wright grade, Cash dodged a bullet there.
EDIT-Make that 2.2 awful innings. And why does it seem all the lousy ex-Yanks wind up on the Pirates? Steve S.(Quote)
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Good stuff Steve, I’m definitely enjoying this series. Eric(Quote)
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Great series. I’m curious to see what your final conclusion is. I’ve always thought Cashman has been very average as a GM and while he has done some good things like rebuilding the farm system, he’s been pretty bad at evaluating pitching, especially starters as seen in Jeff Weaver, Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, Jaret Wright, Carl Pavano, AJ Burnett, etc. CMP(Quote)
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Good job. Looking forward to the rousing finish and wrap up.
That said, the Kei Igawa deal is a good example of why this “net plus, net minus” dichotomy is misleading. It is arguably the worst move Cashman made, and can’t be neutralized by the blindingly easy resigning of Andy Pettite. If the final tally is anything close to even, I hope you take a moment to count the number of big wins and big blunders as a tie breaker.
I’d also argue losing Randy Johnson was a net “plus” – we got rid of an expensive malcontent (no offense, Randy) and picked up a piece that would later net us Damasco Marte, without whom we may never have won the 2009 World Series. This is at least a “neutral” if not a plus. Mister D(Quote)
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