Maybe Cashman had a point

It appears that the Yanks’ new eighth-inning guy, Rafael Soriano, has experienced more stiffness in his pitching elbow. He was unavailable on Sunday for the Sox game because he felt stiffness in the elbow, and during a bullpen session today it was still there.

The team told him to get treatment on it today and Tuesday, and the earliest the $35 million reliever will be available is Wednesday in Baltimore…but that’s a long shot.

So’s numbers in pinstripes have been unspectacular, albeit in a small sample. In 15 innings, he has given up 15 hits, nine runs, 11 walks and 10 strikeouts with just one 1-2-3 inning while pitching to a 5.40 ERA with an opponent’s line of .268/.397/.339. His 76 ERA+ and 1.733 WHIP are a joke.

Of course he has more than enough time to turn it around, but you just know somebody wants to say this right now.

We all know about the public feud between Cashman and team president Randy Levine regarding the signing of So, and it appears, for now, Cash was right. During the press conference introducing the set-up man, Cash went on record saying “I didn’t recommend [the deal].”

Levine fired back with this gem:

"Hal and Hank, myself, everyone has a sacred obligation to our fans to make the team better in any way we can. The Yankee brand is important. There are fans all over the world. From George Steinbrenner on, we have to put the best product we possibly can put on the line. Cash looks at it from baseball operations, as he should. We look at it as running a $5 billion company. Really, the issue came down to, does this make the Yankees better?"

Shots were most certainly fired.

I have a question though. If those three idiots felt such an obligation to the fans, why don’t they sit back and let the general manager do his job? Pardon me as I beat a dead horse, but it comes off that they just made this deal for the sake of making a deal. Reverting back to the ways of the mid-2000s isn’t doing the team — or its fans — any favors.

Plus, Levine did the majority of the negotiating with agent Scott Boras, as you can tell by the suckitude of the deal: $10 million in 2011, $11 million in 2012 and $14 million in 2013 with an opt-out clause after each year. That’s not good for anyone.

This makes you wonder if Cashman will be back after his contract is up after this season. If not, so help the farm system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbqUXJuRrH0&feature=related