Dan, fair enuf re Beinfest, and you’re right about Epstein. (Let’s not forget the Gagne deal.) And while there are some deals that are easily derided — I think Drew/Lugo is one — there are others where the talent simply didn’t pan out. It’s easy to point to Jeff Weaver’s brief stay with the Yankees, but also worth taking a look at how he was pitching before he got here.

Dombrowski’s a perfect example. He may be in Steve’s pantheon. But he also took a look at a young Johan Santana and passed.

Harley, to be fair to Beinfest, he had to trade Derrek Lee because of his increasing contract.

However, what about about Stoneman’s complete inability to build an offense outside of Vlad? It was a well-documented problem for several years and he did nothing about it.

And is Theo really not in the top 5? We’re (almost) all Yankee fans here, but seriously, give the man his due– Casey Fossum for Schilling, David Ortiz, signing Beckett for a $10mill a year extension (HUGE steal), Wakefield’s lifetime $4million contract, Okajima for peanuts, Lowell as a throw-in with Beckett (they did give up Hanley, but I’d rather have Beckett and Lowell than Hanley and Anibal Sanchez). I admit there are some mistakes in there as well, such as Renteria (although Braves ate the contract) and potentially Drew/Lugo (we’ll find out soon about those two), but the man is a fine GM. I really like Cashman, but if Theo were a Yankee, he’d be hailed as the greatest GM who ever lived.

“If they exist?” Really? REALLY?

Okay, how about giving Gary Matthews Jr. 50 million for five years based on a single outlier season in Texas? (Stoneman)

How about trading the young Randy Johnson for Mark Langston and change? (Dombrowski)

How about trading Johan Santana for Jared Camp? (Also Dombrowski. God help Cashman had he made THAT move.)

How about Derek Lee for Hee Seop Choi and Mike Nannini? (Beinfest)

The GM’s job is a mine field. That doesn’t mean that they automatically deserve a pass or that GMs should not be held to standards in the same way we assess the value of players and managers.

But your puerile game of gotcha regarding Cashman more or less ends there. All that’s left is your massive desire to be Proved Right.

Good luck with that, Steve. But trust me. It’s a losing game.

~~~I refuse to believe that these five guys haven’t made mistakes recognized through the benefit of hindsight or outright blunders that seemed like whoppers at the time.~~~

MJ – why am I always the one that has to do the work? I gave you the names. Why not show me the ‘blunders’ for them, if they exist?

You tell me. Which of those five traded for Jeff Weaver? Which of the five signed Pavano and Igawa? None, last time I checked.
============================================
Steve, that’s BS. I asked you to answer the question in a thoughtful manner. Instead you tried to turn it around on me. I don’t see the point in answering you if you didn’t have the courtesy of answering me.

I’ll be a guest at The LoHud Yankees Blog on 3/14.

If he wanted to become part of my circle of friends, that would be fine.
=======
I just had a funny visual of the two of you acting like Barkley & Wade in that t-mobile commercial

Which probably means it’s time for me to go home…

I do agree that we probably should agree to disagree. Nothing malicious as you said earlier, we just have differing opinions and viewpoints.

Will you be linking to your guest work? Where will it be? Someone mentioned a gannett paper earlier, I think.

2007 – why would we want to celebrate what the Yankees did during the season in 2007? It’s great just because they rebounded from the first two months? So, what, we’re going to ignore the 1st two months?
————-
I never said anything about ignoring the first two months. I am merely using the same criteria that you’re using to discount the Yankees’ division titles; the Yanks could have choked the wild card away, but didn’t. The Yanks made the playoffs DESPITE the first two months of the season. If you want to give the Yanks a pass in 2006 because the Sox injury issues (the reason for the “choke”), then the Yanks get a pass in 2007 because of their injury issues.

No matter how you want to qualify it, the fact is 2007 was the first time since 1995 that the Red Sox finished ahead of the Yanks. We’ll see in the future if that’s an outlier, or a trend.

You tell me. Which of those five traded for Jeff Weaver? Which of the five signed Pavano and Igawa? None, last time I checked.
======
Which of the 5 released David Ortiz? Which one signed Bartolo Colon, Jeff Weaver & Aaron Sele? Which architect oversaw the building of a team that finished over .500 only once in 9 years? Which GM has built a team that has never finished in first place? Which GM traded for Carl Pavano? Which one traded Randy Johnson?

~~~I refuse to believe that these five guys haven’t made mistakes recognized through the benefit of hindsight or outright blunders that seemed like whoppers at the time.~~~

You tell me. Which of those five traded for Jeff Weaver? Which of the five signed Pavano and Igawa? None, last time I checked.