Free Agent Signings

A few posts ago, I chronicled the Yankee pitching disasters of late. Thinking about it, though, it seems like almost all of the Yankee free agent signings since 2001 haven't really worked out, and a good number have been downright terrible. In the plus column, I would list Mussina and Matsui. Mussina has had his ups and downs in the postseason, but he won that 1-0 game against Oakland in '01, and pitched three critical innings in relief in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. And while Matsui has been spotty so far this year, and was hurt most of last, he certainly earned his reputation as a clutch hitter.

In the utter disaster column: Jaret Wright, Carl Pavano, Kei Igawa (did you see his line from AAA the other day? 5 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, and one balk), Kyle Dial 911 Farnsworth. (I really don't think it's that harsh to lump Farnsworth in with the other three - I mean this guy has only had two 1-2-3 innings this entire year, he can't pitch on back to back days, and can't pitch more than one inning. Not really good for the primary setup man).

The other ones: Giambi has been a distraction, missed most of 2004, and is on the DL again. Granted, he has had his moments - most notably two homeruns off Pedro in Game 7 of the ALCS - but I don't think anyone can claim he was worth anything close to the enormous contract he signed. Damon was great last year, but even Torre couldn't say that he will be able to play centerfield for the remaining two years of his contract - so they are essentially back to where they started in CF. Sheffield helped the team, but his attitude was too much to handle (though I'm sure many Yankee fans would take him back in a heartbeat right now), and he was pretty quiet in the postseason. Tom Gordon was decent in the regular season, but melted down big time in the 2004 ALCS.

So much for the Type I errors (obviously I have focused just on free agents, and not trades - if you are looking for a really disastrous sequence, consider Ted Lilly for Jeff Weaver, and in turn, Jeff Weaver for Kevin Brown). It appears there a few Type II errors also - Beltran and Guerrero come to mind. (In his book, Buster Olney writes that Cashman tried to sign Guerrero instead of Sheffield, but was overruled by Steinbrenner). Cashman was smart enough to more or less stand pat from '98-'00 (save a few important midseason acquisitions, like David Justice), but really the record since then has been really pretty bad. It's hard to know how much is Cashman and how much Steinbrenner (or his other "advisors"), but it's a moot point now. As Steinbrenner says, Cashman is on the "big hook."