Cashman’s Thousand Dollar Car Lot

Accolades are everywhere this morning for Brian Cashman who had a very busy Wednesday trading Minor league  hitting machine / MLB 4A spare part Jose Pirela for a pitcher who’s best  case scenario is providing pitching depth  at the minor league levels.

Unfortunately Ronald Herrera, not the Royals Kelvin Herrera is the 20 yr old minor league pitcher in the Pirela deal.. We all knew Pirela was a man with no position in NY, but the way he raked at AAA, we thought the return would be more then a guy  who gets to  fill in at the Minor league levels for guys on the NY / SWB Shuttle

The move isn’t much more then rearranging the deck chairs on the Good Ship Steinbrenner, Cashman  needed 40 man roster space and flipping Pirela afforded him just  that.. I thought he could have achieved the same thing by DFAing Cotham and Romine, but a few hours later I realized why Romine is still  around..

Cashman flipped the very likable JR Murphy for a former Minnesota Twins first round out fielder,  Aaron Hicks

Only in Yankeeville do you trade a promising 24 yr old catcher with a well  rounded game on both  sides of the ball  for a 26 yr old first round bust Out Fielder, and the premiss is the Yanks got younger and better?

Sensie Joel Sherman immediately wrote a 5 o’clock  article stating Cashman’s Grand Plan Crystalizes ?

Sherman apparently can see clearly now the rain is gone?

Does that mean he also  sees the next move? Or does it mean Cashman has tipped his hand on how to build a championship  team by spending less money not more?

For two yr’s in a row Cashman who isn’t allowed anywhere near the Steinbrenner coffers has traded Baby Bombers who looked promising, for top  rated prospect busts on other teams.. Gregorius, Eovaldi,  Ackley, Wilson, and now Hicks.. The Yanks never really drafted high enough to  grab guys like that, so  Cashman is trading for them after the fact, basically he went from buying used Rolls Royces with  too much mileage on them  to running a Thousand Dollar Car lot with less mileage on them..yes it’s the  Cashman Thousand Dollar Car Lot

 Chris Young was gonna be too expensive, last yr he made $2.5M, and this yr he’s looking for an everyday job that  will  require a slight pay raise, that is now too expensive a commodity in Yankeeville?

Hicks makes No money, which  basically translates to minimum wage in MLB, Cashman  also has dibs on him for the next  3 yr.’s.. The Spin is, Hicks can play 3 OF positions, is a switch hitter, and he rakes ( not as good as Young) LHP.. Young might have a long wait if he wants to  be an everyday player, he can’t hit RHP, and for the most part he’s a butcher in the OF…

Hicks was a promising prospect, I remember watching his first pre season  game on YES, but he’s been an unmitigated bust so  far carrying a career .225 BA.. He was also  a head case in Minnesota, so  the thought must be Hicks hanging around ARod, McCann, Beltran, Teixeira, and Sabtahia who has supposedly found religion and working with Al Cockrell will  fix him..

“The club is not happy with him. They’ve given him chances. They finally criticized him in the press for not preparing well. And he hasn’t responded. There are people in the organization who believe he’s blowing his chance here. Hicks needs to get healthy then go to the minors and invest into being a total professional and work on his game. The Twins look at his talent and wonder what is going on. They can’t find the right button to push, and you wonder if they are tired of searching for the right button to push.”

Like Ackley,  he was a high draft choice, first round 14th pick, in not a very deep  draft from #14 on.. The top  5 sans Beckham  who  the Rays picked 1st had studs in there, Hosmer, Alverez and Posey… Hicks needs a change of scenery, or I should say  Cashman hopes that’s all it takes, so  far so  good on the Thousand Dollar Car lot, all  of the younger players Cashman  has acquired did OK to Good in their first yr with the Bombers

I mean Gregorius isn’t Lindor, Correa or Bogaerts, but he’s better then an aging Jeter…

Ackley was no Brock Holt or Ben Zobrist, that  said he wasn’t bad with the bat, but he looked like a butcher with the glove, he does play multiple positions which is another target for Cashman..

Eovaldi  had a skewed winning percentage based on ridiculous run support, but he too was much better in Stripes then in Fish laundry.. Cervelli was a steal for Pittsburgh, they  got a first  string catcher, but Wilson was the third best reliever for Cashman, so  sort of an  even  swap, based on Cervelli  was blocked by McCann

If Hicks pans out, McCann doesn’t fizzle the 2nd half of the season, Sanchez can hit MLB pitching as well  as AAA pitching, and Wilson remains a weapon light out of the pen, then losing two  first  string catchers in consecutive seasons won’t sting

Now the focus is on replacing Gardner with Hicks, or worse case Hicks is the new Chris Young… Cashman isn’t fulfilling our wish list, which is bringing in a Big Bat like Upton…Only way  that  transpires is if Ellsbury gets traded

If not, once Chris Young realizes teams won’t view him as an  everyday player based on his splits,

.182 .246 .339 .585 vs RHP / .327 .397 .575 .972 vs LHP

Hicks is slightly better vs RHP

.235 .302 .359 .661 vs RHP / .307 .375 .495 .870 vs LHP

We can see  Gardner traded for pitching per the rumors, and Upton coming in on a backloaded contract, or more realistically Young back as the Yanks 4th OFer

Right now the Yanks have Gardner, Ellsbury, Beltran  and Hicks, not a hairy monster in that group

McCann  and Sanchez behind the plate with Romine as the shuttle, no Yadier Molina’s in that bunch either

But

At least the Yanks are getting more like the KC Royals !!! Imagine that, back a few yr’s when teams didn’t spend money the knock was they’re acting like the Royals, now if your acting like the Royals your a trend setter…