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Lessons From Title Town USA



On February 11th, 1992, the general manager of the Green Bay Packers traded the 19th pick in the first round of the draft to the Atlanta Falcons for an unknown quarterback. As a lifelong Packer fan whose parents lived blocks from Lambeau Field in Green bay, AKA Title town USA, I called my brother and ranted for an hour about what an idiotic move it was. I was angry. Emotional. Out of control over an illogical decision I had no input in making. I had been reading for months about which college superstar they were going to draft in order to change the fortunes of the team and I was not happy to give a top pick for some Mississippi hick I’d never heard of. All those stud college players were now going to be playing for the competition and I was mad! Even though Ron Wolf was known as one of the top general managers in the game, I was smarter than him and just KNEW that was a stupid move. The player he traded for was Brett Favre and I have not publically questioned an established professional GM since that day. Including Brian Cashman. Ron Wolf and Brett Favre are both in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and I’m still a moron who privately thinks I know the score. Cashman is considered to be a top GM by both his peers and the Steinbrenner family. George was quick to fire staff members and yet he never fired Cash. Why was that? That fact needs to be considered before throwing off season stones.

How many of us really know what’s going on behind the scenes in the Yankee front office? Are we clairvoyant? Do we have the ability to get into the heads of the decision makers? Are the reporters allowed to personally cover private internal team matters? Do we really believe that Hal or Cash would call any one of the pundits we see on TV or read on the blogs to inform them about their thought process in advance of taking action? I imagine that would only happen when they wanted to send a message. Why lay out short or long term strategy with the media when you are negotiating with free agents and general managers on potential moves? What is the benefit for the Yankees to be an open book before the fact? Especially considering how agents and opposing GMs would love to know what the Yankees are thinking in order to use that information for their own benefit. The point is that I have to assume the Yanks brain trust is playing their version of chess while most of us on the outside are absorbed in understanding Chinese Checkers. No offense intended toward anyone on this board but I would imagine that not one of us has Cash or Hal on speed dial.

Like all GMs, Cash has made good moves and bad moves. As he’s not blessed with a crystal ball. He must make the best decision he can based upon information provided by staff combined with his own gut instincts. On top of that, he must also have approval from Hal as the numbers need to make sense. More often than not, Cash has made quality decisions. Didi and Hicks are two excellent recent examples of that fact and Luke Voit appears to be another. Even though the contract may currently be an issue with the Yankee budget, most people believe the acquisition of Stanton, due to the low player cost, was a good move as well. The timely unloading of Chapman, Miller, Beltran, and McCann are additional examples of long term strategic thinking that was considered within the industry to have been smart moves at the time. The acquisition of Happ and Lynn helped the team down the stretch last year as well. The point is that his track record is good enough for fans to have confidence that he is capable of running the ship.

As to this specific off season, we are not "there" yet as the opening bell will not be rung until the end of spring training. Judging the team to be a finished product today would be like walking in when Picasso has sketched the outlines of his idea but had not applied the paint. Let’s wait and see how it looks when he hangs it on the gallery wall. For that matter, most trades can’t accurately be judged for many years as prospects take time to evolve and established players need to adjust to the fishbowl that is NYC. Or not. The industry proclaimed the trade for Sonny Gray to be a good move. Until it wasn’t. Same with Javi Vasquez. Twice. How does anyone know how someone will perform under the hot lights until they are in the actual spotlight?

Over the last few months, I’ve read with great interest the many articles written about Machado and Harper, Kluber and Corbin, Robertson and Britton, and every other story about the moves that should be made. Like most Yankee fans, my addiction requires that I jump onto the websites each morning and evening to read the latest projections and to keep up with player movement. In the absence of information directly from the source, we tend to fill the void with the latest gossip and whatever is grinding around in the rumor mill. The Hot Stove always burns brighter for those of us who remake our favorite teams in our mind. We are all general managers this time of year and we truly believe we know more than the professionals in charge. When we attach a player to our mental fantasy team, it becomes an emotional commitment in our mind and when our fantasy world is interrupted by reality and the player ends up with another team, we react with anger and disbelief. We lash out at the "idiots" running the asylum by responding to blogs and demanding answers from the decision makers. Yet why would Hal or Cash have to answer to us? We spew venom in our words and verbally attack other fans who disagree with our assessment of the team. Each article or post dripping with negatively and condemnation, exposing our personal agenda in the process.

Some of the comments about Corbin and Machado have been fairly brutal toward the Yanks. How do we know what really happened in the Corbin or Machado personal meetings? Do we know how each side framed their desires? The years and dollars actually requested? Because of a report on ESPN or MLB.COM? Because of a tweet by some sports guru? In the social media cesspool where fake news has been elevated to an art form, how do we know what’s fact and what’s the latest fiction? Maybe we are getting caught up in a disinformation campaign. Do we really know the thought process of either side? We don’t. But we choose to read and react anyway. More often than not, are reaction is emotional. And sometimes irrational to the Favre-ian level.

I’ve interviewed many men and women over the years who were successful in their jobs and came highly recommended. Sometimes an attitude issue, personal vibe, or gut reaction resulted in a non-hire for me. When I spoke with the person who referred them they were typically surprised and indicated they had never seen that side of the candidate. The point is that sometimes personalities do not mesh well together with the team and only an insider with the ability to look beyond the surface appeal is qualified to make that determination. Perhaps the personality fit wasn’t what the Yankees were willing to make the sizable investment, on both years and dollars, required to land a player of Machado’s talent.

The minute Corbin’s agent said he wanted "Yu Darvish money" was the signal for most teams to have walked away. The fact that the Nats outbid themselves and signed him to 6/140 was out of line for most projections and also set a precedent that will be used down the road by the next agent in the same Yu Darvish fashion. If the Yanks has signed Corbin to that figure, what would the agent for Severino say when it was his time to sign long term? If the Yanks signed Machado to 10/300, or more, what do they say to the agents for Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, or Gleyber Torres in five years when he is 26? 10/400?

The bottom line for me is one of trust.. I believe in Brian Cashman to make the right baseball decision, based on his long track record, and have no reason to believe that Hal Steinbrenner has ever placed his desire for floating metal structures over the competitive level of his baseball team. Maybe their game plan includes Nolan Arenado, Harper, Kluber, or some out of the blue surprise move like Paxton. Thanks to my personal lesson from Title Town USA, I’m going to allow Cash to paint his masterpiece and wait for our invitation for the opening on March 28th!

Knucklehead Yank




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