Rating Cashman's Offseason

It's been an eventful offseason so far, but the type of moves Cashman has done have left me very pleasantly surprised. Let me explan :

The first splash of the offseason was obviously the Granderson trade. He pretty much swapped Austin Jackson for what he could have been for the Yankees. In a three way deal, dealing away 3 of our players, he sent the message that the Yankees are mindful of depleeting their farm system, but won't hang on to their prospects like they're the next Bernie Williams or Derek Jeter. Austing Jackson could have been as good as Curtis Granderson. But he also could be a 4th outfielder for a bottom of the table team 2-3 years from now. Cashman also had to give up Ian Kennedy and Phil Coke to do the trade, but both will probably be league-average players a couple years from now.  We won't wait for the best Yankee prospect to come up, just because he's the best Yankee prospect.

Then we waived our (apparent) goodbye's to Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon. Cashman yet again shows he has no room for sentiment, and is focused on helping the team win today and for the future. He then goes and replaces Matsui with Nick Johnson.  He got the team better AND cut payroll with these 2 moves and 2 non-moves. Our GM doesn't go with "nostalgia", and former Yankees.

And lastly the Vasquez trade. Cash trades away Robbie's pal, and our home-grown CF Melky Cabrera (and others). Yet again, we got a steal of a trade. We solidified our rotation, and did what needed to be done. We also solved the plethora of outfielders problem. But what was strange about the trade was bringing Vasquez back to the Yankees after what he did here last time around. It seems like he did the trade in a cold and calculating way, looking at Vasquez as our potential #3 or #4 starter, not as the failure he was here last time around.

So what it's starting to seem like is that Cashman is going about our team with a cold sense of cunning. He does what needs to be done, does it well, and doesn't seem to care for popular opinion (unlike the other GM) that lies in the popularity of the players. Instead he gives the Yankees the best team in baseball, and puts them in prime position to repeat in '10.