Via Joel Sherman:
Privately, the Yankees admit they incorrectly handled Alex Rodriguez’s initial quad strain.
He suffered the injury on April 20 in Baltimore and soon after left the team to be with his wife in Miami for the birth of their second child. Because the club was on the road in Cleveland and because Rodriguez has an iron man history, the Yanks allowed Rodriguez to talk his way back into the lineup without an MRI exam on April 25.
Club officials have told The Post they regret that decision. They think it is possible they let an injured player to continue playing, turning a mild strain into a Grade 2 strain and a Disabled List stint.
“We are dying right now without Posada and A-Rod against lefties,” GM Brian Cashman said. “But we have to properly wait out the healing process and not let what is transpiring day to day impact the decision making.”
I have to disagree. If Cano and Giambi were hitting, and, if Ensbreg and Duncan were not busts this season, the Yankees should have been able to weather this small storm of live without Rodriguez and Posada.
No one could have saw this coming with Cano. But, the Giambi/Ensberg/Duncan thing did not come straight out of the blue – - as there were signs that counting on these guys could have been a mistake.
But, of course, it’s much easier to point fingers at injuries than to blame poor roster construction.
20 Responses to “Yanks: We Goofed On A-Rod, Cashman: We’re Dying Vs. LHP”
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May 8th, 2008 at 10:26 am
I think that’s unfair. You may say that it was a bad idea to count on Giambi/Ensberg/Duncan, but no one could have foreseen having to count on them to replace the production of Posada AND Rodriguez AND, effectively, Cano.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Actually, it’s not like they have to replace anyone but themselves. By this, I mean, between Giambi/Ensberg/Duncan, if they had been able to produce the offense of a typical 1B in the AL, then their production would help offset the loss of A-Rod and Posada.
It’s an offset, not a true replacement, if that makes sense.
And, let’s remember, it’s not like A-Rod has been out all year, basically, like Posada. Laying this all down on Alex being out is a reach, IMHO.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:08 am
And who, oh wise and all-knowing Steve, SHOULD the Yankees have playing 1B instead?
The Yankees offense SHOULD have been able, as constructed, to allow for one of those three players to get into a groove. Instead, pretty much the entire rosters has underperformed, plus the injuries. You simply cannot factor that in. Sure, you can think about “what if everyone on the team starts out bad, PLUS my two most indispensable players go down for an extended amount of time, how can I cover for that?” But, um, what GM is really going to have a contingency plan for that.
If Ortiz and Ramirez went down at basically the same time for 6 weeks, PLUS Pedroia was hitting .150, PLUS the rest of the lineup was scuffling, you think everyone would be saying that its because Julio Lugo is playing SS that the team is struggling so much and Epstein should have factored that in?
Actually, knowing Boston, yes they would be saying that, but that doesn’t make it rational
May 8th, 2008 at 11:08 am
If roster construction is the problem that happend 7 yrs ago when we signed Giambi. He was going to have to be at 1B unless they traded Matsui or Damon. I find it unlikely Matsui would ever really be shopped given his history, decent contract, and mktg dollars in Asia. Who would have wanted Damon after last year for fair value? Not to mention he did carry the team against Seattle so he hasn’t really been a problem. Given those constraints its a decent bet that someone between Duncan, Ensberg, and Lane would have turned up as a decent platoon partner (not to mention Betemit).
When Arod returns I would certainly much rather see the team bring up either Brett Gardner or Justin Christian (if they think Gardner still has something to gain from playing every day) to replace Ensberg who I think could at least bring back some sort of prospect in a trade.
I wouldnt’ blame the season issues on Arod’s health either though. I think we can squarely place this bigget failures on Cano and Giambi. If they were even in the bottom quintile of their projections the team might be a couple of wins better.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:22 am
~~~And who, oh wise and all-knowing Steve, SHOULD the Yankees have playing 1B instead?~~~
Instead of taking Jonathan Poterson in the 1st round of the 2004 draft, they could have taken Huston Street, Hunter Pence, Dustin Pedroia, Giovany Gonzalez, or Yovani Gallardo – and then traded one of them for a first baseman.
That work for you Zack?
May 8th, 2008 at 11:57 am
It’s Cashman’s fault for getting rid of Andy Phillips and not protecting Betemit from conjunctivitis because on October 13th you wrote that Phillips, Betemit, and Duncan should produce 30 HR, 90 rbi so no
additions necessary. Man, are those guys going to rake the last 80% of the season once they re-sign Phillips of course.
By the way, congrats on reaching a new level of hindsight for you (in my opinion of course) for blaming the problem on not drafting Huston Street, Hunter Pence, Dustin Pedroia, Giovany Gonzalez, or Yovani Gallardo
May 8th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Instead of taking Jonathan Poterson in the 1st round of the 2004 draft, they could have taken Huston Street, Hunter Pence, Dustin Pedroia, Giovany Gonzalez, or Yovani Gallardo – and then traded one of them for a first baseman.
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Your “solution” doesn’t speak to a roster construction issue but rather a drafting/scouting issue. You’re using apples to aruge about oranges.
Nice try though…blaming Cashman for poor roster construction in 2008 and using the 2004 draft to do it. Who was in charge of the draft in 2004 anyway?
May 8th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Basura – Betemit, while he could be a capable 1B vs. RHP – and, yes, I still believe that – would not help against LHP. That’s where the Duncan/Ensberg thing comes into play. Cashman should have realized that Giambi, at the best, would need help vs. LHP and had a “sure bet” RHB to play 1B against LHP – and then used Betemit as insurance in case Giambi failed against RHP too.
MJ – the drafts of the past fall right into roster construction today. If you drafted better, you would have better options to pick from – via a better system and/or chips that you could trade for better options.
And, as far as the 2004 draft, before Poterson, also in the 1st round, they picked Philip Hughes. So, if you want to give Cashman all the glory for Hughes in 2004 then you have to assign him the miss for taking Poterson in the 1st round, as well, in 2004. Fair is fair.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Steve,
The 2004 draft points out the problem of their drafting philosophy prior to Cashman receiving additional power. In other words, they had no plan. Cashman wasn’t responsible for drafting Hughes, but he is responsible for protecting him so that he would remain a NYY, which, despite his current struggles, will prove to be a sage move.
According to this article, Oppenheimer wasn’t in charge of the draft either because it says that the 2006 draft will be his “his second consecutive draft for the Yankees.”
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060530&content_id=1479349&vkey=draft2006&fext=.jsp
May 8th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Leaving aside the questions about drafting strategy and roster construction, I still don’t understand how league average production at first base would make up for losing all-stars at third and catcher and getting a stinky rotten egg instead of the expected all-star level production at second.
No team could lose the expected production of a trio like Rodriguez-Posada-Cano without taking a hit in the W column. I don’t care how much foresight your GM has or who’s playing first base. No team can weather that kind of loss without losing some games.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
And, as far as the 2004 draft, before Poterson, also in the 1st round, they picked Philip Hughes. So, if you want to give Cashman all the glory for Hughes in 2004 then you have to assign him the miss for taking Poterson in the 1st round, as well, in 2004. Fair is fair.
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Did I mention Hughes in my post? You have a Freudian obsession with Hughes/Cashman right now, the way you did with A-Rod in 2006. I merely pointed out that you can’t talk about the 2004 draft and use it to argue that the Yanks are ill-prepared in 2008.
If the current roster is inflexible, that is a function of having too many players playing the same position at the major league level (Damon, Matsui, Giambi, Duncan, Betemit, Ensberg). One of THOSE players could have been traded to create greater flexibility.
Geez…imagine trading a Yovani Gallardo, Huston Street, Hunter Pence or Dustin “Eckstein” Pedroia for a replacement-level 1st baseman (the thrust of your argument). You sure you can criticize Cashman if that’s what you’re advocating? We’re only talking about four of the better young players in baseball…
May 8th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
No one could have saw this coming with Cano. But, the Giambi/Ensberg/Duncan thing did not come straight out of the blue – - as there were signs that counting on these guys could have been a mistake.
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Only Giambi was really “counted on.” Ensberg and Duncan were supposed to be backups/platoon players.
Going into the season, there was nothing wrong with the roster as constructed. Giambi was going into the season as the primary 1bman, with Betemit, Duncan & Ensberg seeing time @ 1b. The Yanks had at least two players for every position.
May 8th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Also, thanks Steve for the additional features on the sidebar. Very neat!
May 8th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I said back when that Ca$hman erred by not putting A-Freud on the DL when this first happened. That Alex would be away sometime during that 15 day stint to be with his wife and baby for a few days was the perfect opportunity to DL him and let the quad heal.
May 8th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Also, thanks Steve for the additional features on the sidebar. Very neat!
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May 8th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
“Interesting Links” among other things…
May 8th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Sorry guys, to me, this looks like another case where, for some Yankees fans, when it comes to Cashman, it’s “heads he wins and tails somebody else loses”.
Probably better to just agree to disagree…which is what I’m doing now.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Most of us Cashman Kool-Aid drinkers, of which I am one, acknowledge his mistakes: Weaver, Brown, Vazquez, Pavano, but we understand that there was a reasonable base for most of those mistakes, and that a number of smart baseball people supported those moves at the time they were made because they were working under the same set of assumptions.
Again, to fully assess Cashman qua Cashman, we need to see how the fruits of the last few drafts and Latin American signings play out, as well as his decision to safeguard some prospects that he didn’t draft or sign per se.
If Hughes, IPK, Joba, Melancon, Brackman, Cox, A-Jack, Montero, Almonte, Romine, Angellini, etc. don’t join Wang, Cano, and Melky in forming the core of a championship contending team over the next three or so years, then the calls for Cashman to go will be reasonable.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Again, to fully assess Cashman qua Cashman, we need to see how the fruits of the last few drafts and Latin American signings play out, as well as his decision to safeguard some prospects that he didn’t draft or sign per se.
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But how do you assess him? Regular season record? Postseason record? Win shares of players acquired?
May 8th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
But how do you assess him? Regular season record? Postseason record? Win shares of players acquired?
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All of the above, although I don’t necessarily love win shares, so maybe RSAA and RCAA.
But since it’s New York, I think Cash has to get the team to the WS over the next three years, Joba and/or Hughes has to be a consensus ace (with the other a #2), A-Jack or another position prospect has to be considered a rising ML starter, the non-Joba heir apparent to Mo should be on the ML roster, Romine and/or Montero need to be near ready to replace Posada, and 1B has to be occupied by a better than league average player, even if that player arrives via trade or free agency.