Brian Cashman became Yankees G.M. on February 28, 1998.

It’s rare for someone to be a G.M. for tens years with one team these days. Ten years does provide for some “body of work” analysis. Therefore, I thought it would be fun, this off-season, to take a look back at Cashman’s “moves” during the past decade – one year at a time. (To see all the seasons reviewed, click here.)

Here, we’ll look at Cashman’s moves in 2004 and how they helped or hurt the team:

No Impact:

February 5, 2004 – Traded Jose Garcia to the Texas Rangers. Received Mike Lamb.

March 25, 2004 – Traded Mike Lamb to the Houston Astros. Received Juan DeLeon.

June 18, 2004 – Traded Gabe White to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Charlie Manning and cash.

July 19, 2004 – Signed C.J. Nitkowski as a free agent.

August 17, 2004 – Signed Shane Spencer as a free agent.

October 26, 2004 – Signed Homer Bush as a free agent.

Good Impact:

January 12, 2004 – Signed Tony Clark as a free agent.

March 12, 2004 – Signed Orlando Hernandez as a free agent.

May 15, 2004 – Traded Brian Myrow to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Tanyon Sturtze.

August 3, 2004 – Signed John Olerud as a free agent.

December 3, 2004 – Traded Felix Heredia to the New York Mets. Received Mike Stanton.

Great Impact:

February 16, 2004 – Traded Joaquin Arias and Alfonso Soriano to the Texas Rangers. Received Alex Rodriguez and cash.

June 7, 2004 – Drafted Philip Hughes in the 1st round (23rd pick) of the 2004 amateur draft. Player signed June 16, 2004.

Bad Impact:

February 7, 2004 – Signed Donovan Osborne as a free agent.

July 31, 2004 – Traded Jose Contreras and cash to the Chicago White Sox. Received Esteban Loaiza.

November 5, 2004 – Jon Lieber granted Free Agency.

December 3, 2004 – Traded Kenny Lofton to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Felix Rodriguez.

December 6, 2004 – Signed John Flaherty as a free agent.

December 20, 2004 – Signed Carl Pavano as a free agent.

Was Probably Not A Cashman Move & More Likely Something Done In Tampa:

January 6, 2004 – Signed Kenny Lofton as a free agent.

March 2, 2004 – Signed Travis Lee as a free agent.

December 20, 2004 – Signed Tony Womack as a free agent.

December 28, 2004 – Signed Jaret Wright as a free agent.
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This is an interesting year. The Lofton, Womack and Wright signings probably ticked Cashman off – and could be part of the reason why he demanded total control on his next contract. Yet, it was a big year for Cashman – picking up A-Rod and Hughes as well as some nice grabs on guys like Clark, Sturtze. Olerud, et al. Of course, this year will always be remembered for being when Cashman put the full-court press on Pavano to get him signed. That’s what many people will always remember about 2004 in terms of Brian’s moves. (I put Lieber on the list even though I usually don’t put guys going free agent on these reports – since it’s the player that controls the option. Still, Cashman misread the market on that one and should have gotten him signed before the Mets gave the house to Kris Benson. It would have been useful to have Lieber on the 2005 Yanks – instead of Wright.)

Brian Cashman became Yankees G.M. on February 28, 1998.

It’s rare for someone to be a G.M. for tens years with one team these days. Ten years does provide for some “body of work” analysis. Therefore, I thought it would be fun, this off-season, to take a look back at Cashman’s “moves” during the past decade – one year at a time. (I’ll try and post one year, per week, over the next ten weeks.)

Here, we’ll look at Cashman’s moves in 2003 and how they helped or hurt the team:

No Impact:

March 19, 2003 – Traded Rondell White to the San Diego Padres. Received Bubba Trammell, Mark Phillips, and cash.

July 16, 2003 – Traded Jason Anderson, Anderson Garcia, and Ryan Bicondoa to the New York Mets. Received Armando Benitez.

August 6, 2003 – Traded Armando Benitez to the Seattle Mariners. Received Jeff Nelson.

August 22, 2003 – Traded Sterling Hitchcock to the St. Louis Cardinals. Received Ben Julianel and Justin Pope.

December 18, 2003 – Traded Chris Hammond and cash to the Oakland Athletics. Received Eduardo Sierra and J.T. Stotts.

Good Impact:

January 15, 2003 – Traded Orlando Hernandez to the Chicago White Sox. Received Antonio Osuna and Delvis Lantigua.

February 4, 2003 – Signed Jon Lieber as a free agent.

June 6, 2003 – Traded Marcus Thames to the Texas Rangers. Received Ruben Sierra.

June 25, 2003 – Purchased Karim Garcia from the Cleveland Indians.

July 29, 2003 – Traded Raul Mondesi and cash to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received David Dellucci, Bret Prinz, and John Prowl.

July 31, 2003 – Traded Brandon Claussen, Charlie Manning, and cash to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Aaron Boone.

July 31, 2003 – Traded Robin Ventura to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Bubba Crosby and Scott Proctor.

August 25, 2003 – Selected Felix Heredia off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds.

December 19, 2003 – Signed Miguel Cairo as a free agent.

Great Impact:

December 16, 2003 – Signed Tom Gordon as a free agent.

Bad Impact:

January 16, 2003 – Signed John Flaherty as a free agent.

January 27, 2003 – Signed Juan Acevedo as a free agent.

February 6, 2003 – Signed Jose Contreras as an amateur free agent.

July 31, 2003 – Received Gabe White from the Cincinnati Reds as part of a conditional deal.

November 6, 2003 – Andy Pettitte granted Free Agency.

December 4, 2003 – Signed Felix Heredia as a free agent.

December 7, 2003 – Signed Gabe White as a free agent.

December 13, 2003 – Traded Jeff Weaver, Yhency Brazoban, Brandon Weeden, and cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Kevin Brown.

December 16, 2003 – Traded Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera, and Randy Choate to the Montreal Expos. Received Javier Vazquez.

December 17, 2003 – Signed Paul Quantrill as a free agent.

Was Probably Not A Cashman Move & More Likely Something Done In Tampa:

December 19, 2003 – Signed Gary Sheffield as a free agent.
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The good deals this year for Cashman mostly had short-term benefits. But, the bad deals either hurt the Yankees for a while (Flaherty, Contreras, Pettitte, and Brown) or they hurt New York in a big post-season spot (Brown, Vazquez, and Quantrill). If I’m Brian, and I’m putting together a resume, I might want to leave 2003 off it – especially some of these moves in the winter following the 2003 season.

Brian Cashman became Yankees G.M. on February 28, 1998.

It’s rare for someone to be a G.M. for tens years with one team these days. Ten years does provide for some “body of work” analysis. Therefore, I thought it would be fun, this off-season, to take a look back at Cashman’s “moves” during the past decade – one year at a time. (I’ll try and post one year, per week, over the next ten weeks.)

Here, we’ll look at Cashman’s moves in 2002 and how they helped or hurt the team:

No Impact:

January 8, 2002 – Signed Luis Sojo as a free agent.

January 28, 2002 – Signed Ron Coomer as a free agent.

February 4, 2002 – Signed Manny Alexander as a free agent.

March 15, 2002 – Signed Mike Thurman as a free agent.

April 2, 2002 – Signed Karim Garcia as a free agent.

April 8, 2002 – Signed Billy McMillon as a free agent. Signed Bill Pulsipher as a free agent.

June 6, 2002 – Signed Alex Arias as a free agent.

December 4, 2002 – Signed Chris Latham as a free agent.

Good Impact:

February 1, 2002 – Signed Chris Widger as a free agent.

June 4, 2002 – Drafted Brad Halsey in the 8th round of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed July 1, 2002.

December 30, 2002 – Signed Roger Clemens as a free agent.

Great Impact:

December 19, 2002 – Signed Hideki Matsui as a free agent.

Bad Impact:

February 14, 2002 – Signed Ruben Rivera as a free agent.

July 5, 2002 – Traded Ted Lilly, John-Ford Griffin, and Jason Arnold to the Oakland Athletics. Received Jeff Weaver from the Detroit Tigers. In addition, the Oakland Athletics sent Carlos Pena and Franklyn German to the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Tigers sent cash to the Oakland Athletics. The Oakland Athletics later sent Jeremy Bonderman to the Detroit Tigers to complete the trade.

December 6, 2002 – Signed Robin Ventura as a free agent.

December 19, 2002 – Signed Todd Zeile as a free agent.

Was Probably Not A Cashman Move & More Likely Something Done In Tampa:

January 17, 2002 – Signed David Wells as a free agent.

July 1, 2002 – Traded Scott Wiggins to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Raul Mondesi.

December 13, 2002 – Signed Chris Hammond as a free agent.
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I’m guessing that Hammond was a Tampa move – but, I’m not sure. Signing Godzilla might have been out of Cash’s hand too. The Weaver deal was bad – even worse when Weaver became Kevin Brown. If you believe that “No Impact” is pretty near to “Bad Impact,” then, this was not one of Cashman’s better years in terms of wheeling and dealing.

Brian Cashman became Yankees G.M. on February 28, 1998.

It’s rare for someone to be a G.M. for tens years with one team these days. Ten years does provide for some “body of work” analysis. Therefore, I thought it would be fun, this off-season, to take a look back at Cashman’s “moves” during the past decade – one year at a time. (I’ll try and post one year, per week, over the next ten weeks.)

Here, we’ll look at Cashman’s moves in 2001 and how they helped or hurt the team:

No Impact:

January 3, 2001 – Signed Todd Williams as a free agent.

March 28, 2001 – Traded Glenallen Hill to the Anaheim Angels. Received Darren Blakely.

June 12, 2001 – Selected Darren Bragg off waivers from the New York Mets.

June 29, 2001 – Signed Gerald Williams as a free agent.

July 4, 2001 – Traded Brian Boehringer to the San Francisco Giants. Received Bobby Estalella and Joe Smith.

August 31, 2001 – Traded Randy Flores and Rosman Garcia to the Texas Rangers. Received Randy Velarde.

December 13, 2001 – Traded Jay Witasick to the San Francisco Giants. Received John Vander Wal.

December 18, 2001 – Traded Bernie Castro to the San Diego Padres. Received Kevin Reese.

December 21, 2001 – Signed F.P. Santangelo as a free agent.

Good Impact:

March 30, 2001 – Traded Craig Dingman to the Colorado Rockies. Received Jorge DePaula.

April 5, 2001 – Signed Todd Greene as a free agent.

June 5, 2001 – Drafted Shelley Duncan in the 2nd round of the 2001 amateur draft. Player signed June 17, 2001. Drafted Chase Wright in the 3rd round of the 2001 amateur draft. Player signed June 10, 2001.

June 23, 2001 – Purchased Brian Myrow from the Winnipeg (Northern).

July 12, 2001 – Signed Joaquin Arias as an amateur free agent.

Great Impact:

January 5, 2001 – Signed Robinson Cano as an amateur free agent.

November 13, 2001 – Signed Melky Cabrera as an amateur free agent.

December 7, 2001 – Traded David Justice to the New York Mets. Received Robin Ventura.

Bad Impact:

March 21, 2001 – Traded Wily Mo Pena to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Drew Henson and Michael Coleman.

February 15, 2001 – Signed Henry Rodriguez as a free agent.

June 5, 2001 – Drafted John-Ford Griffin in the 1st round (23rd pick) of the 2001 amateur draft. Player signed June 14, 2001. Drafted Bronson Sardinha in the 1st round (34th pick) of the 2001 amateur draft. Player signed June 13, 2001.

June 13, 2001 – Traded Damaso Marte to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Received Enrique Wilson.

June 23, 2001 – Traded D’Angelo Jimenez to the San Diego Padres. Received Jay Witasick.

July 1, 2001 – Traded Ricardo Aramboles to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Mark Wohlers.

July 30, 2001 – Traded Brett Jodie and Darren Blakely to the San Diego Padres. Received Sterling Hitchcock.

December 7, 2001 – Signed Steve Karsay as a free agent.

December 21, 2001 – Signed Alberto Castillo as a free agent.

Was Probably Not A Cashman Move & More Likely Something Done In Tampa:

December 13, 2001 – Signed Jason Giambi as a free agent.

December 17, 2001 – Signed Rondell White as a free agent.

December 18, 2001 – Signed Sterling Hitchcock as a free agent.
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An interesting year. Two huge thumbs up on the Cano & Melky signings. But, in reality, the credit there is probably due to the Latin America guys in the front office. Most of all, looking at all the moves, this season seems to be where “it” starts for Cashman – with “it” being an inability to find good arms for the pen, a decent back-up catcher, and useful parts for the big league bench. What’s worse, Mets fans can point to this season and remind us that Cashman passed on David Wright to select Bronson Sardinha in the draft.

Brian Cashman became Yankees G.M. on February 28, 1998.

It’s rare for someone to be a G.M. for tens years with one team these days. Ten years does provide for some “body of work” analysis. Therefore, I thought it would be fun, this off-season, to take a look back at Cashman’s “moves” during the past decade – one year at a time. (I’ll try and post one year, per week, over the next ten weeks.)

Here, we’ll look at Cashman’s moves in 2000 and how they helped or hurt the team:

No Impact:

January 26, 2000 – Signed Roberto Kelly as a free agent.

April 2, 2000 – Signed Lance Johnson as a free agent and signed Felix Jose as a free agent.

July 12, 2000 – Traded Ed Yarnall, Drew Henson, Brian Reith, and Jackson Melian (minors) to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Mike Frank and Denny Neagle.

August 11, 2000 – Traded Wilson Delgado to the Kansas City Royals. Received Nick Ortiz.

December 14, 2000 – Signed Brian Boehringer as a free agent.

Good Impact:

June 5, 2000 – Drafted Matt Smith in the 4th round of the 2000 amateur draft. Player signed June 21, 2000.

June 20, 2000 – Traded Jim Leyritz to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Jose Vizcaino and cash.

August 3, 2000 – Signed Luis Polonia as a free agent.

August 7, 2000 – Traded Chris Spurling to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Received Luis Sojo.

August 21, 2000 – Signed Dioner Navarro as an amateur free agent.

November 7, 2000 – David Cone granted Free Agency.

November 16, 2000 – Signed Damaso Marte as a free agent.

Great Impact:

May 5, 2000 – Signed Chien-Ming Wang as an amateur free agent.

June 29, 2000 – Traded Ricky Ledee, Jake Westbrook, and Zach Day to the Cleveland Indians. Received David Justice.

July 21, 2000 – Traded Ben Ford and Oswaldo Mairena to the Chicago Cubs. Received Glenallen Hill.

November 30, 2000 – Signed Mike Mussina as a free agent.

Bad Impact:

June 2, 2000 – Signed Adrian Hernandez as an amateur free agent.

June 5, 2000 – Drafted Sean Henn in the 26th round of the 2000 amateur draft. Player signed May 25, 2001.

August 7, 2000 – Selected Jose Canseco off waivers from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

October 31, 2000 – Jeff Nelson granted Free Agency.

November 20, 2000 – Released Jason Grimsley.

November 21, 2000 – Signed Joe Oliver as a free agent.

Was Probably Not A Cashman Move & More Likely Something Done In Tampa:

June 11, 2000 – Signed Dwight Gooden as a free agent.
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This season was much, much, better than the two before it – in terms of pushing buttons and pulling strings. But, it does raise an interesting question. For people like me, who believe that the G.M. is responsible for the team’s moves, at the end of the day, you have to give Cashman two huge thumbs up for the work here in 2000. However, for those who like to say that Cashman did not gain total control of the team until 2005, well, to be fair, those people can’t give Cashman credit for all these good to great moves in 2000 – can they? This make sense?

Brian Cashman became Yankees G.M. on February 28, 1998.

It’s rare for someone to be a G.M. for tens years with one team these days. Ten years does provide for some “body of work” analysis. Therefore, I thought it would be fun, this off-season, to take a look back at Cashman’s “moves” during the past decade – one year at a time. (I’ll try and post one year, per week, over the next ten weeks.)

Here, we’ll look at Cashman’s moves in 1999 and how they helped or hurt the team:

No Impact:

March 30, 1999 – Traded Darren Holmes and cash to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received Ben Ford and Izzy Molina.

June 2, 1999 – Drafted Alex Graman in the 3rd round of the 1999 amateur draft. Player signed June 5, 1999. Drafted Andy Phillips in the 7th round of the 1999 amateur draft. Player signed June 25, 1999. Drafted Kevin Thompson in the 31st round of the 1999 amateur draft. Player signed June 7, 2000.

December 13, 1999 – Traded Chad Curtis to the Texas Rangers. Received Brandon Knight and Sam Marsonek.

December 14, 1999 – Traded Dan Naulty to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Nicholas Leach.

December 17, 1999 – Signed Chris Turner as a free agent.

Good Impact:

January 26, 1999 – Signed Jason Grimsley as a free agent.

February 18, 1999 – Traded Homer Bush, Graeme Lloyd, and David Wells to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Roger Clemens.

April 5, 1999 – Signed Darryl Strawberry as a free agent.

July 31, 1999 – Traded Geraldo Padua to the San Diego Padres. Received Jim Leyritz.

November 29, 1999 – Signed Mike Stanton as a free agent.

December 15, 1999 – Signed Ryan Thompson as a free agent.

Great Impact:

December 22, 1999 – Traded Hideki Irabu to the Montreal Expos. Received players to be named later and Jake Westbrook. The Montreal Expos sent Ted Lilly (March 17, 2000) and Christian Parker (March 22, 2000) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.

Bad Impact:

February 1, 1999 – Traded Mike Lowell to the Florida Marlins. Received Mark J. Johnson, Ed Yarnall, and Todd Noel.

April 5, 1999 – Signed Wily Mo Pena as a free agent.

December 6, 1999 – Signed David Cone as a free agent.

December 7, 1999 – Signed Allen Watson as a free agent.

Was Probably Not A Cashman Move & More Likely Something Done In Tampa:

None.
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This is an interesting year. The terrible decisions to bring back Watson and Cone, at the end of the season, somewhat offset the good moves on Grimsley, Stanton and Thompson. The Irabu trade was a steal – too bad that they didn’t keep Lilly and Westbrook (as they would helped, for sure, this season). The Wells-Clemens deal? From 1999 to 2003, Clemens had 62 RSAA in 1004 IP and Wells had 46 RSAA in 981.3 IP. That’s close. But, Wells was back in New York for 2002 and 2003. From 1999 to 2001, Clemens had 52 RSAA in 612.3 IP and Wells had 27 RSAA in 562 IP. So, yes, that trade was a good one for Cashman, then, too. The Lowell trade depends on your position. Some will say that he was blocked and it made sense. That’s fine. But, the return, in the end, turned out to be a bust – albeit that the pitching prospects sounded good at the time. Ah, pitching prospects…

Brian Cashman became Yankees G.M. on February 28, 1998.

It’s rare for someone to be a G.M. for tens years with one team these days. Ten years does provide for some “body of work” analysis. Therefore, I thought it would be fun, this off-season, to take a look back at Cashman’s “moves” during the past decade – one year at a time. (I’ll try and post one year, per week, over the next ten weeks.)

Here, we’ll look at Cashman’s moves in 1998 and how they helped or hurt the team:

No Impact:

March 7, 1998 – Traded Andy Fox to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received Todd Erdos and Marty Janzen.

June 3, 1998 – Traded Willie Banks to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received Scott Brow and Joe Lisio (minors).

August 23, 1998 -Traded Ray Ricken (minors) and Shea Morenz (minors) to the San Diego Padres. Received Jim Bruske and Brad Kaufman (minors).

November 16, 1998 – Traded Allen Butler (minors) to the Minnesota Twins. Received Dan Naulty.

December 8, 1998 – Traded Chris Singleton to the Chicago White Sox. Received a player to be named later. The Chicago White Sox sent Rich Pratt (minors) (January 10, 1999) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.

Good Impact:

August 3, 1998 – Released Dale Sveum.

November 10, 1998 – Signed Scott Brosius as a free agent.

November 11, 1998 – Signed David Cone as a free agent.

Great Impact:

March 23, 1998 – Signed Orlando Hernandez as an amateur free agent.

September 29, 1998 – Purchased Alfonso Soriano from the Hiroshima Toyo Carp (Japan Central).

Bad Impact:

June 2, 1998 – Drafted Mark Prior in the 1st round (43rd pick) of the 1998 amateur draft, but did not sign the player. Drafted Randy Keisler in the 2nd round of the 1998 amateur draft. Player signed July 21, 1998. Drafted Drew Henson in the 3rd round of the 1998 amateur draft. Player signed July 24, 1998.

Was Probably Not A Cashman Move & More Likely Something Done In Tampa:

November 25, 1998 – Signed Bernie Williams as a free agent.
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Here, the wasting of the 1st three picks in the draft are more than offset by the pick-up of El Duque and Soriano. In terms of the trades, Brian gave up nothing and got nothing – so, they’re a wash. On the whole, I would suggest that 1998’s results were mixed for Cashman – with a net gain/loss of zero in the end.