Projo Sports Blog

By Ken Davidoff
Newsday

In one of his first moves as a bona fide, independent general manager, Brian Cashman signed Kyle Farnsworth to a three-year, $17-million deal, on December 2, 2005.

Farnsworth's first two years in the Bronx were brutal, and from this, Cashman learned not to offer multiyear contracts to relief pitchers anymore.

But then, miracle of miracles, Cashman found a manager and a pitching coach, Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland, who believed in Farnsworth. Who encouraged Farnsworth to believe in himself. Who turned the soft-spoken behemoth into a dominant setup man, making Joba Chamberlain's switch to the starting rotation appear all the more brilliant.

And now Farnsworth is gone. It's a case of selling high, but also one of, "Selling? Why?"
Here's why I don't like the trade of Farnsworth to Detroit for Pudge Rodriguez:

1. I understood and supported the idea of shifting Chamberlain from setup man to starting pitcher. Because, obviously, Chamberlain was still going to be on the team, in a more important role.

But to replace Chamberlain, they had Farnsworth - who, for all his struggles in 2006 and 2007, clearly had terrific stuff. Closer stuff. It was largely mental with him.

So now the Yankees are going to have to rebuild that eighth-inning bridge again, and as much as Girardi and Eiland have proven themselves in this area, they'll have no one with the sort of tools that Farnsworth possessed. Maybe someone among the mix of Damaso Marte, Edwar Ramirez, David Robertson and Jose Veras will step up.

2. Pudge. Maybe he can keep up his recent hot streak (42-for-110 with three doubles and four homers, according to the Yankees' news release on this trade). But the prior three years - including last year, which was a virtual walk year, since the Tigers had a team option on him - he has been a below-average offensive player.

Since 2005, Rodriguez has tallied these walk counts for the season: 11, 26, 9 and 19. Brutal.

Now, is he an offensive upgrade over Jose Molina? Of course.

And defensively, he still nails an impressive share of base runners, 18 of 50 this season. Yet he has developed a reputation as a catcher who doesn't block the plate.

Was he worth giving up Farnsworth? I don't think so. With Xavier Nady aboard, the Yankees could afford to turn their catching spot into an offensive sinkhole. If they had played Chad Moeller more often, then they would have preserved Jose Molina. They obviously didn't think much of Moeller, however.

3. The Dave Dombrowski factor. Here are the three major trades that Cashman has made with Dombrowski, before Wednesday:

1) February 1, 1999. Mike Lowell to the Marlins for Mark Johnson, Todd Noel and Ed Yarnall.

2) July 5, 2002. Jason Arnold, John-Ford Griffin and Ted Lilly to Oakland; received Jeff Weaver from Detroit, as part of a three-way deal.

3) November 10, 2006: Gary Sheffield to Detroit for Anthony Claggett, Humberto Sanchez and Kevin Whelan.

The first two were horrendous, and those were Cashman's deals.

They weren't pushed ahead by George Steinbrenner, or Tampa people, or anyone else.
The last one? Well, the Yankees benefited by disposing of Sheff. And the Tigers are worse off however, for having him. So far, the trio of young pitchers the Yankees received hasn't panned out - although, to be fair, Sanchez needs another year to be at full strength after his 2007 Tommy John surgery.

So this is a case of buyer beware. Dombrowski and Jim Leyland are as sharp a GM-manager duo as there is in the major leagues. Yes, they desperately needed bullpen help, and they had Brandon Inge to play catcher. Nevertheless, I'd always be wary of anyone these two are willing to give up.

A scout who saw Rodriguez play recently raved Wednesday about him, praising Pudge's good condition and hustle down the first-base line - times of 4.35 and 4.4 seconds. This could certainly work out well for the Yankees.

Yet when Cashman spoke of "robbing Peter to pay Paul," he didn't mention how hard he had worked to get Peter - his bullpen, in other words - back into a position where someone would want to rob it.

 Tags  Detroit Tigers Ivan Rodriguez Kyle Farnsworth New York Yankees

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