Brian Cashman is having a hell of an off season

On December 3rd of this year, Brian Cashman rappelled off of a 350 foot building in Stamford Connecticut. He did NOT fall to his death.

And that is probably the one positive thing that has happened to Cashman this off season.

As of this writing, Cashman's improvements to the team have been NOT losing two Yankee legends, signing a non tendered catcher from the Dodgers, an adequate lefty reliever from the Mets and a former ace in Mark Prior who, since 2006, is tied with ME for innings pitched in the major leagues.

The Yankees, the big bad Yankees who go and fill every need every off season with their deep pockets and make everyone scream how unfair it is, went into this winter with an obvious glaring need:

Pitching depth.
And the American League Cy Young Award winner for 2008 and the American League Cy Young Award winner for 2009 have both switched teams... yet neither will end up in the Bronx.

As of this writing, Andy Pettite is still unsigned, Phil Hughes is still questionable after a rotten second half, A. J. Burnett still stinks and C. C. Sabathia is still recovering from knee surgery.

Yeah yeah yeah, it is a minor surgery for Sabathia. But anytime a 300+ pound 30 year old man starts to have knee problems, it's hard to not at least be concerned.

Their bullpen depth is still questionable. And of course the stock of Joba Chamberlain has fallen to the point where he isn't considered to be a plus for the bullpen nor the rotation.

The pickings are slim in the free agent market (hey, they brought back Javy Vazquez last year. Why NOT Pavano?) And if they had the young talent to trade for a quality arm, that young talent would already be on the team.

Which brings us back to Cashman.
A few years ago, I wondered if his critics were wrong.

It turns out that picking on him that year was kind of foolish as the Yankees won it all in 2009. But some of my criticisms still seem valid.

Since taking more control of the team after the 2005 season, the Yankees have had the 2006 Division Series debacle against the Tigers where their lack of pitching depth was exposed... the 2007 Division Series midge infested ousting by the Indians where they relied on Chein Ming Wang as a #1 starter... the 2008 season where they missed the playoffs... the 2009 World Series Champs... and the 2010 ALCS where their lack of pitching depth was exposed badly.

Now for most GMs, a World Series title in a 5 year run would be enough.
But Cashman isn't in the situation that most GMs are in.
He never has to make a difficult rebuilding process decision.
He never has to consider moving a popular player because he is arbitration eligible.
He never has to ask "Which superstar can we afford to have?"

He can talk about setting a budget but then it will inevitably be blown up.
He can try to take a stance of not signing veterans to long term deals and going for youth, but then sign Derek Jeter to a 3 year deal when nobody else was offering 2.

So yeah, the standards are different.
And yes, I know that the Red Sox have a bottomless pit of money and since 2005, Theo has only bought one World Series himself.

But I don't see the Yankees having two homegrown aces like Lester and Buchholz, nor having the trade chips to pull the trigger on a deal for Adrian Gonzalez nor actually get someone to accept their money like Carl Crawford.

The Yankees are still a quality team, but it says a lot that when Cliff Lee wanted to go to the place where he is most likely to win a title, he chose Philadelphia.

There aren't any legit #1 or #2 starters left out on the market and Petitte might still decide to stay in Texas and count his millions and rings and play with his kids.

If this off season continues to go this badly for Cashman and it translates once again into a season where the lack of pitching bites the Yankees in the rear, he find himself hanging on by a much thinner rope than he was holding in Stamford.

Will Cliff Lee's free agency be like the end of Superman 2?

There's a great scene in Superman 2 that I will spoil here.
If you haven't seen the movie... it came out nearly 30 years ago. Take your time.

In the scene, the evil Kryptonians led by General Zod have been obsessing over one thing: Capturing and defeating Superman.

And when they cornered him in the Fortress of Solitude, Superman was forced to go into that chamber that takes all of his powers away. When he was in there, Lois Lane was crying, Zod and his two lackies were smiling knowing that they were about to win.

And Lex Luthor, brilliantly played by Gene Hackman, was looking around puzzled. There was something odd happening and he was the only person who noticed (being the smartest character in the movie.)

When Superman came out of the chamber, Zod thought he had won. But actually Superman had reversed the process and all the evil Kryptonians were powerless and Superman crushed General Zod's hand in a moment that made a 10 year old Sully jump up and start cheering and STILL gives this 38 year old Sully goose bumps.

So why the hell am I going over that scene?
Beyond the fact that it is awesome... it kind of reminds me of the Yankees pursuit of Cliff Lee.

The Yankees have been obsessing over Lee since the 2009 World Series when he handed them their only 2 losses. And then this year, it looked like the Yankees were going to pry him loose from the Mariners... only to be outfoxed by the Rangers and have it haunt them in the ALCS when Texas and Lee man handled them for the pennant.

(Jesus Montero, the prospect the Yankees wouldn't part with to get Lee, had better turn out to be good!)

But now in the open market, it is assumed he will leave Texas for New York. Even Nolan Ryan thinks so.

So in this scenario, Cliff Lee is Superman and the Yankees are of course Zod.

Superman is about to kneel and swear his loyalty to Zod and the Yankees.

Lois Lane, crying, would be the Rangers... and frankly the rest of baseball seeing the Yankees get what they want.

In this one?
I'M Lex Luthor looking around, noticing something is wrong.

First of all, if the Yankees are looking to give Lee a seven year deal like they gave Lee's former teammate C. C. Sabathia... that is assuming he will be a premium pitcher in his late 30s.

That's not always a safe bet. Cy Young candidates can break down in an awful hurry. Don't believe me?

Take a look at the top 5 Cy Young finishers for 2007: Jake Peavy, Brandon Webb, Brad Penny, Aaron Harang and Carlos Zambrano.

3 years later you could get all five for a six pack of Sprite.

And before you think I am being just a gloomy glass is half empty guy, remember that at at age 31, he was having back issues.

His numbers in Texas were good but hardly the stellar stats he was piling up on a dreadful Seattle team.

Remember his stretch in mid August when he was getting clobbered?

Do things like "bad backs" tend to get better with age? If he was with the Yankees, he would probably turn to Andy Pettite and ask "Hey, when your back was messed up in your 30s, what did you use?"

And Pettite would reply "Sorry man, they test for that stuff now."

Imagine if injuries catch up with him like those 2007 Cy Young candidates. Isn't a bad back a red flag?

And of course there is the New York factor.
He needs to come up bigger than Clark Kent's alter ego in order to justify a huge contract.

Now Sabathia came up bigger than his waist size when he arrived in 2009. He won the ALCS MVP and looks like he'll be an ace stud for years to come.

He's been the exception.

It's easy to think of Kevin Brown as being the hot head, hand breaking bust blowing Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS.

But remember when the Yankees acquired him, he was a stud who was coming off a solid year with the Dodgers and was going to take Roger Clemens spot in the rotation. I still can hear Charlie Steiner describing him as "a warrior."

Think his heroics in the 1997 NLCS and 1998 post season earned him any good will in New York?

How do you think Cliff Lee's Game 1 World Series clubbing this year would have gone over in New York?

How did A. J. Burnett fare? He won the GIGANTIC Game 2 of the 2009 World Series... and that bought him good will for almost 45 minutes.

And if Cliff Lee might not be a fit in New York, there's the question of New York not being the right fit for Cliff Lee.

Sometimes those warning signs of a guy not wanting to play in the big spotlight are not unfounded.

How did Randy Johnson, one of the best pitchers of the last quarter century, do in New York? He was miserable before he threw his first pitch.

Even the great Johan Santana has lost some of his luster since arriving in Queens.

And then there is the bizarre contract circus that's going on in New York.

With Prince Hank sounding off and the team playing the contract haggling with Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter in public, the once stable Yankee organization is slowly looking more and more like the old Bronx Zoo... remember the one where they kept signing big players and couldn't make the playoffs.

And I know this is sacrilege to say, but if things don't go well in the free agent season are the Yankees as big a lock to win a World Series as they used to be?

A team where Rivera isn't there... or only signed for a year?
A team where the veterans are tied up to huge unmovable contracts as they are rewarded for past seasons (when they ALSO made big bucks)?

And remember, this team is getting older and their young players aren't exactly challenging the veterans for playing time.

If their young players were any good, they would have been able to TRADE for Lee in the regular season.

So yeah, Cliff Lee is Superman this off season... but there is ample Kryptonite out there.

The Yankees might very well end up with a crushed hand.

And before any gives me grief for comparing the Yankees to evil General Zod, remember that in this scenario, I'M Lex Luthor!

Now enjoy the awesome scene by clicking here.

A SULLY BASEBALL VIDEO - What does Fox want?

Good Luck Manny Delcarmen

Another member of a World Champion Red Sox team is gone.
And if I could salute Julio Lugo then I can damn sure salute Manny Delcarmen, who got traded to the Colorado Rockies (ironically the team he helped beat in the 2007 World Series.)

It may not have ended well in Boston, let's not forget what a wonderful Red Sox story his is.
He is a native Bostonian and "The Pride of Hyde Park" pitched at West Roxbury High School, dreaming of pitching for the Red Sox.

The Sox drafted him in the second round and in 2005 was called up to pitch for the Defending World Champs.

In 2007 he was up for good and contributing. With Papelbon and Okajima anchoring an All Star Bullpen, Delcarmen posted a 2.05 ERA over 44 relief innings. He kept the Angels off the board with 1 1/3 perfect innings in Game 2 of the Division Series that year (which ended on Manny Ramirez's walk off homer.)

He pitched in the clinching Game 4 of the World Series where he got to accomplish what so many kids in Boston had dreamed of and so few ACTUALLY have achieved:

He won a World Series ring as a player for the Red Sox.

He did it.
All of us who grew up in New England all wanted what he actually got done.

So while this year has been rocky and his season will end AS a Rockie, let me just say, from one life long Red Sox fan to another, thank you Manny Delcarmen for living out all of our dreams.

It was fun for us. I assume it was even more fun for you.

Bad Luck Hamels

There were many story lines to last night's wild Phillies/Astros opus.

Jimmy Rollins game tying 9th inning homer? Clutch.
Ryan Howard getting called out on a check swing in extra innings? Borderline.
Some umpire named Scott Barry trying to prove to the world how tough he is by tossing Ryan Howard? Bush League.
Roy Oswalt playing left field? Little league.
Roy Oswalt coming to the plate as the potential winning run in the 16th? Nuts.

But here's something that got lost in the shuffle:
Cole Hamels pitched great AGAIN... and has nothing to show for it.

When I pitched that Felix Hernandez should get serious Cy Young consideration even with a losing record, one of my readers named Ed wrote "A pitcher's win-loss record must be the silliest stat in baseball."

I don't 100% agree. The pitchers job is to get the team in position to win the game, Ed has a point when evaluating the recent pitching performance of Cole Hamels.

Hamels began the season with a poor April, a good May and a bad June, prompting the Phillies to deal for Roy Oswalt (and basically admit they f---ed up when dealing Cliff Lee.)

But in July, he posted a 2.16 ERA and nearly averaged 7 innings a start, nearly a strikeout an inning and a 2.86 strikeout to walk ratio.

He's kept it up in August. Including tonight's 7 inning, 2 run, 8 strikeout and 1 walk performance, his August numbers include a 3.17 ERA, 6 2/3 innings a start, 42 strikeouts and only 4 walks.

His record over July and August? 1-4.
He is winless since the All Star Break.

He threw 8 innings of 1 hit shutout ball on July 22nd against St. Louis and got a no decision.

He had back to back starts against the Mets recently... one he threw 7 innings, 1 run, 11 strikeouts, no walks... LOSS.

His next start he threw 8 innings, 1 run, 8 strikeouts, 2 walks... LOSS.

He's been throwing at least like a true #2 and like what most teams would want from their #1 starter. (If he threw like that in Game 3 of the World Series last year, the Phillies would probably be the back to back defending World Champions.)

This is a guy who is pitching lights out and oh yeah... has an NLCS and World Series MVP trophies sitting on his mantle. If he pitches like this in October and goes in the #3 slot behind the two Roys, the Phillies would be so scary that not even Brad Lidge coming out of the bullpen could stop them.

It would be nice if the Phillies could hit for him.
Someone pitching THAT well shouldn't be tied with ME for second half wins.