Randy Levine-The Enemy From Within

Yesterday it was reported that the Yankees bid for Yu Darvish was under $20 Million. While we don't know for sure if that's true, this has one man's fingerprints all over it. Randy Levine.

Many reporters mentioned that the Yankees were scared off by the Kei Igawa fiasco when considering posting a large bid for Darvish. While I would not have wanted the Yankees to bid $51.7 Million, bidding >$20 million is surprising and disappointing.

Randy Levine was also the leading man in the pursuit of Kei Igawa. Levine wanted a Japanese pitcher to match the Red Sox signing of Daisuke Matusuzaka. Not the best starting pitcher available, but the best Japanese starting pitcher available. That makes little to no baseball sense.

Levine is the symbol of the Yankees front office bozos. Levine made the mistake of signing Igawa, after making the mistake of bidding a large amount for Igawa, and instead of admitting his mistake it appears he considers it a sign that Japanese pitchers cannot make the transfer into the MLB.

Levine joined the team in 2000 as team President, and seemingly right after his joining the Yankees went on their World Series drought until 2009.

While I was never a huge Joe Torre fan, I respected the man's place in Yankees history. Randy Levine did not, as he tried many times to push Torre out the door.

In Brian Cashman it seems we have the anti-Levine. A smart mind who thinks with his mind, not his wallet, and knows the game. While Cashman has made some mistakes in the past, he learns from his mistakes and knows when he is repeating the mistakes, and when he is in a scenario where it won't be a mistake even though the situation is similar.

Let's hope Brian Cashman was the one that decided on the low bid for Darvish, not Randy Levine. Let's hope Cashman is making the decisions this season, not Levine. For the sake of the Yankees future and present!