One Man's Vision

Chien-Ming Wang deserved to win the AL Cy Young. The fact that he finished second to Johan Santana in the AL Cy Young vote is a travesty! An outrage! Just kidding. Santana was far and away the best pitcher in all of baseball last year. If you look up the word domination in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of Santana. But still, you have to give props to Chien-Ming for the year he had. If you told me at the beginning of the year he'd win 19 games, I'd have laughed. I'll admit it. In 2005 I was a Chien-Ming doubter. When I was in Toronto in 2005, I had the chance to get his autograph, but I figured he wouldn't materialize into much, so I passed on the chance, though I did get it in April of 2006. Thankfully for the Yankees and their fans, one man recognized the potential in Wang, and that was Yankee GM Brian Cashman.
I just called up my friend Marty. he's coming over with his souped up Delorean. We're going to crank up the flux capacitor to 1.21 jigawatts and go back in time to July of 2005, circa the trading deadline. Come along won't you? 2005 was a pretty tough season. A season which would see us tied with Boston at the end of the regular season. It was arguably the toughest season Joe Torre had as skipper of the Yankees. Normally when a contender is heading into the stretch, they try to bring in a big bat or a hired gun to help put them over the top (i.e Bobby Abreu). When August 1 2005 rolled around the Yankees could have used a little something-something for the stretch run. And Brian Cashman, thankfully, did nothing. Why? Because everyone wanted Chien-Ming Wang and Robinson Cano. Cashman had the foresight to recognize the talent he had in these two gems. Cano would eventually be the runner-up for the AL Rookie of the Year, and in his second year, he'd finish 3rd for the AL batting title. Wang wins 19 games and finishes 2nd in the AL Cy Young vote in his second year. Can you say thank you? I can. Thanks Cash! Thanks for not trading away the Yankees young talent like Cano, Wang, Hughes, Clippard, Melky, and Tabata. Thanks for not trading away the farm, but rather rebuilding it with quality prospects like Sanchez, Britton, Whelan and Claggett. Thanks for being patient and putting a winning team on the field year in and year out. I suppose I should thank King George for having deep pockets, for without his money, Cashman's job would be a lot tougher. Thanks George.
Cashman is a genius. If you think he's not, tell me why. I'd be interested to know.
J-Boogie