Please explain to me why Brian Cashman felt it necessary to say this:
"I actually had dinner with the agent to pretend that we were actually involved and drive the price up. The outfield wasn't an area of need, but everybody kept writing, 'Crawford, Crawford, Crawford, Crawford.' And I was like, 'I feel like we've got Carl Crawford in Brett Gardner, except he costs more than $100 million less, with less experience.'"
Is he tired of hearing about boy-genius Theo while his own accomplishments get dismissed as the result of a big budget and his mistakes get amplified for the same reason? Is he unable to restrain himself from rubbing it in a bit? Does he not recognize that nothing good can come from gloating like this, and in fact some bad things can come of it? Does he need to introduce more motivation for Crawford, who may never live up to the exorbitant contract that Theo dropped on him but will almost certainly not remain at the putrid level he has played this season and could very well hurt the Yankees as soon as this year's ALCS? Does he need to undercut his future use of the have-dinner-with-the-agent-so-as-to-feign-interest tactic by crowing publically about how he employed it this past off-season?
Don't get me wrong – I'm very happy with the actions he took (and didn't take) vis-a-vis Crawford. But I see absolutely no upside and lots of potential downside to him going on record like this. It's just stupid and unnecessary and frankly makes him look small.
8 replies on “And the Verbal Diarrhea Continues”
Well, considering the wonderful deal he struck with Jeter, A-Rod, Posada, AJ Burnett, Weaver, Contreras, that Japanese pitcher, the big unit, etc. I think it is fine for him to gloat about the one expensive bullet he dodged.
Yeah, completely agreed. Cashman has never struck me as the sharpest knife in the drawer. Given Steve’s points, he might want to taste his own crow before gloating about something so trivial. I mean, even if the Sox paid more, who really believes they paid that much more because of one dinner?
Just plain dumb…
Wait, Carl Crawford plays for the Sox? I couldn’t tell!
And the Sox are about to get in the playoffs…
“Does he need to undercut his future use of the have-dinner-with-the-agent-so-as-to-feign-interest tactic by crowing publically about how he employed it this past off-season?”
Actually, this probably helps him strategically, especially if he’s interested in the player. Another team perceives it wrongly as a bluff, doesn’t increase its offer, and the price is lower for the player’s services. Genius.
You go, Blue Jays. You go, Athletics.
Wait, didn’t Jayson Werth sign for some retahded amount first? Did Cashman do some ju-jitsu with the Nats on that too? Werth set the market by which Crawford could then set his number, to an extent.
Do we not all realize had the Yankee’s signed Crawford he would have hit .320 had 60 SBs and an OBP of .400 and we would have had to hear why didn’t the Sox get him all year!