Why Brian Cashman is like Kim Kardashian, and other Yankee thoughts

Brian Cashman, the GM who brought us that wonderful Jesus Montero-Michael Pineda deal, took a cue from both "Undercover Boss" and Kim Kardashian with his appearance in the bleachers Sunday. By wearing that same stupid wig/visor than he did while rappelling a building, he had about as ridiculous -- and as obvioius -- a disguise as the bosses do on "Undercover Boss." (An aside -- is anybody on that show ever really fooled? You have some new low-level staffer wearing wigs out of the Harpo Marx Collection, and being followed by a camera crew, and nobody catches on? C'mon now.)

And Cashman was like Kim Kardashian in trying his best to make a spectacle of himself to get publicity. He's been GM since 1998, yet it took him until 2012, after he was finally on the hot seat a little bit, for him to go hang out with the proles in the bleachers? Spare me. It is about as shameless a publicity ploy as Kardashian's faux-mance with Kanye West, where they have hit up nearly every high-trafficked tourist spot in New York to show off their "love." How perfectly fake. Come to think of it, maybe we're going to see Kanye and Kim in the bleachers soon, too. Good grief.

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When the best you can say about Phil Hughes' pitching is that he didn't stink as much as he has in his previous four starts, it is not a good night. Especially when he didn't even pitch as well as Hector Noesi (traded as part of the Jesus Montero/Michael Pineda deal) did last night for the Seattle Mariners.

Speaking of Montero, he went 4-for-4 last night for Seattle, and hit a home run the night before. His batting average is now up to .294 (better than every Yankee starter except for Derek Jeter) and he has hit 4 homers (as many as Jeter and A-Rod) and driven in 13 runs (which would put him at third on the Yankees). Not that the Yankees could use him or anything, especially with Nick Swisher out of the lineup.

Meanwhile, rumor has it that Pineda caught up on his reading, finishing "The Hunger Games" just in time so he could catch the movie in the theaters. Next up, to steal a joke from my friend Sully Baseball, a thrilling game of Sudoku. Good times!


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Some Yankee fans think that with Michael Pineda-Jesus Montero trade, there must be a pony in here somewhere

I was in Whole Foods yesterday when Squawker Jon called to tell me that Michael Pineda had a torn labrum, and would be out for the year. Needless to say, my reaction didn't exactly fit the peace-and-love vibe of the store! And I am still positively irate, over 12 hours later.

Best case scenario is that Pineda comes back some time early next summer. Meanwhile, Jesus Montero is starting to heat up, and even getting enough time at catcher to qualify in that position in fantasy baseball. Not bad for somebody who we were told could never catch.

And Hector Noesi is a major league pitcher for the Mariners getting a start tonight. Given that Pineda is out for what could be a year and a half, and given that there is no guarantee he will be able to pitch the way he once did, this trade is a complete and utter disaster for the Yankees so far.

Yet there is a sizable contingent of sportswriters and Yankee fans who still say that it is "too soon" to evaluate the trade. Really? Frankly, they remind me of the naive boy in the story presented with a mound of animal excrement as a Christmas gift. In that anecdote, the little boy keeps on digging through the poop, saying, "There must be a pony in here somewhere."

Newsflash: there ain't no pony. It's not Jose Campos, who is now being touted as being a superstar to justify the trade, even though he is only in Single A. And it certainly isn't Michael Pineda, who may never live up to his promise, and could end up being more like Phil Hughes Part Deux than anything else (and Hughes was terrible again last night.)

There is no bright side for the Yankees to this trade, as much as some try to downplay this as being no big thing. And don't tell me it's simply bad luck. It should have occurred to Brian Cashman that the Mariners might have been selling him a bag of beans here. It's not just that the Mariners have a history of trying to hold up the Yankees -- remember how they demanded more in the Cliff Lee trade? It's that why would they want to trade Pineda in the first place, if he was supposed to be so great?

I was against this trade from the beginning -- it never added up to me, the way it did to the "experts." So I'm not the least bit surprised that this has ended so poorly. (Incidentally, at least trading Montero for Cliff Lee, as costly as it would have been, may have helped the Yankees win No. 28 in 2010. Instead, Cashman gave up the team's best prospect for what is turning out to be a whole heap of nothing.)

And let's review the fact that Pineda's 2011 second-half numbers were so terrible -- he went from 8-6 with a 3.03 ERA and a 1.035 WHIP to a 1-4 record in the second half, with a 5.12 ERA and a 1.224 WHIP, and a significantly diminished velocity. Gee, did it ever occur to Cashman that there could have been a physical reason for that decline?  How can he be so naive?

Then again, we're talking about a GM who actually thought that signing Everyday Pedro Feliciano to a two-year, $8 million deal was a good risk, and who seemed to be the only person in the world to be shocked that Feliciano got injured so quickly into his Yankee tenure!

Then there is what injury expert Will Carroll of Sports Illustrated wrote on February 29 of this year, before Pineda ever even threw a pitch in a spring training game, giving Pineda a "red light" as an injury risk:

The Pineda trade seems like a coup for the Yankees, even giving up a solid hitter in Jesus Montero, but Pineda is in a bad situation. He's young, coming off a season where he saw a massive innings increase and a hit-the-wall moment as bad as any we've seen in several seasons. He's a red flag risk on that alone, which is horrible. (DAN STAT). On top of that, the records of Joe Girardi and Larry Rothschild in dealing with precisely this type of situation is terrible. As much as I like Pineda the pitcher, I can't handle Pineda the risk.

Then Carroll wrote this on April 4 about Pineda:

The parallels between Pineda and Phil Hughes are too perfect. Well, not perfect, since we're talking about young pitchers and injuries. Hughes injured his leg, started overthrowing a bit, and ended up with a sore shoulder. It set back his career more than we realize, even now. Pineda came in out of condition, still showing signs of last year's workload, and finally admitted that his arm was hurting.

An MRI came back with "no structural damage" and the calming diagnosis of tendinitis. Don't be fooled. The biceps tendon is a structure, one that's important to a pitcher. One of the buzzwords in sports medicine is the "biceps-labrum complex." Essentially, the labrum and biceps tendon work in concert, in ways doctors are still figuring out. The classic "buckethandle" labrum tear might have a different mechanism than doctors long thought.

As for Pineda, he might be better served looking to another starter on his staff for a better comp. CC Sabathia had some shoulder issues early in his career. A trip to Glenn Fleisig's lab in Birmingham helped him change some things, and the results speak for themselves. Why Pineda isn't heading down there is beyond me. 

So why didn't the Yanks do what Carroll recommended? And why didn't they take Pineda's condition seriously?

All spring, we heard Cashman downplay Pineda's lack of velocity this spring and make excuses for him. Now he admits that this was a sign that he was hurt. Gee, ya think?

I have to wonder, what is it that Cashman is going to have to do to get some of his defenders to stop justifying his actions? He gave away the franchise's most highly touted prospect, somebody who he himself compared to Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols, for a player who may very well have been damaged goods in the first place. Boy, that Cash is sooooo smart, isn't he?

I have said it before and I will say it again. Brian Cashman has exactly one tool in the toolkit -- the ability to spend a lot of money. Yes, he got Nick Swisher for Wilson Betemit -- this is the trade Cashman fans always bring up whenever the subject of  his record comes up. But he got to make that trade for two reasons. One was that Ozzie Guillen despised Swisher and wanted him out. The second was that it was a salary dump -- the White Sox still owed Swisher $20+ million, and the Yanks could afford that type of salary.

Even the Curtis Granderson trade involved the ability of the Yanks to pay for his salary. (And it's not like the Yanks got a steal on getting him in the first place -- they still had to give up Ian Kennedy, Austin Jackson and Phil Coke. Granderson is a superstar now, but he didn't come cheap.)

So tell me, what are the great Brian Cashman deals in recent years that he has made on his baseball savvy? Trading for Javier Vazquez again? Trying to get back Carl Pavano? Signing Kei Igawa?

And sorry, I don't buy Cashman's story that Pineda fully tore his labrum just this weekend. Some of his acolytes think it's cute, the way Cash constantly plays fast and loose with the truth. I don't. Why should I buy anything Cashman says, when it is clear he has a very long track record of saying what he needed to, regardless of whether it was accurate or not, in order to deflect criticism? When you do things like tell reporters about how A.J. Burnett really has great numbers, and that we all need to smoke the objectivity pipe to see it, then you pay the Pirates $20 million on Burnett's salary just to get rid of him, you don't exactly come across as a truthteller.

I think it's time that some folks wake up and drink the reality potion, to use a Cashmanism. And the reality is that Brian Cashman is a pretty crummy general manager. I said at the time of the trade that I had zero faith in his judgment. My faith in his judgment now? It's less than zero!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

On Michael Pineda, A.J. Burnett, Pedro Feliciano, and the media's double standard

I just want to, for once, admit that Squawker Jon was totally right on something. Specifically, he called the Michael Pineda injury issue correctly three weeks ago, comparing it to Phil Hughes' tendinitis, and mocking Joe Girardi for calling the diagnosis at the time "great news:"

When reporters noted that Hughes was also diagnosed with shoulder tendinitis last year, and he missed three months and finished the season with a 5.79 ERA, here was Girardi's response:

"They both got tendinitis, but I wouldn't necessarily say they're similar [injuries]," Girardi said. "There's a lot of parts to that shoulder."

Girardi's rationalizing about Pineda's injury reminds me of how some people said that Johan Santana would make it back faster than Chien-Ming Wang and others who had the same injury because all injuries are different.

Jon also noted in that column about how the Mets and Yanks get treated differently in the media when it comes to such injuries. He also has been saying to me in person that Andy Pettitte would be pitching before Pineda would.

Anyhow, now Pineda has had a setback that looks to be pretty bad -- he isn't expected back for what could be months. You know, just the way that Hughes shoulder tendinitis kept him out until after the All-Star Break.

Marc Carig wrote something rather shocking for the Star-Ledger about Pineda, talking about why the Yanks are so upset on the recent news on the pitcher (emphasis added):

When the Yankees placed Michael Pineda on the 15-day DL, they did so for two reasons.

They wanted to rest his right shoulder, which the Yankees believed to be afflicted by minor tendinitis. And they hoped to give him a chance to mentally regroup after a difficult first spring training with the Yankees. Conveniently, the minor injury afforded the Yankees the benefit of time, which they hoped Pineda would use to catch up on the conditioning he did not do in the winter.

Which is why, privately, the Yankees were stunned Saturday when the 23-year-old Pineda reported lingering pain in the back of his right shoulder.

I was against the Jesus Montero/Michael Pineda trade from Day One, and nothing has changed my mind. And to hear that he was put on the DL in part because of his conditioning is appalling. Didn't the Yankees have enough pitchers -- Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, to name two -- who have shown up to spring training overweight and out of shape? They had to trade Montero to get another one? Good grief.

Obviously, I knew Pineda showed up fat to spring training, but to hear that he was put on the DL for said lack of conditioning is outrageous. Let me get this straight -- Pineda is in only his second season, and he is already acting like an entitled veteran? Who did the due dilgence on his personality? Yet again, Cashman shows a breathtaking lack of judgment, something he never gets called on by his buddies in the press.

Granted, Montero hasn't exactly set the world on fire as a Mariner just yet, but at least he is in shape and playing, two things Pineda is not. And I have to wonder if, yet again, Cashman got taken to the cleaners by another GM.

Also, when Cashman is not outwitted by other GMs in the game, he does dumb signings, like signing Everyday Pedro Feliciano for two years and $8 million after the Mets completely overworked him. And guess what? Chances are that Feliciano, who is recovering from rotator cuff surgery, will never pitch for the Yankees, something completely unshocking to every Met fan out there.

In other news, A.J. Burnett, the pitcher we Yankee fans are paying over $20 million for to *not* pitch for the Yankees in the next two seasons, pitched seven shutout innings Saturday for the Pittsburgh Pirates, giving up only three hits and striking out seven. And yes, he came back from an orbital bone fracture quicker than Pineda will return!

The trade of Burnett to the Pirates really did not get enough media scrutiny. As maddening as Burnett was as a Yankee, it makes no sense to me to pay him $20+ million of the $33 million owed to him to pitch somewhere else. Some Yankee fans acted like Cash was some magician for getting rid of him. Gimme a break. The Yanks would have been better off keeping him and sticking him in the bullpen than paying him so much money to pitch elsewhere, simply to keep their options open.

Anyhow, the Yanks are stuck with Pineda being injured -- he's going for a dye-contrast MRI this week -- and with Brian Cashman, the most overrated GM in all of baseball. Oh, joy.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

What's the Worst Thing About Friday's Opening Day Debacle?

It is only one game, but geez, Squawker Jon and all the Yankee-haters of the world had to enjoy yesterday's Yankees loss. As my friend Joe, a Red Sox fan, put it to me on Facebook, "My joy in seeing Sabathia give up the grand slam was only exceeded by watching Mariano blow the save AND take the loss." And Squawker Jon may be on the disabled list from doing the Snoopy Dance!
Sheesh.

And what was up with Joe Girardi intentionally walking the immortal Sean Rodriguez to load the bases in order to have CC face Carlos Pena, who then hit that grand slam? Yikes. Sabathia seemed to be laboring in this game, that's for sure.

Oh, and so much for that five-man infield, eh? Raul Ibanez home run aside, it wasn't a good day for the Yanks. Not to mention having to hear the trash talk! Not a good day.

I heard Suzyn Waldman going on and on in the pre-game about the exciting Game 162 the Rays had to get into the playoffs last year. You'd hardly know, though, that it was against the Yankees!

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Jon also asked when the Michael Pineda era was going to begin. Smartypants.

An aside -- there has been nothing that has happened since the Pineda/Montero trade that has made me any less queasy over it, from Pineda showing up to spring training overweight, to the lack of speed on his fastball, to the tendinitis. He seems like a nice enough guy, but I still think the Yanks should have not made the deal.

And to be blunt, after Brian Cashman's little scandal, suffice it to say that I have even less faith in Cashman's judgment than I did before. And it's not the infidelity itself, it's the fact that it apparently took him literally years to realize that Louise Neathway was a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Not to mention how he wrote that bunny-boiler a letter of  recommendation on Yankees letterhead. How appalling, as is him reportedly having her sit in the same section as the Yankee wives.  What was he thinking?

On a brighter note, looking forward to the rest of the season. And Jon, you can chortle now, but at least my team will be playing meaningful games past Opening Day!


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Brian Cashman Claims He Never Wanted to Be GM of the Yankees

Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein did one of those "A Conversation With..." blah blah blah type things in Connecticut the other day. And to my complete lack of surprise, Cashman kept up his record about complaining about his job more than anybody in the history of the world, griping about how difficult George Steinbrenner was, and even claiming that Cashman didn't ever really want to be GM of the Yanks. (Really?)

"I never wanted to be the general manager of the New York Yankees," Brian Cashman said, according to Yahoo Sports. "I still don't." Dylan Stableford, the writer of the article, said, "You would think he was joking, but he said it twice."

Brian is babbling sheer nonsense. Why does Cashman say this type of hokum? What is his point, exactly? It's about as believable of the Southern woman who spends days and dollars buying the right dress, then says, "Oh, this old thing" when complimented on it. Fiddle-dee-dee!

The thing is, you don't work your way up the food chain, putting in the crazy, long hours that MLB front office people do, if you don't have your eye on some kind of prize at the end. I interviewed some MLB staffers for an upcoming magazine article, and every single person said how long the hours were. Every day. All year. So why did Cashman put in those sort of hours? Because it was all so he could one day have the honor of being a celebrity bartender at Foley's?
  
And why did Cash not just stay as general manager since 1998, but just sign a new contract with the Yankees, if he really didn't want to be the GM? Because he just wanted to get a chance to rappel down Yankee Stadium in the future?

Here's more from the event. George Steinbrenner "would overreact in every inning. Every inning of every game was Armageddon. He was that way," Cashman said, according to ESPN New York. "That was tough to work through, it really was because everything was the short term, here and now, there was no long term, it was what are you doing in this moment and how are you doing, if you are doing well in this moment." 

Complaining about Steinbrenner being a tough boss is like somebody dating Kim Kardashian in 2012 and griping that she's more interested in publicity than love. You go to work for Steinbrenner, you can't expect sunshine and lollipops every minute.


But even then, we know that the Boss wasn't as tough in the later years as his reputation, and various health reasons ended the Steinbrenner of old. If he were the same old Steinbrenner, heads would have rolled after 2004, for one thing. Yet everybody in power got to keep their jobs after the worst collapse in MLB history. How did that work?
At any rate, nothing is more tedious than hearing people of privilege like Cashman, who have money and fame and power, gripe about how hard their lives are. He ought to team up with actress Katherine Heigl, who is known to do the same sort of moaning about how brutal her life is. Maybe they can go visit some people struggling right here in the good ol' USA, and see how good they have it. Or maybe they can make their tales of woe into a movie -- "Two for the Money."

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So Much for a Quiet Winter: Yankees Make Two Big Deals

So much for my saying just yesterday that "this has been arguably the quietest Yankee offseason in ages." Brian Cashman has reportedly shaken up the hot stove league with two deals last night. In the smaller of the two transactions, he signed former Dodger starter Hiroki Kuroda for a one-year, $10 million deal, which sounds like a good move.

The other move he made, which I am not sold on, is trading Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi to the Seattle Mariners for pitchers Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. I was very upset when I heard about the deal. Seeing Montero come up last September was one of the highlights of the 2011 season. He not only has great hitting skills, but he already showed poise and grace under pressure that you cannot teach.

Remember, Montero was the player that Cashman had this to say about when Albert Pujols signed with the Anaheim Angels:

"He is obviously one of the greatest who has played," Cashman said of Pujols. "He makes everyone significantly better. If he played for anybody, he would make them all significantly better. I don't know him personally, but I see what he does with that and it is Montero-like." 

Or how about these comments to Ian O'Connor in September, when Montero was called up> I was appalled by what Cashman said at the time, because it seemed to be putting too much pressure on Montero:

"In terms of hitting ability, Montero can be a Manny Ramirez or a Miguel Cabrera." He also said, "As a catcher, he's got a cannon for an arm. As far as everything and what I want him to be, I want him to be Jorge Posada. He has a chance to bat third or fourth. He has the potential to be a beast in the middle of our lineup."

So, let's review -- Montero is, according to Cashman, the next Albert Pujols/Manny Ramirez/Miguel Cabrera. Given all that, you'd think he'd at least be worth getting Felix Hernandez in return! I mean, really! (Yeah, yeah, I know that Pineda projects to be a very good young pitcher, but he's not King Felix.)

Lots of people are comparing this deal to the Josh Hamilton/Edinson Volquez deal a few years back. But that deal worked out better for the Rangers than for Reds.

I hope I am wrong, and maybe it's because I'm not exactly a big fan of Cashman at this point, but I would rather the Yanks had held onto Montero. But we shall see how this all turns out.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Oh, Great. Brian Cashman Is Back for More

Now that Brian Cashman has been re-signed as Yankees GM, shortly after making a deal with CC Sabatahia, I have one request for him: To shut up about how oh-so-tough it is to be general manager of the New York Yankees. Boo bleeding hoo. Enough already. If the job is sooooo much for poor Brian to handle, then he should have taken his talents to St. Louis, or to Anaheim, or to Boston, or to Chicago. Oh, wait, he was never actually in the running for the Cubs job, now held by Theo Epstein. The talk that he was in the running there, like the talk that the Red Sox were considering him, was just media-driven fluff to make him see like he was in demand. Sheesh.

At any rate, I don't think I can bear to hear another three years of Cashman talk about how stressful and difficult his job is. So I really hope he quits his whining.

You know what's really stressful? Being unemployed. Trying to figure out how to pay your bills when you have too much month left at the end of your money. Being outsourced. There are millions of Americans suffering right now in this country's poor economic state. I have empathy for them. For Brian Cashman, who is the 1% when it comes to MLB management, not so much.

And by the way, can we please, please get rid of the myth that working for the Yankees is infinitely tougher than any other team, because every season is supposedly considered a failure if the Yankees don't win it all? Our enemies in Boston actually stick to that more than the Yankees do -- Terry Francona was essentially shown the door, and Theo Epstein was given a strong hint to take his own talents to Chi-Town, only after they brought two World Series titles to a team waiting since 1918 for another World Series championship. The team's September collapse this year made heads roll, the way heads should have rolled in the Bronx after the 2004 collapse.

Meanwhile, back in the Bronx, the franchise that claims that any season without a title is a failure just re-signed a GM who has brought the team exactly one ring since 2000.

The email I got from Yankees.com regardng bringing Cashman back emphasizes how the Yankees "have earned a postseason berth in 13 of his 14 seasons as GM," and notes that Cashman's "feat of reaching the playoffs in each of his first 10 seasons (1998-2007) remains unmatched in Baseball history." But, but, aren't those seasons all failures if there's not a ring involved?

Look, as I noted after the Yankees lost in the postseason this year, I thought it was ridiculous for fans to flip out over it, given that the Yanks won the World Series just two years ago, and I also thought Randy Levine's "failure" rhetoric was obnoxious. But at the same time, I really want to see this franchise stop with that myth that anything short of a title is a failure. Because it's inconsistent, given that Levine still has a job, and Lonn Trost, and, yes, Brian Cashman. And you can't have it both ways -- bragging about making it to the postseason each year, at the same time you're calling those years failures. Which one is it?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Who Is Promoting Brian Cashman as Red Sox GM -- Brian Cashman?

I should be used to Yankee GM Brian Cashman's constant need for whining, puffery and self-promotion by now -- after all, just last month, he complained to ESPN New York's about how his current job required "a price of time, effort, expectations, pressure, stress levels, all that different stuff." You know, kind of like how every other job in the universe does, but at a close to $3 million a year salary. Boo bleeding hoo.

Anyhow, I was still taken aback by the "rumor" that Cashman could be in the running for taking over Theo Epstein's GM position in Boston. Who fed the media the rumor -- Cashman himself? (Incidentally, remember this summer, how Cashman's name was included as a possibility to be the new Cubs' GM? Yet it looks like Chicago only talked to Theo Epstein for the job? Funny how that works.)

It wouldn't be the first time Cashman threw his hat in the ring to be Boston's GM. Remember that New York Magazine profile of him from the summer of 2004, where his wife Mary said, “Brian would like to go to Boston and win the World Series as general manager of the Red Sox. That would be any man’s dream, to go up there and become the god of Boston." That was the same profile which had Brian talking about how smart he was in getting Javier Vazquez over Curt Schilling, and had some anonymous agent praising his trade of Jeff Weaver for the immortal Kevin Brown. At any rate, the fact that Cashman never even got called on the carpet in Yankeeland for that interview showed that the days of the Big Bad Boss were long over. But I digress.

Anyhow, aside from the fact that it's very likely, given how much he has been included in postseason postmortems, that Red Sox assistant GM Ben Cherington is going to be the next GM of the Boston Red Sox, what, exactly, would convince Boston ownership that Brian Cashman would be the right man for the job? What would make their fan base accept somebody who has spent his entire career in the Yankees organization?That at least the Yanks' overpriced free agent pitcher A.J. Burnett stays in the dugout and watches his team during games, unlike fried-chicken eating, beer-drinking, video-game playing John Lackey? (Incidentally, if you haven't read the Boston Globe's investigation of what went wrong, please do so. It is absolutely delicious reading for Red Sox haters!)

I also had to laugh of the ridiculousness of Yankee president Randy Levine's own puffery in declaring that the 2011 Yankees season was a failure, then talking in the same interview about bringing back Cashman. Remember, Levine said: "We are the Yankees. That is the way The Boss set it up. When you don't win the World Series, it is a bitter disappointment and not a successful year." So, when is Levine handing in his own resignation? Or looking for a new GM? Gee, you'd think that all this talk of "World Series or bust" is just a sop to the rubes, since nobody ever actually loses his job or anything! Not even a general manager who once looked longingly at being Boston's GM!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Big Disappointment: John Sterling's Jesus Montero Home Run Calls

When Jesus Montero was called up to the majors, I asked my Facebook friends to predict what John Sterling's home run call would be. I got lots of responses, such as "Jesus Montero Superstar," "Jesus Juiced One," and even "Holy Moses, Jesus Crucified it." And people were very interested in the subject.

So when Montero hit his first home run, I expected something maybe show-tunes related from Sterling. Something memorable. Instead, we got "Jesus is loose." What? He had all weekend to come up with something catchy, and we got a cheesy knockoff from "The Goose Is Loose"? Puh-lease.

And when Montero hit his second home run of the day, Sterling expanded on his call, saying "Jesus has been turned loose." Really? What is this, some Unleash the Kraken reference or something? Hate it. Back to the drawing board, John!

* * *

Something else I wasn't crazy about were Brian Cashman's comments the other day on Montero. He told ESPN's Ian O'Connor that "In terms of hitting ability, Montero can be a Manny Ramirez or a Miguel Cabrera." He also said, "As a catcher, he's got a cannon for an arm. As far as everything and what I want him to be, I want him to be Jorge Posada. He has a chance to bat third or fourth. He has the potential to be a beast in the middle of our lineup."

What, why not throw in Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Yogi Berra to make the comparisons even more hard to live up to? Good grief.

I fail to see how hyping up a rookie so much is a good thing.

How about being happy for now if Montero can be better than Francisco Cervelli? Isn't that enough at the moment?

And when I told Squawker Jon what Cashman said, he snapped back, "Then why did Cashman try to trade Montero for two months of Cliff Lee?" Good point!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

MLB Eyes A-Rod Role in Earthquake

Did you feel the earthquake yesterday? I did, as did Squawker Jon, although neither of us quite realized what it was at first. Then, we heard what it was, we both wondered if some bitter MLB writer would find a way to blame it on Alex Rodriugez. After all, A-Rod gets blamed for everything these days. So, given that he jammed his thumb this week, we figured the injury could be blamed on him shaking the earth to cause the quake! Thus, today's silly headline.

Speaking of A-Rod, the New York Post has written about the latest casino kerfuffle.Alex reportedly went to Ruth's Chris Steak House at Mohegan Sun, tipped $100 on a $260 meal, and still had some snarky waitress say Jeter was better. And he was also criticized for supposedly not wanting to pose for photos at the casino saddened somebody who watched it. Um, A-Rod not posing for a photo at Mohegan Sun that could end up being sold for five or six figures to the, um, New York Post is about the most sensible thing he's done all year!

Anyhow, the Post also wrote that A-Rod "was spotted last Monday in a high-stakes gaming room" for two hours. But here's the deal -- Bobby Soper, the CEO of Mohegan Sun, said that Rodriguez did not gamble:

“He did have dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House,” Bobby Soper said of Rodriguez. “He went straight there and straight back out. He did not gamble.”

According to TheDay.com, "Soper said the casino does not generally discuss what celebrities do at the casino but noted he wanted to set the record straight about Rodriguez’ visit." But even though the New York Post story was updated more than once, they somehow never got around to including that quote. Neither did most of the other breathless reports about A-Rod at a casino. Shocker, I know.

* * *

In other news, Brian Cashman is at it again, defending A.J. Burnett's juvenile actions on the mound Saturday:

“I’ve got CC Sabathia cussing in his glove, I’ve got Paul O’Neill, who for a huge run here, was kicking water coolers. It’s not an issue. It’s just silliness. I’ve got other guys on our team doing the same stuff,” Cashman said. “I like seeing passion. I don’t want a guy walking off the mound singing ‘Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah’ and having a skip to his step after a performance like that.”

Oh, please. Aside from the fact that Cashman has to bring down other players to A.J.'s level to prove his point, his argument is stupid. Nobody would be mad if Burnett was cursing at himself over his poor performance. But instead, he cursed at Joe Girardi, his manager, something The Powers that Be in Yankeeland don't want to acknowledge, and something that none of his other teammates have done for the world to see.

At any rate, plenty of times in the postgame Burnett was practically singing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" in interviews, not seeming the least bit upset. Of course, if some reporter were to point that out to Cashman, he'd find a way to defend that, too.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Brian Cashman, Crybaby! GM Can't Take a Little Criticism About A.J. Burnett

I've been saying for months that New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman has gone into Joe Torre mode, where he thinks his you-know-what don't stink. And, like what happened with Torre in later years, anybody who says the mildest criticism about his decision-making gets lambasted.

Cashman is now outraged that the media and the Yankee fan base has lost patience with A.J. Burnett, with many of them thinking that Burnett should lose his spot in the current six-man rotation. So Cash launched an epic whine yesterday, complaining about how anybody who thought that way was "stupid." Cashman said he thought Burnett's failures were blown out of proportion, and called it a "bull - - - - emotional response to stuff that doesn't accurately reflect reality."

“The stuff on A.J. is way overblown. A.J.’s been solid for us this year. I just think the way it’s playing doesn’t necessarily reflect how he’s pitched,” Cashman said. “The public outcry recently is all emotion rather than factual.”

Really? Having an 8-9 record, with a 4.60 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP when you're supposed to be this team's No. 2 starter is "solid"? Spare me.

Granted, compared to A.J.'s 2010 10-15, 5.26 ERA, 1.51 WHIP record, one of the all-time worst Yankee pitching seasons ever, it looks like he's made progress. (Burnett's overall Yankee record is 31-33, with a 4.61 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP.) But that's the thing -- for the third year in a row, Burnett got off to a pretty good start, then tanked as the year progressed. Burnett hasn't won a game this year since June 29, and he is yet to have a Yankee win in August. Those are indeed facts, not emotions. The only Yankee Burnett's numbers look good compared to are Phil Hughes, but at least Hughes has shown some progress since returning from the DL.

More from the rant:

"We've got six guys who are capable of pitching in a rotation in a pennant race," Cashman said. "That's a good thing. Someone is going to have to go, and we're going to make that decision. But this stuff about [whether] A.J. Burnett is worthy of being ripped from the rotation is a bunch of crap."

He also said:

"I encourage everybody to just break it down," Cashman said. "Break it down. Compare him to other people. Look at his start-by-start. Look at his run support. If you smoke the objective pipe, I think the coverage on him would be a little smoother, more accurate." 

Again, it's insulting that Cash thinks daring to ponder whether Burnett should be taken out of the rotation is such a terrible "crap" idea.

But Cashman is smoking something, alright, if he thinks looking at the stats and breaking it down actually helps Burnett's case. Run support? He was staked to a 13-1 lead against the White Sox and STILL couldn't make it out of the fifth inning! Besides, as Mike Mazzeo of  ESPN New York noted:

• Of all pitchers who qualify for the ERA title, Burnett ranks 91st (4.60).


• As far as run support is concerned, Burnett ranks 27th in the majors (6.84).


• He hasn't won since June 29 and is 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA during that stretch (seven starts).


• He hasn't won an August start in his two-plus seasons with the Yankees (0-8, 7.18).

So much for the stats proving A.J's really doing great!

Cashman also claimed:

"I have more objectivity than most of us, let's put it that way. I'm just used to the [expletive] emotional response to stuff that doesn't really reflect reality. A.J. Burnett is not pitching anywhere close to as bad as people say."

Oh, please. First of all, I don't really believe anybody is truly objective. The most we can strive for is to be fair. And the idea that Cashman is really objective is nonsense.

At any rate, I find it rich that a professional who can't manage to get through a few sentences in this interview without cursing and calling others "stupid" and "emotional" is complaining about others not being objective. Cashman ain't exactly acting like Mr. Spock here!

He did concede that he could be blamed for Burnett:

“He’s being treated differently publicly because he has money attached,” said Cashman, who spiced his remarks with a profanity. “So forgive him for saying yes to a contract. If you want to blame someone for his contract, blame me. But the man can still pitch.”

Gee, you think money has something to do with it, Cash? If Burnett were making the major league minimum, would he even have been on the team after 2010? The answer is no. Of course it matters.

But that's not the only issue here. I actually like Burnett -- he would be the current Yankee player I would most like to go have a liquid refreshment with -- and I think he was a critical part of the 2009 World Series championship. If he didn't win Game 2, I don't think the Yanks would have won the series.

However, the facts are that 1) Burnett has melted down repeatedly in the second half, and 2) his post-game interview comments have been abysmal, where he has been in denial about his poor pitching, like when he said after his last start he wouldn't do anything differently. And given that Cashman lost faith in Ian Kennedy after the pitcher gave one dopey interview, and ended up trading him, he's showing a bit of a double standard here.

Funny, Cashman's acolytes love to say how honest he is. No, he's not. He's all about avoiding blame, and criticizing others, and making everybody the bad guy but him. When you make fun of your own fan base, the people who buy your team's tickets that help fund your $200+ million payroll, and call them "stupid" and "emotional," you're not being honest, you're just being an ungrateful jerk.

On the Yankees' Walkoff Win, "Glee," "Dancing With the Stars," and the Mets

I was watching last night's Yankee game until 9 p.m., when I switched over to the season finale of "Glee." Hey, don't judge. I don't like to watch season finales on DVR or tape delay, because I know that even if I wait an hour to watch it, I'll come across somebody talking about the show in question on Twitter or Facebook or online, I'll get ticked off that the show was spoiled, and it will ruin my enjoyment. So I'd rather prevent the aggravation and watch it live.

Anyhow, because of that, I missed watching the end of the Yankees' exciting walkoff win live, although I did catch it later, after watching the season finale of "Dancing With the Stars." I was happy to see Hines Ward, who I have rooted for all season, take the mirror ball trophy home! I still want to see a baseball star on DWTS one day, though.

It was good to see the Yankees have an old-fashioned rally, and they looked about as happy as I've seen the team all year!

In other news, there's word that Rafael Soriano is going to visit Dr. Andrews, which is never a good thing. Brian Cashman looks vindicated on that signing, that's for sure!

* * *

As for the Mets' mess, there have been some really good articles written criticizing Fred Wilpon. In his piece "Choose the Mets," my friend Mark Healey suggests not putting any money into the Mets' coffers until Wilpon is gone. Ian O'Connor has an angry column which asks that Bud Selig take over the team. "Enough is enough is enough," O'Connor sez. "If wresting the Mets from Wilpon isn't in the best interests of baseball, what the hell is?"

And Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post wonders when the fans will get an apology from Wilpon:

When Wilpon described the Mets as, um, “sh***y,” what he did was admit what we’ve long suspected: that he plays his own fans for suckers, chumps, rubes, that he believes they drive to work on the same turnip truck he so vehemently wants us to believe he rides in on (or else how could poor Fred — a good man — have been so relentlessly duped by so many.

Wilpon may believe he is, in the words of that New Yorker piece, "snakebitten," but I think it's interesting how many times a supposedly smart and good man has been "fooled" so many times. Aside from the Madoff issue, and having Kirk Radomski as a clubhouse staffer back in the day, there's the whole Charlie Samuels scandal.

Samuels, who worked for the Mets for 30 years, and was their longtime clubhouse manager, not only was a clubhouse snitch for ownership, but he was involved with illegal gambling (the second Mets employee to be busted for such a thing). And he also was recently charged with swiping $2.3 million in stolen Mets autographed memorabilia from the clubhouse and storing them elsewhere to sell. According to a news story about the theft, the items recovered included "507 signed and unsigned jerseys, 304 hats, 828 bats, 22 batting helmets and 10 equipment bags." And nobody noticed a thing? Are you kidding me?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Did Jorge Posada Really Want Off the Yankees?

So much for the idea that Jorge Posada just needed a day. The Daily News' Bill Madden reported yesterday afternoon that Posada wanted out of the Yankees for good Saturday, not just for the night. Madden writes:

In the heat of his anger and frustration Saturday night, Yankee icon Jorge Posada told general manager Brian Cashman amid a flood of F-bombs that he not only wanted out of the No. 9 spot in the Yankee batting order - he wanted out of the Yankees, too, according to team sources.

This story makes sense to me. As I noted in a previous blog entry, my very first thought when I heard that Posada had pulled himself from the lineup was that he was going to retire. Given that, I'm not surprised that Jorge would reportedly want off the Yankees, especially given that he would apparently still think he could play elsewhere. Because other teams can't wait to get their mitts on a DH who hits .165!

One of my brothers, who is a lawyer, noticed something in the original stories on Brian Cashman talking with Posada Saturday that piqued his interest -- the fact that Cash and Posada were talking with Seth Levinson, one of Posada's agents. My brother wondered why an agent was getting involved over a lineup issue. Now I think we know why. And unless I missed it, I haven't seen any denials from Yankeeland about Posada wanting out for good.
We also have a better inkling on why Cashman decided to address the press on his issue, instead of sweeping it under the rug. Here's what Cash said Saturday, amid criticism about him flapping his gums on FOX:

"We were explaining to Jorgie and his agent, Seth Levinson, what we were going to say and that it would be short and sweet," Cashman said. "The situation that was created by him, then he would have to explain himself after. It was as simple as that. It is common baseball practice to explain after someone is a late scratch in the lineup, they give a reason why."

"I was down there for an hour," Cashman said. "In one instance I was on the phone with Seth and I actually had to hand the phone to Jorgie. I said, 'Here.' Jorgie knew exactly what was being said. This is not a surprise. I'm disappointed about what he said."

So, people criticized Cashman for saying too much. But it sounds like Cash said a lot less than he could have here.

It really does take a special sort of chutzpah for Posada to complain to the media, given the situation, that:

"I didn't know he made a statement. I don't know why he’s going to make a statement during the game, in the middle of the game. I don't understand that. You know, so that's the way he works now," Posada said.

Earth to Posada: The Torre Years are over, and your prime career years are over, too. You can't expect the Yankees to protect you from your own temper anymore when you're hitting .165 and throwing a hissy fit about batting ninth.

Like I said, there is no denial of the story that Posada wanted out, but the DH did deny Madden's later reporting that sources told the writer Posada refused to catch in a spring training game:

"Not at all. Not once. A hundred percent," he said. "Not even close. They told me to go to the bullpen and stuff so I caught in the bullpen every once in a while, but they never asked me (to catch in a game)."

Despite the fact that Posada made up that "back stiffness" story, I believe he's telling the truth here. Not because I think he's a straight shooter, but because it would make zero sense for the Yankees to want him to catch. Given how many times you heard them say since the fall that he needed to think of himself as a designated hitter only, and that his catching days were often, why would they tell him to catch?

So what happens next? I think that Posada handed Cashman a reason to get rid of him on a silver platter. And if Jorge doesn't start hitting -- and soon -- I think he will be off the team by Memorial Day. Contrary to the current media myth that Posada has been so classy and wonderful his whole career, he's always been a little cranky, he's always had a hot temper, and he's always had squabbles with others. But the Yankees could easily overlook Jorge's "proud" (code word for "prickly") personality, and his inability to stay on the same page with others, like pitchers, when he hit up a storm. Now, not so much.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Jorge Posada Pulls a Manny Ramirez After Joe Girardi Bats Him Ninth

As soon as I heard the news that not only had Jorge Posada had pulled himself out of the lineup last night, two hours after he got the news that he would be batting ninth, but that he had reportedly thrown a fit over the situation, another player came to mind -- Manny Ramirez. And it wasn't exactly a positive comparison.

Remember in late July 2008, when Manny asked out of the lineup before the start of a Yankees-Red Sox series? He claimed his knee was bothering, then couldn't seem to remember which knee it was that hurting? The Red Sox ran MRIs on both knees that night, found nothing, and traded him to the Dodgers a few weeks later.

Granted, Posada doesn't have Manny's track record, but he quit on his team last night, before a Yankees-Red Sox game, because his ego couldn't take the humiliation of being batted ninth. And it's just as unacceptable, in my view, as what Ramirez pulled that time. Sorry, Yankee fans, but it's true. 

And here's another comparison to make your skin crawl -- what is the difference between Posada glowering on the bench last night, and Nomar Garciaparra glowering on the bench in the July 1, 2004 "Jeter dives into the stands" game? 

On the other hand, I don't remember A-Rod throwing a "hissy fit," as Jack Curry said a Yankee official told him Posada did, after Joe Torre humiliated him by batting him eighth in the 2006 ALDS. Or begging out of the game, either.

Anyhow, Squawker Jon and I were hoping a reporter would ask Posada, "Where do you think a batter with a .165 average should hit in the lineup, Jorge?" Because frankly, Posada should have been moved down weeks ago. He hasn't hit a homer since April 23. Since then, he is nine for his last 62. He doesn't have a single hit against left-handed pitchers this year. 

Yet despite all the deference Girardi has shown him (he only had him bat eighth once this year), it still wasn't enough. Posada pulls the "disrespected" act last night and had about five different reasons why he didn't play.  I haven't heard so many lame excuses thrown out at once since John Belushi's "Blues Brother" character rattled off all the reasons he stood up Carrie Fisher's character at their wedding! Oh, and Posada had to get his wife -- and his father -- running interference for him. Please. Posada needs a mental health day before Yankees-Red Sox? Are you flipping kidding me?

The thing is, Posada has always gotten away with a bit of an inflated opinion of himself. Even though he wasn't really part of the 1996 championship team (he only played four games that season), he still gets the credit for that ring. As Squawker Jon always sez, Georgie is the Ringo Starr of the Core Four, without the self-deprecating personality. Has there ever been a catcher who has fought with as many pitchers? Roger Clemens. Andy Pettitte. Orlando Hernandez.  Randy Johnson. Mike Mussina. A.J. Burnett, etc. etc. But the Yankees (mostly) put up with Posada pulling the diva act behind the plate, because of his bat. Now he can't hit, and he can't catch anymore, although he still thinks he's aces at both.

And, thanks to Omar Minaya taking Georgie to that Le Cirque lunch in 2007, and the Yanks giving him a fourth year on his contract afterwards, Posada's got 13 million reasons this year to put on a happy face.

Here's what Jorge Posada should have said last night, instead of throwing daggers at Brian Cashman about having the nerve to tell the media that he begged out of the game, and insinuating that Girardi disrespected him:

"It's been a frustrating season, and I let my ego get the best of me. This is unacceptable, and the Yankees have the right to be angry over me begging out of the lineup. I had my wife spin this 'back spasms' story because I panicked over how I would look after Cashman said I asked out of the game. I'm angry with myself for missing the big picture, and putting my ego above the team. I am deeply sorry, and this will never happen again."

My first thought last night, when I heard that Posada had asked out of the game, but before the hissy fit details came out, was that he was going to retire. Come to think of it, maybe Posada ought to think about doing that now, and leave with at least a shred of dignity, before playing out the year griping about how he's being disrespected.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Did Brian Cashman Insult Derek Jeter or Compliment Him?

Quick note while watching tonight's game. Brian Cashman spoke today about Derek Jeter's importance to the Yankees. When I first heard fans griping about what Cash said, I didn't get at first why they were mad. After all, his comments looked very complimentary -- he said Jeter was "a championship-caliber contributor and an above-average shortstop."

Then Squawker Jon pointed out something else in the interview. Here is the money quote from what the GM said on ESPN 1050 radio today:

"I think he's an above-average shortstop in major league baseball," Cashman said. "He's not the same player he used to be, and how many people are when they start to get older? But I think he's a championship-caliber contributor and an above-average shortstop, and that's more than enough. We have other guys on offense that are charged with leading the way. Derek has always been a table setter, but Derek's offense isn't gonna make or break us. That's gonna come from other guys in the lineup that are expected to do more."

Squawker Jon sent me an email with the last part of that paragraph, asking, "Isn't this pretty much what A-Rod said about Jeter in the infamous article a decade ago?"

Let's take a look. Here's A-Rod's quote, from the infamous 2001 Esquire interview:

"Jeter's been blessed with great talent around him," Alex says. "He's never had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun. And he hits second—that's totally different than third and fourth in a lineup. You go into New York, you wanna stop Bernie and O'Neill. You never say, Don't let Derek beat you. He's never your concern."  

I don't think what Cashman said is that big a deal, but I do agree with Jon that the similarity in the quotes was amusing. However, I don't think the Captain will be quite as amused!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Post Publishes Juicy Tidbits From Ian O'Connor's New Book About Jeter/A-Rod Feud

Sorry I haven't squawked for a while -- I have been working on two real-life projects that have consumed almost all of my time. I knew I had better get back to squawking soon when I got this email the other day, with the subject line "Do You Know there are 2 teams in NYC?"  Here's the email:

Hey…do you guys know that there is another team in town. They are called “the Yankees.”

Would think that there is only one team in NYC, to read your blog lately.

What’s the story???

Harsh, dude! Ouch!

Anyhow, on a brighter note, Happy Easter! When I got online this morning and saw that the New York Post had information from Ian O'Connor's upcoming book, "The Captain" (you know, the one that he's been working on at the same time he's been carrying Jeter's water in his columns), I knew I'd better squawk, or some might think I was comatose!

This "exclusive" article has inside details on the feud (although, for some odd reason, the Post calls it an "unauthorized" bio), and has pretty much vindicated a lot of what I've said over the years. Some tidbits:

* Jeter, the modern day Joe DiMaggio in a lot of ways -- including holding grudges -- so intimidated one Yankee front office person who admitted to being afraid to talk to Jeter about burying the hatchet with Alex. "It would've been the last conversation I ever had with Derek," he said. "I would've been dead to him. It would've been like approaching Joe DiMaggio to talk to him about Marilyn Monroe."

* At the 2001 All-Star Game, according to the Post's account of the book, "a smitten Rodriguez introduced him to Latin songstress Joy Enriquez. Jeter wasted no time -- the singer and the shortstop began dating."

* Don Mattingly tried to get Jeter to make up with A-Rod. "I faked it with Boggs," he said. "And you have to fake it with Alex." Heh!

* Brian Cashman also asked Jeter to "fake it" with Rodriguez, after noticing Jeter's lack of defense when it came to other players and fans criticizing the third baseman. "You've got to lead them all, the ones you like and the ones you don't," he told Jeter. He asked Jeter to defend A-Rod to the fans. "I can't tell the fans what to do," Jeter countered. (Of course, Jeter did just that when it came to Jason Giambi and Chuck Knoblauch, although the article doesn't mention that.) I don't know how many times I wrote over the years that the captain's job was to stand up for all of his teammates, not just his buddies. So good for Cashman that he told him the same thing!

Then there's this tidbit:

It all came to a head during a Yankee loss in August 2006 to Baltimore.

An easy pop-up hung in the air between A-Rod and Jeter. Both players closed in and Jeter bumped into A-Rod, knocking the ball out of his glove. Jeter shot A-Rod a withering look.

The gesture did not go unnoticed. Cashman pulled Jeter aside and ordered him to knock it off.

"Listen, this has to stop," Cashman said. "Everybody in the press box, every team official, everyone watching, they saw you look at the ball on the ground and look at him with disgust like you were saying, 'That's your mess, you clean it up.' "

A-Rod also felt betrayed by manager Joe Torre, who players said added fuel to the fiery feud.

"He would never call Jeter on anything, but he'd have no problem doing it to Alex," one player told the author.

I remember that well. And I remember how much grief I got from fans for pointed out that obvious dis. Believe it or not, readers used to argue me all the time when I said it was pretty obvious Jeter couldn't stand A-Rod. But It was pretty clear to me starting with the way Jeter mumbled and grimaced through A-Rod's introductory press conference in 2004 that the Captain didn't want him on the team.

It's funny -- people would tell me over and over how Jeter would do anything to win. Yes, except for making the peace with Rodriguez!

Even though most of the New York media mostly ignored the issue as it was happening, it was pretty clear that there was a huge issue here. And since I was one of the few people anywhere writing about it, I got a lot of "How do you know, you're not in the clubhouse" in response, and people insisting that Jeter would never be so petty. Oh, really?

What's funny is that O'Connor's book, written with the cooperation of the Jeter camp, has such tidbits which reflect so negatively on Jeter (although, to be sure, the information also reflects negatively on Rodriguez, saying that Jeter didn't like A-Rod acting as a diva as a Yankee, and that A-Rod obsessed over Jeter. IMHO, I think A-Rod could have been Mother Teresa as a Yankee, and it wouldn't have made any difference!)

After all, so much of Jeter's mystique has been on his vaunted leadership skills. But instead of embracing getting the best player in baseball at the time for the team, this article makes it clear that Jeter was "less than thrilled" when A-Rod became a Yankee. And that one of the reasons the Yankees gave CC Sabathia $161 million was to mend the clubhouse, From the article:

"CC's main concern was our clubhouse, and how people got along," Cashman told the author. "I told him the truth. 'Yeah, we are broken. One reason we're committing [$161 million] to you is you're a team builder. We need somebody to bring us together.' "

I guess it would have been too much to expect the team's captain to bring the Yankees together, eh?

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Thoughts on A.J. Burnett, Pedro Feliciano, and the State of the Yankees

Did you know that A.J. Burnett has more wins than the entire Boston Red Sox team does? Talk about a fun fact!

I missed watching much of last night's game, due to another project I'm working on. But I still have a few things to squawk about::

* I am kind of doubting we will see Pedro Feliciano pitch this year -- the latest news isn't good. Aside from the ridiculousness of Brian Cashman blathering about the Mets' abusing Feliciano, I'm wondering about a few things. Like exactly what kind of physical exam did Feliciano get before becoming a Yankee? And why did it take a month between the two MRIs he had -- one in spring training, one this week?

* I read some chatter online about how Jeter is out of his slump, because he had two hits last night. Whoopee. Is that how low the bar has gone for the captain? It was only two years ago that Jeter had 66 multi-hit games out of the 153 he played in. And in 21 of those games, he had three hits or more. Now, people are flipping out with excitement because he had his second two-hit game of the year?

* I thought it was interesting that the Yankees will give everybody who had tickets for last night's game a pass for another game. That's something the team used to do when attendance was much smaller, and I can't remember the last time the team has done it. (I sat through worse conditions and delays at the new Stadium for an April 2009 Red Sox game, and we didn't get anything for our troubles!)

What do you think? Tell us about it!

More on Brian Cashman, Keith Olbermann, and the Slap Chop Guy Lookalike

I have written more than once that I thought Brian Cashman was pulling a George Costanza as of late. Now I'm starting to think he's pulling a "Bulworth." Maybe he'll start rapping next!

Anyhow, Keith Olbermann wrote a followup to his discovery of a Yankee staffer who looks like the Slap Chop Guy signaling to Yankee players. He said the staffer was back in his usual home plate on Sunday, after not being there Saturday, but that there was no signaling going on this time.

Oh, and Olbermann said, "Barring more developments, I promise to leave this trivial incident alone, but if you’d like to read a reasoned, calm blog about the response to it, here you go," and he linked to my article on the kerfuffle! Very cool!

Anyhow, when I wrote about Brian Cashman calling bloggers "psychotics," I missed a great joke opportunity to compare Cash's gripes about bloggers to a Scooby-Doo villain complaining about those meddling kids! I hate it when I miss an easy joke like that.

And I wish I had written this line about Cashman being shocked to find out Pedro Feliciano was overworked with the Mets. DaveNJ, a commenter at Amazin' Avenue, writes, "If Cashman is this upset about Feliciano, just wait until someone tells him about Mark Prior." Good one!

I myself am waiting to see if Cash blames the Tampa contingent for the Feliciano thing. Or maybe it's the Steinbrenner brothers. Or us meddling bloggers!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

And We Thought Murray Chass Was Bad: Brian Cashman Calls Bloggers "Psychotics"

Last month, Brian Cashman explained to the Wall Street Journal why the Yankees have such an extensive media training program for their players. "We are the largest media market in the world. We will control the back pages on a yearly basis, without a doubt, whether we want to or not, and we'd rather limit the damage and get ourselves on the back pages for the right reasons, not the wrong reasons," he said.

Hmmmmm. Maybe Cash ought to sign up for a refresher course for himself. Because he managed to stir up not one but two controversies this weekend. It wasn't just him complaining and whining about Pedro Feliciano being abused as a Met. It was him calling bloggers "psychotics" and comparing them to dangerous criminals. Makes that whole Murray Chass-esque "bloggers live in their mother's basement" cliche look downright tame, don't you think?

The thing is, I can't figure out who, specifically, Cashman is calling psychotic, unless he means TV personality/diehard baseball fan Keith Olbermann. It was Olbermann who posted photos  -- first on Twitter during Opening Day, and then on his blog -- of a man in the stands who looks like Vince the Slap Chop Guy making hand signals to the players.

Turns out the Slap Chop Guy lookalike wasn't making references to fettucine, martini, linguini, or bikini -- he was Brett Weber, a Yankee coaching assistant who appeared to be letting the team's hitters know the type and location of the previous pitches thrown. Yankee season ticket holder Olbermann, who wrote he had seen this happen a number of times over the last year, wrote he thought it was "something less than cheating and I wasn’t looking to portray it as such."  It's not like Keith picked the coaching assistant as one of his Worst Person of the World candidates. In fact, he seemed more bemused than anything, writing that:

..."two other things surprise me more than anything else about this tempest-in-a-teapot. First, it went on all last year and nobody noticed? Based on relative seat location, the signals should be visible on television, although the players looking into the crowd would not necessarily have attracted any attention.

More importantly: At Yankee Stadium, it’s a shock to consider that the club surrendered the income from the seat. That, friends, costs at least $500 a game."

Anyhow, after Olbermann posted the pix, MLB investigated and contacted the Yankees front office to find out what was happening Turns out that the Yanks apparently violated Rule C-4, where staff are prohibited from using hand signals to communicate pitch information to players. Given that the very same information is supposed to be shown on the scoreboard, it doesn't exactly seem like the crime of the century to me.

But Cashman acted very strangely when asked about the issue Saturday. He said that:

"Anybody who obsessed about it yesterday, I kind of feel the psychotics who obsessed about it yesterday, I think we all did them a favor by keeping them off the street and preventing them from hurting others,” Cashman said.

Cashman then clarified that the “psychotics” were members of the blogosphere — not members of the media or members of Major League Baseball.

While Olbermann was speaking with reporters this afternoon, Cashman walked over and joked that Weber was merely ordering “four beers” and not signaling anything illegal.

Update: In response to a question I received about what Cashman said about bloggers, I found an even more direct quote on NorthJersey.com: "I was calling the blogosphere psychotics that really focused on it because it’s silly."

You know, the Mets front office invites baseball bloggers to conference calls and press conferences, gives them tours of Citi Field, and treats them like people worthy of respect. The Yankee GM calls baseball bloggers "psychotics" who need to be kept off the street.

And how about Cashman making jokes with the person who inadvertently started the whole story in the first place?

The funny thing is that I still can't figure out who in the heck Cashman is referring to here regarding his cheap shots at bloggers. On Friday, I saw some silly April Fool's Day Yankee articles around the baseball blogosphere, but I don't remember seeing anybody discuss this story. Nor did I get any grief on the issue from Yankee-hating friends, the way I usually do whenever the team gets in the news for something controversial.

In fact, the first time I heard about the story was when I read Anthony McCarron's article on it in Saturday's Daily News. I even went back to review the Yankee-related articles in Google and on SportsSpyder, and the first references I could find were on Saturday morning in the mainstream media, not the hated blogosphere. If there is some secret blog that was pushing this, please let me know, because I sure didn't see it!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Sorry, Brian Cashman, Mets Don't Always Do the Wrong Thing

Nobody knows better than Met fans that the team has been guilty of a string of ridiculous moves in recent years. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day. And sometimes, especially now that there's a new regime, when a Pedro Feliciano is not re-signed or a Luis Castillo is cut, there's a good reason.

As Squawker Lisa wrote yesterday, Cashman apparently failed to grasp that Feliciano led the majors in appearances the last three seasons, which was why the Mets and most other teams did not want to give him a two-year deal.

For Cashman to accuse the Mets of "abusing" Feliciano would be as if Phillies' GM Ruben Amaro Jr., after signing Castillo, blamed the Mets after discovering that Castillo was over the hill.

The perception of the Mets' incompetence appears to extend beyond that of rival GMs. When Castillo was released, ESPN's Buster Olney wrote:

Luis Castillo may have lost his support among New York Mets fans by the time he was placed on waivers Friday, but he has long-standing connections around baseball, established through his past success. Which is why he will almost certainly have a new job within 24 hours after he clears waivers today at 1 p.m.

Olney implied that Castillo was cut primarily to appease the fans (a theory Sandy Alderson was guilty of encouraging by admitting the fan factor). He went on to list the Phillies, Rockies, Cubs and Marlins as potential suitors for Castillo's services. Olney concluded:

None of that personal history will matter, of course, if Castillo struggles in his next job. But in baseball -- as in a lot of industries -- it's about who you know, and Castillo, a respected veteran with 15 years, a .290 lifetime average and 370 career steals, will be employed again very shortly.

Olney was right - Castillo quickly landed with the Phillies. But is this the way the rest of baseball really views Castillo - a "respected veteran" with "370 career steals"? Was it only disgruntled Met fans who saw a broken-down player who often had trouble walking without a limp, let alone running?

But the Phillies bought into that "respected veteran" tag, and doubtless also saw a way to stick it to the Mets, by signing Castillo. After all, another Met castoff, Wilson Valdez, filled in ably for Jimmy Rollins last year and now will be filling in for Chase Utley.

Ultimately, the Phillies spent a few days in spring training to discover what the Mets already knew - Castillo wasn't worth it. So they let him go. But some news outlets such as the Sports Network continued to spin the notion that Castillo was worthy of a roster spot:

As expected, the Philadelphia Phillies have placed second baseman Chase Utley and reliever Brad Lidge on the disabled list to start the season.

In related but unexpected news Wednesday, the club released veteran second baseman Luis Castillo.

Unexpected? Is Castillo now the Cliff Lee of spring free agents? How many more times must Castillo fail before people concede that it was a smart baseball decision for the Mets to let Castillo go?

At least even the Mets' detractors haven't been able to find a way to criticize the release of Oliver Perez.