Brian Cashman, Yanks balk at millions and Phil Hughes for Johan Santana
Wednesday, December 5th 2007, 10:22 AM
Brian Cashman is not worried about Johan Santana's (below) possible move to Boston - his call is to go with the kids in the rotation.
NASHVILLE - Even though George Steinbrenner is no longer the one to say it, Brian Cashman had better be right about Phil Hughes.
The Yankee GM, who is staking his job on his young-gun pitchers, has walked away from a 4-for-1 trade of players the Twins were agreeable to for Johan Santana at the winter meetings that included Hughes, but not Ian Kennedy (as Minnesota initially requested) or any of the Bombers' other top prospects. By doing so, Cashman has apparently handed one of the best young pitchers in baseball to the Red Sox for a parcel of prospects that is also likely to be a far cry from the Twins' original asking price for their premier lefthander.
But it is more than just Cashman's belief in Hughes that suddenly put the Yankees in full retreat after Hank Steinbrenner had sounded the "Charge!" on Santana. Believe it or not, the final decision not to go through with a deal that was on the table - one that would have sacrificed Hughes, Melky Cabrera, 23-year-old Double-A righthander Jeff Marquez and 22-year-old A-ball third baseman Mitch Hilligoss - was based on money.
Once Andy Pettitte announced he was returning to the fold for $16 million, it meant the Yankees had committed $408.4 million this winter to retain six players. The acquisition of Santana would have meant tacking on another $125 million to that figure, and Cashman, who never wanted to do the Santana deal in the first place, blanched at the prospect of adding another $20 million to a payroll that was already on the cusp of $200 million, again. In this respect, the timing of Pettitte's decision to return - while initially seen as giving the Yankees additional leverage in their dealings with the Twins on Santana - actually gave Cashman the "out" he needed.
Bad as it was to be sacrificing Hughes, Cashman told the Yankee high command, look at what the payroll was going to be now if they added $20 million-$21 million for Santana on top of the $16 million they just tacked on with Pettitte. At that point, there was considerable internal debate as to whether to proceed with Santana even after the Twins had backed off from Kennedy and picked Marquez, who is regarded as a second-tier pitching prospect, and Hilligoss, a Wade Boggs-type singles-hitting third baseman who did have a 35-game hitting streak last season and led the South Atlantic League in hits.
In the end, Cashman prevailed, convincing Hank and Hal Steinbrenner of something he could never have done with their dad - that trading for Johan Santana was simply too expensive for the New York Yankees. Left unsaid was why the Yankee payroll is once again out of hand. For starters, there's the $10 million that is being frittered away on Carl Pavano next season and another $4 million for Kei Igawa that is separate from his $26 million posting fee. And had Cashman not chosen to let Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera play out the season before dealing with them as free agents, he would have saved at least a year and a couple of million apiece on their contracts.
In fact, the payroll glut would have been only for one year as some $80 million for Pettitte, Pavano, Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Mussina, Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi come off the books after '08. But that apparently was not a consideration for Cashman. The GM never wanted to do this Santana deal, never wanted to get tied up in another expensive long-term contract for a pitcher and, above all, never wanted to give up Hughes.
Cashman wants his legacy to be the young guns - Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Kennedy - and he is banking on them forming the nucleus of a rotation that would better that of the Red Sox. That would certainly be a reach, especially if Santana joins Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield and the rookie phenom they wouldn't give the Twins, Clay Buchholz. For all the Yankee hype about Hughes, Chamberlain and Kennedy, nothing is said for the fact that none of them has thrown more 165 innings in a season while Santana has given the Twins more than 900 over the last four years.
Unlike Tigers' GM Dave Dombrowski, who boldly sacrificed his two top prospects - lefthander Andrew Miller and center fielder Cameron Maybin - to go for it all in a deal for Florida's two franchise players Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera, Cashman is overly proctective of his prospects.
With his own contract expiring after next season, Cashman better have an idea as to where all those innings are going to come from and he'd better be right that Hughes, Chamberlain and Kennedy are the real deal.
Especially Hughes.
If Cashman and the Yanks really believe that then Im glad they stood by their convictions and held onto Hughes. Whos to say they are wrong? I give Cashman props 
It sounds like Hank wanted Santana but Cash finally convinced him otherwise. Im not saying it was the right or wrong move but I commend him by sticking with Hughes since they think so highly of him.BTW this whole thing just sounded like a bluff fest between the Yanks and Boston. Neither team wanted to give up the goods for Santana yet neither team wants the other team to get him. Sounds like the Yanks called Boston's bluff when they backed out.
I agree that it takes stones to do that and I am sure Pettitte returning helped them make up their mind, their track record isn't the best when it comes to spending big bucks on a SP.
on a message board.
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At Hughes's age Santana, for example, put up a 6.50 ERA in 80 or so innings...
At Hughes's age Santana, for example, put up a 6.50 ERA in 80 or so innings...
At Hughes's age Santana, for example, put up a 6.50 ERA in 80 or so innings...
At Hughes's age Santana, for example, put up a 6.50 ERA in 80 or so innings...
