Yankee Trading Hindsight

At 26-18, the New York Yankees are about where I expected them to be record-wise at this point in the season, but how they've gotten there certainly isn't what I expected. The Yankees have been carried so far by their pitching, not their hitting. The Yankees top 4 starters each have 4+ wins, while a third of their line-up is injured (Johnson, Granderson & Posada), and slugger Mark Teixeira is hitting just .209.

Still, everything is going according to Yankees GM Brain Cashman's 2009 off season plan, right? Wrong. So far, not many of his off season moves have worked out. In fact, most of the moves have been flat out terrible. Here are the stats of the players Cashman added in the off-season:

Javier Vazquez: 3-4, 6.69 ERA
Chan Ho Park: 1-1, 7.20 ERA
Boone Logan: 0-0, 5.06 ERA
Curtis Granderson: .225 BA, 2 HR, 7 RBI (injured)
Nick Johnson: .167 BA, 2 HR, 8 RBI (injured)
Randy Winn: .213 BA, 1 HR, 8 RBI
Marcus Thames: . 357 BA, 2 HR, 10 RBI
Jaime Hoffman: released in spring training

Of the above players, only Thames has performed to expectations. But injuries have forced the Yankees to play him in the outfield, where he's a hack defensively. How about the players the Yankees have jettisoned? Here are the stats:

Ian Kennedy: 3-2, 3.24 ERA
Phil Coke: 3-0, 3.43 ERA
Brian Bruney: 1-2, 7.64 ERA (Released)
Johnny Damon: .290 BA, 3 HR, 18 RBI
Hideki Matsui: .227, 5 HR, 22 RBI
Austin Jackson: .337 BA, 1 HR, 11 RBI
Jerry Hairston: .225 BA, 0 HR, 12 RBI
Eric Hinske: .368, 4 HR, 20 RBI
Melky Cabrera: .213, 1 HR, 9 RBI

Wow. Big difference, huh? Throw in reliever Tyler Clippard (traded in 2008 to the Nationals for AAA pitcher Johnathan Albaladejo) who is now 7-1 in the Nationals bullpen, and Cashman's "plan" doesn't look so hot.

The players I'm about to list weren't necessarily swapped for each other, but here's essentially what Cashman did, and whether is was a WIN for him, a LOSS or a TIE.

Lefty reliever: Traded Coke, added Logan - LOSS
Right bat off bench: Let Hinske go, signed Thames - LOSS
4th outfielder: Traded Cabrera, signed Winn - LOSS (simply because Melky is younger)
DH: Let Matsui go, signed Johnson - LOSS
Outfielder: Let Damon go, traded for Granderson - LOSS
Starting pitcher: Traded Kennedy, traded for Vazquez - LOSS
Righty reliever: Traded Bruney, signed Park - WIN (but not by much)
5th outfielder: Let Hairston go, traded for Hoffman - LOSS
Traded Austin Jackson - LOSS (and a BIG one)

The 2010 season sure hasn't been a good one so far for Brian Cashman, and luckily for him, the play of the Yankees farm products he drafted (Francisco Cervelli, Ramiro Pena, Phil Hughes and Brett Gardner) has kept the Yankees afloat. Also, I think the Granderson trade, while it looks like a huge win for Detroit and Arizona, will eventually turn out to be a good one for the Yanks.

One things for sure, though. Even if some of the new recruits do turn things around, Cashman's going to need a big 2010 off-season to make up for this enormous bust in 2009.