More Yankee Arrogance

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So Brian Cashman says he publicly courted Carl Crawford last season with the sole purpose of making the Red Sox pay more to secure the free agent outfielder.

Is this a good strategy? Yes.

Has it happened before? Yes.

Do I believe Cashman? Absolutely not.


For years, the Yankees have driven up the price of free agents by overpaying for almost every free agent they have secured. I cannot for the life of me, think of a free agent the Yankees have signed where they haven't been the highest bidder.

What does this mean? It means no one cares about "being a Yankee". Players want the most money they can get and it doesn't matter where they get it.

The irony of Cashman's statement is that the Yankees themselves, have been used by agents, for years, to get their clients more money from another team. Whether the most money comes from the Yankees or another team, is irrelevant. The mere fact that the Yankees get involved hikes up the price for every player on the market.

So in a sense, the Yankees have driven up the price of their own free agents. Here is where the true absurdity of Cashman's statements lay. To arrogantly claim he forced Boston to pay more for Crawford, is a joke. It's a joke because Cashman believes he is brilliant for getting Boston to up their bid.

If we are scoring the situation, score one point for Cashman driving prices up on another team, and score about a hundred points for every agent in baseball who has used the Yankees to get more money for their client to play elsewhere.

However, this scoreboard only works if you believe Cashman; and I don't.

I believe the Yankees had a terrible offseason and have been fortunate to have a very productive season, despite a very poor pitching staff. I believe Cashman himself suspected the Red Sox had the better team going into the year, but now that his team has found a way to lock up the American League East, he is pretending it was all part of his plan.

It's like the kid who plays pool and accidentally knocks in a ball off three rails and then pretends it was the plan all along.

The Yankees have found themselves in first place in their division with a comfortable lead over Boston going into the final week of play. With everything lining up well for the evil empire, Cashman has decided to throw his team's good fortunes in the face of the Red Sox fans and front office. Classic Yankee arrogance.

Well done Yankees, you are going to win the AL East. However, have some class in doing so and don't pretend you wouldn't have signed Crawford had he chosen you over Boston.

Just one more reason to hate the Yankees