Bomber Bites With Jumping Joe–Cashman Can’t Win

Yankees GM Brian Cashman is in a tough spot.  Under his direction, the Yankees have lost free agents David Robertson to the White Sox and Brandon McCarthy to the Dodgers.  While the Yankees have been unable to find a starting pitcher, the Red Sox have managed to acquire three, Wade Miley, Rick Porcello and Justin Masterson.  The Red Sox also signed the two best hitters on the market in Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez.  North of the border, the Blue Jays have acquired one of the top third baseman in the American League in Josh Donaldson and former Yankee Russell Martin.

It has not been a totally lost off-season for the Yankees however.  Cashman was able to sign the best left-handed reliever available in Andrew Miller.  He traded Francisco Cervelli for Justin Wilson.  The Yankees got their shortstop in Didi Gregorius in a three-way deal with Arizona and Detroit giving up Shane Greene. 

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The problem for the Yankees and Cashman is that a lot of the pieces are already off the board this off-season and the Yankees are no one’s favorites to win the East.  Cashman is left between a rock and a hard place.  The only player left that can make the Yankees a contender and plug the hole in the rotation is Max Scherzer.  A player who represents the opposite of everything Cashman and the Yankees new found frugality have been championing against.

Mandatory Credit: Chad R. MacDonald.

Scherzer is a unique talent.  A super prospect who took a few years and a few organizations before he truly found out how to pitch in the big leagues and became a Cy Young winner.  He is currently one of the top ten, if not top five, best pitchers in the game.  A rotation that includes Scherzer, Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda and CC Sabathia has the potential to be among the best in the game.

It is a no-brainer that Scherzer would make the Yankees a better team and any GM, including Cashman, would love to have him.  But he will not come cheap.  He is represented by Scott Boras who will squeeze every last available penny for his client.  Scherzer rejected a $144 million offer from the Tigers in spring training last year.  The bidding for Scherzer’s services will rival the record contract given to Clayton Kershaw and likely approach, if not exceed, $200 million for seven years.

Thus we have Cashman’s dilemma.  Cashman has drawn a line in the sand in offering long term deals to players over 30.  He let McCarthy, Robertson, and Robinson Cano all walk rather than match the massive contracts they found on the open market.  How can he turn around now and give a player that same type of massive deal after letting a home grown potential future Hall of Famer like Cano leave less than a year ago?

If he signs Scherzer, baseball fans across the country be bemoan how the Yankees only “buy their players” as if their local teams pay their players with food stamps.  It will mark a return to same old Yankees roster building mentality of signing high priced free agents who inevitably decline in the later years of the contract forcing the Yankees to spend more money.  He will also have to answer to Yankee fans still upset by the departures of Cano and Robertson.

However, if he does not sign Scherzer it will be tough for him to claim that he is putting a competitive product on the field in 2015. The best case scenario for the Yankees would be trying to remain relevant for the second wild card.  There will be no retirement distractions for the fans and media next season.  A third straight season without October baseball would be all too likely.

Cashman can’t win.  He can’t make everyone happy with this decision.  He just needs to decide who he wants annoy.  Does he sign Scherzer and annoy thousands of baseball fans who hate the Yankees anyway and look like a hypocrite for his past decisions?  Or does he risk missing the playoffs for a third straight year because the Yankees have all of a sudden become too cheap to field a winner and fuel the hate of Yankee fans?  Well, maybe it’s not such a tough choice after all.