Managing the Yankees

This image came from The Yankee Universe.

Okay the question is do the Yankee administration trust GM Brian Cashman? The answer is an astounding "Yes".
Why? Well since Cashman was promoted as the Yankees General manager the Yankees have won 6 American League pennants and 4 World Series championships. An incredible feat coming from an organization and city that expects nothing less than success and greatness. The pressure of managing a team like the Yankees is tremendous, knowing for a fact that your team has the biggest payroll and you have to prove to the fans and to the world that the high payroll is worth it.

Cashman started as an intern with the Yankees in 1986. In 1994, he was named as an assistant general manager. In 1998, Cashman replaced Bob Watson and was named Senior Vice-President and General Manager. Through the years he worked his way up and prove to the Yankees organization that he belongs.

Brian Cashman has made tough decisions in making the Yankees a championship caliber team. He traded promising Alfonso Soriano to the Rangers for Alex Rodriguez. Many critics did not agree with the transaction and Cashman should have stick with Soriano and said Rodriguez is just purely hype and cannot withstand the pressures of playing in New York. That seems to be case as A-Rod performance dissolves in the post-season every year. But Cashman stick with A-Rod knowing that he will deliver someday. That day happened in 2009 as A-Rod was one of the main clogs for giving the Yankees their 27th World Series title.

But it is not a smooth sailing career for Brian Cashman. There was also up and downs. There was once an instance where owner George Steinbrenner and Cashman had conflicts regarding the teams plans and directions. Some people wonder why did the Yankees signed Gary Sheffield over Vladimir Guerrero. And why did they signed Jason Giambi to a long and huge contract. We don't know who makes the call but I have the feeling that George Steinbrenner was making the shots at that time.
Because of the disputes, Cashman almost went overboard by talking to the Washington Nationals (a city where he attended high school). But instead, Cashman agreed to a new contract with the Yankees following the conclusion of the 2005 season which gave him more "authority" in personnel decisions and paid him an average of $1.3 million more over the following three years.

^{Today Cashman is receiving $ 6 million annually and is not yet due until the end of 2011.} Cashman was also named to Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 list for 1999.

One of the biggest achievement of Cashman was the immense signing of free agents in 2009 where he signed big names like CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. He even took Mark Teixeira away from rival the Boston Red Sox. This big signings have indicated that the Yankees are going to make another mistake by spending an enormous amount of money.
Cashman and the Yankees proved to the critics and throughout the rest of the league that they made the right choice of "investing" and not "spending" on those Type-A players. The 3 new Yankee acquisitions (Sabathia, Burnett, Teixeira) contributed extremely and help the team in winning the World Series championship. Cashman used the Yankees available funds in investing the right players.

This off-season, the Yankees want a cut back and wants to lower their payroll below $ 200 million. Cashman made a great choice by trading for Curtis Granderson and bringing back Andy Pettitte. He then signed former Yankee Nick Johnson for $ 5.5 million. Cashman is still not done and said they are still in the hunt for a starting pitcher and a utility player.
Indeed in Cash we trust! The Yankees made the right decision in having Cashman as their GM. Each transaction made by Cashman brings them closer in winning the World Series championship.