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Brian Cashman is returning to the Yankees and will continue to be General Manager of the team for the next three seasons. Based on the comments from the Cashman press conference two weeks ago, he feels his legacy would be tarnished if he left the Yankees at this time.

I agree. The New York media are a bunch of vultures who love to build people up, but love even more to tear them back down. And the vultures have been circling over Cashman for quite some time. With most other baseball cities, their writers (and fan base) are just as passionate about their team, but usually without the venom and vitriol so often seen in New York. Cashman's decision to stay is not about money as he would make roughly the same amount ($2 million per), but about fully instituting the young player development since assuming complete control in 2005.

The problem in New York is the New York media and the fans have absolutely no patience with anything concerning the Yankees (and even the Mets), and the impatient nature is magnified now that the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays are successful using home grown talent. Patience with young players has been the problem all along in Yankeeland, but is much different in other teams - especially the Red Sox and Rays.

Before Cashman signed that contract extension in 2005, he wanted full baseball control from George Steinbrenner. Since then, the Yankees have not won any post season series and did not even make the playoffs this season. Considering it's the Yankees and they won 4 World Series in 5 seasons from 1996-2000, the recent play is not exactly winning results - at least not by Yankee standards.

Many writers (especially Bill Madden of the NY Daily News) have repeatedly chastised Cashman for the lack of young players brought up through the system who are producing right away. In his story on September 27, 2008, Madden says, "And while the Red Sox have come up with premium position players such as Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie in recent years, the Yankees haven't drafted or developed any since Derek Jeter in 1992." That is true. And while the three Red Sox players were drafted since Cashman has been GM, the Red Sox are more patient with their players than the Yankees have become.

For example, let's say Robinson Cano hit only .182 in May 2005 when he was first brought up by the Yankees, did not homer and had only 2 RBI's.  Would the Yankee fans have been patient with this guy? No way. The talkies on the radio would have been screaming for Cano to be sent down and for the Yankees to trade for some other team's player. But, a month of .182/.308/.236/.544 OPS is what Dustin Pedroia achieved in April 2007 after he was given the second base job by the Red Sox. And Pedroia hit .191 with a .561 OPS in August and September of 2006. So, for his first two months in the majors (literally one-third of a season), Pedroia was 27 for 144, batted .188 with an OPS of .551. If he was a Yankee, Pedroia would have been banished even lower than Chase Wright and probably exiled like Javier Vazquez! But, the Red Sox were patient with Dustin and he has responded.

Yankee fans are now upset because Cano had a worse year than Pedrioa, and the Red Sox are in the ALCS. The Red Sox are patient with Jed Lowrie, too, who had a 0 for 18 stretch in September this year. While Lowrie did drive in 46 runs (and I like that RBI stat), he also hit only .258 with a slugging percentage of .400 and struck out 68 times in only 260 at bats. Not exactly superstar numbers.  But the Red Sox let him play and resisted the urge to go out and "get somebody." The Red Sox were also patient with their young pitchers as they brought up Justin Masterson, David Pauley, Michael Bowden and Charlie Zink from the minors to make key starts down the stretch.

Cashman understands this and wants to do the same thing but is faced with tremendous pressure to "win now," especially coming off a disappointing 2008. When almost $88 million is going to come off the books, the media whizzes are now disregarding what the Red Sox, Rays, Brewers, Rockies (World Series last year), Twins, Dodgers (six players of 26 and younger in the ALCS are starters, plus three key pitchers) have done. It's not that these other teams have drafted better, but these other teams are letting their young players play instead of going out and trying to buy a championship. Even the NY Mets and their GM Omar Minaya has begun to use younger players both to get younger and keep payroll costs down. I credit Minaya for his turnaround.

Yet, despite all the young teams now winning with younger, home grown players, Madden still talks about signing free agents CC Sabathia or Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez and trading for Colorado Rockies OF Matt Holliday and Kansas City CF David DeJesus as cures for the Yankee ills.

Now the media (and the fans) WANT CC Sabathia, WANT AJ Burnett, WANT Derek Lowe, WANT Mark Teixeira, WANT Nate McLouth in New York playing for the Yankees.

"We need a top of the rotation starter, we need a first baseman, and we need a center fielder" is what you hear on radio and read in the papers. While I do believe CC Sabathia will help the Yankees if signed, the Yankees should not go on a spending spree this off season. The media now wants more of the same from the 1980's Yankees - sign over priced free agents and watch the other teams win championships. But, if the Yankees sign several free agents and the Yankees still don't win, Cashman will again take the heat for a farm system that hasn't drafted or developed any premium position players since Derek Jeter in 1992.

I agree with my colleague at http://www.nybaseballdigest.com/, Howard Megdal (now there's a first!), that the Yankees need to get younger, but it should be done with what the Yankees have currently in the system, and not by signing big-money free agents.

Instead of Teixeira or even Jason Giambi at first in 2009, the Yankees should let Juan Miranda win the job. Miranda is in the Arizona Fall League now, and hit exceedingly well in AA Scranton. And he pounded right handed pitching. Let Miranda get 400 AB's against RHP and platoon him a little with a versatile, smooth fielding right-handed hitter and Jorge Posada in the DH/1B role.

Brett Gardner should be given the center field job. Despite what Bill Madden calls "a singles-hitting flyweight with zilch extra-base pop destined for a career as a fourth outfielder and pinch runner," Gardner has been nothing short of a winner in every stage of his pro career. After a slow start to this season (remember about Pedroia!), Gardner hit .357/.386/.667/1.034 OPS in his last 10 starts in CF. And these weren't your typical out of contention September starts either. Starting pitchers in those last 10 starts included Mark Buehrle and Gavin Floyd of the Chicago White Sox, Jesse Litsch (13-9, 3.85 ERA), AJ Burnett (we all know who he is) and Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays and Dice-K and Tim Wakefield in Boston. Gardner had 3 of the 6 Yankee hits (including a double) against Halladay in Roy's 20th victory that day. And Gardner plays great defense, too.

Other playoff teams have used their young players to excel and win World Series titles, and it appears the Red Sox will continue to compete for the next decade. The Yanks should mirror the Sox and Rays success and continue with young talent. It would be wise for Cashman to not listen to "baseball experts" like Bill Madden who continually changes his mind and generally speaks negatively about New York teams. By the way, Madden wrote in that Cashman needs to get younger - not by signing young free agents (Pavano was 29) but by using his own system and allow the talent to develop. It is easy to dismiss young players when they don't perform well immediately, but it takes guts to keep with an initial plan and continue to move forward.

Cashman should follow on the initial plans to develop the farm and bring up young players when they are ready.
 
Recently drafted and signed players such as Austin Jackson, Dellin Betances, Zach McAllister, Austin Romine and Jesus Montero are still a year (or more) away, and guys in the system for a while like Chase Wright, Brett Gardner, Juan Miranda need to be involved now.

They are all following the path that Ellsbury, Lowrie, Pedroia and Youkilis have traveled. Even new Red Sox ace Jon Lester (29-27, 3.33 ERA, 1.31 WHIP in the minors) finally has made his mark 6 years after being drafted. Meanwhile, Chase Wright is 23-8 over the last two seasons, and doesn't get a second chance. The key is to keep letting the youngsters handle adversity in the majors. I have yet to see a hitter come through in the "clutch" every time or a pitcher win every game he has started.

The Red Sox have let the players play and have won two World Series titles as a result, but they got swept in the ALDS in 2005 and didn't even make the playoffs in 2006. Teams can't win every season as those days of 1996-2000 are over.

Free agents don't win World Series titles, so the Yankees need to let their young guys play like the young Red Sox guys in order to earn the same results as the Red Sox team.