Baseball’s Savior

Of course I have mixed feelings about this. Cashman hasn’t done much to endear himself to Yankees fans with the current drought, though I’m a big fan of the saying “You’re better off dealing with the idiots you know as opposed to the idiots you don’t know.” Now while I’m not saying Cashman is an idiot, I think the saying at least has some bearing on the situation. George would rather bring him back because he knows him, as opposed to bringing in someone who might rock the boat.

The biggest shift in the division isn’t Manny Ramirez’s demand of a trade (doesn’t he do this every year, not that I blame him for trying to get out of Boston), but it has to be Leo Mazzone going to the Orioles. First set of bad news is, the Yanks didn’t get him. The second is that he’s coaching a competitor within the division.

And since we started on the subject of GM’s, Paul DePodesta, Billy Beane’s former right hand man in Oakland, lost his job with the Dodgers. And the Red Sox still haven’t come to terms with their “wonder boy” Theo Epstein. Trouble in Beantown?

Bernie Williams filed for free agency on Friday. It’ll be sad to see him in a uniform other then Yankee pinstripes, but he hasn’t had a really good season since 2002, with 2005 being one of his worst ever. I could see him catching on with another American League team and possibly moving into a corner outfield/DH role. It’s hard to say whether he’ll make the Hall of Fame. 3,000 hits seems a little out of reach (he has just over 2,200). But this is a guy who from 1996 through 2002 was one of the best players in the game, with 1998 and 1999 being MVP caliber seasons. He was never given the credit he deserved by the sportswriters, as he never finished better then seventh in the MPV voting (1998, he was 11th in 1999).

And I touched on Manny earlier. Wouldn’t it be nice to see him in pinstripes. Maybe an outfield of Manny Ramirez in left, Matsui in center, and Shef in right. Not the best defensive triumvirate, but man would we put runs on the board.