YankCrank wrote:

Cash deserves credit for this.

$180 million in cash, that is…

Ok, let’s take a second and look at this angle.

Whenever a good player is signed by another team Yankee fans come on this blog and say, “Why didn’t! Cashman go and get him?!? Is he sleeping?” When the Yankees also sign somebody, Steve and others say, “Why does Cashman deserve any credit? All he did was just throw top dollar at him, where are the GM skills in that?”

This is a perfect example to sit back and be thankful for Cashman. In no way do I think that Tex chose the Yanks over the Sox just because of these “negotiations through the media,” but Tex admits that a part of his choice came down to the way Cashman handled himself, handled the negotiations and respected Tex’s privacy. Top dollar did rule in the end, so it’s not like Cash got him for less money, but it seems it was more than just top dollar.

Part of being critical and still remaining respectable is criticizing when it’s due, and giving credit when credit is due. Cash deserves credit for this.

I understand what you’re saying, but don’t you think these gratuitous shots at the Red Sox are, in fact, kind of prissy? Is there any sign that the Red Sox didn’t negotiate in good faith? Isn’t the leaking understood to have been largely coming from his own agent, the inimitable Scott Boras? The quote above strikes me as being much more of a piece with the whiny, forever misunderstood A-Rod than with the stoic O’Neill. I hope I’m wrong, of course…