Vazquez lived up to the hype after the first half of the season…

”Javier has yet to be proven in a big market,” Pedro Martínez said ”In Montreal, he never had this exposure. But I think he’s going to be one of the best pitchers in baseball.”

”That’s the Vazquez I know,” said Ozzie Guillen, the White Sox manager, who observed Vazquez the past few seasons as a coach for the Expos and the Marlins. ”They talk about losing Clemens and Andy. This kid’s going to be a big plus for them. What you see from that kid is what you’re going to get. ”I hate to say this because I’m going to play against him, but he’s a special kid. Joe Torre is going to have fun with that kid.”

Payroll, salary, a cadre of scouts, an office full of sabermetricians, and all the insider access to colleagues and sources in the world wouldn’t have told Cashman “you know what, trading a major league redundancy that’s always hurt (Nick Johnson) for a young potential ace (Javier Vazquez) is a bad move.”
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Case in point;

”He’s a winner,” said Jeff Torborg, who managed Vazquez with the Expos in 2001. ”He’s got a real competitive fire and he’s a classy kid. With the Yankees, he’s liable to just pop big time. He’s always been very good but his record’s not been much over .500. This is the kind of guy that could pop it and go 20-8. That’s the kind of stuff he has.”

”I like Vazquez better than I do Colón, partly because he has a good, athletic body and Colón is not in good shape,” one National League advance scout said. ”Vazquez has a lot of pride in what he does, and I feel like he’s got a lot of quality innings left in his arm. He’s got a good delivery and mechanically is pretty sound. He’s not someone who’s been around for six years, gets a big contract and is done by age 30.”

”Vazquez is one of the up-and-coming young pitchers in the game,” Minaya said. ”He’s not only a good talent, he’s a great person, a great citizen. This guy represents baseball as well as any other player. He’ll do fine in a very diverse community like New York.”

“Vazquez is only 27 years old and has a great arm. His command is his biggest asset. The right-hander hits his spots and keeps the ball down, displaying tremendous control. His 2003 numbers are All-Star caliber: just 57 walks in 230 innings with 241 strikeouts. A strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 4-1 is impressive.

I believe Vazquez’s personality also will be a good fit for the Yankees. In fact, the pressure of playing in New York should make him a better pitcher. It’s an opportunity for him to dial up the intensity. I’ve talked to Vazquez a handful of times, and I’ve been impressed with him.

One plus for Vazquez is that he won’t be expected to be the savior. With Joe Torre’s Yankees, it’s all about the team. Remember the 1998 Yankee team that won 114 games and then won the World Series? No one star stood out.
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But because Vazquez is 10 years younger than Schilling, this deal has tremendous upside for the Yankees. It bodes well for their rotation for years to come.” – Tom Candiotti

But, I expect the GM of a $200 million payroll – who, himself, makes $2 million a year – who is armed with a cadre of trained and seasoned scouts, an office full of sabermetricians, and insider access to information via a network of colleagues and valued sources, to be able see past “what SEEMS like the right move at the time” and determine with high accuracy as to what’s right or not at the time.
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Payroll, salary, a cadre of scouts, an office full of sabermetricians, and all the insider access to colleagues and sources in the world wouldn’t have told Cashman “you know what, trading a major league redundancy that’s always hurt (Nick Johnson) for a young potential ace (Javier Vazquez) is a bad move.”

You can come up with your theoretical, idealistic reason why Cashman should be better at his job than Joe Fan or John Blogger but at the end of the day, Cashman and the other 29 guys that do his job still make decisions the way the rest of us do. We all take the best information possible and act accordingly. If it doesn’t work out, well, you just gotta ask if you missed something in the analysis. If you’re comfortable that you didn’t miss anything then the thought-process was sound, even if the results don’t bear fruit.

But, I expect the GM of a $200 million payroll – who, himself, makes $2 million a year – who is armed with a cadre of trained and seasoned scouts, an office full of sabermetricians, and insider access to information via a network of colleagues and valued sources, to be able see past “what SEEMS like the right move at the time” and determine with high accuracy as to what’s right or not at the time.
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Then I would have to say your expectations are a bit unrealistic, except in cases where a move was a completely boneheaded & wrong (Pavano, Wright and Womack quickly come to mind.).

~~Why? It’s a valid reason.~~

To the naked, untrained, eye – it might be…but, it’s still just an excuse.

I don’t expect Joe Fan or John Blogger to be able to see past some things and see others that might be clues as to why something “that seems right at the time” is really a mistake – or, at the least, something full of risk. But, I expect the GM of a $200 million payroll – who, himself, makes $2 million a year – who is armed with a cadre of trained and seasoned scouts, an office full of sabermetricians, and insider access to information via a network of colleagues and valued sources, to be able see past “what SEEMS like the right move at the time” and determine with high accuracy as to what’s right or not at the time.

That’s why I cannot give a GM like Cashman a bye for things that many are willing to write-off with the “it seemed like the right thing at the time” excuse.

Now, that said, the Posada thing, I can understand. They owned him. They knew everything about him. They had him take a physical before signing the contract. There’s no way that anyone saw this shoulder thing coming…so, yeah, in this case, you can waive the “seemed like the right move at the time” flag – and I would not fight it.

As much as I HATE the “it seemed like the right move at the time” excuse…
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Why? It’s a valid reason.

Below average arm for Damon…

Fair enough, but isn’t Damon the only OF’er with an average arm?

I do agree in general that the Yanks need to shore up their defense. Not quite sure how they’re going to do it.

Is there a correlation between runs scored and SB’s?
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I have no idea but I’m sure that even if there isn’t, there is still an adverse effect when your OF’ers have below-average arms and your infielders have poor range. The total package is worrisome, even if the SB:RS relationship isn’t necessarily tied together.