The Brian Cashman Interview

NEW YORK (WCBS 880)  -- Brian Cashman, Senior Vice-President and General Manager of the New York Yankees,  was kind enough to spend some time with me detailing the organization’s commitment to securing and nurturing young pitching talent. In addition to discussing the progress of many youngsters, including Joba Chamberlain, Humberto Sanchez and Ross Ohlendorf, Cashman fielded my questions about Kei Igawa, Mike Mussina, and other topics-- including whether the organization would consider a positional move for Derek Jeter, and, oh ya, that A-Rod opt-out thing.

Brian, I can’t remember the last time the Yanks have had so many young promising arms in their system. What do you and your scouting staff look for when drafting or trading for young pitchers?

Essentially high ceiling talent...I think that there was a period where we kind of forgot the most important aspect of the organization is development. We were so focused on the major league situation. Two years ago we basically simplified things and recognized that our business is baseball and the foundation has to come from within. Our amateur people went out with renewed spirit and determination based on us telling them that “Hey...we are going in this direction. We need you to be good at this. We will protect our draft choices and we will compete with anybody for talent.”

I think that the system has been restocked to some degree but that can’t stop now. We have to keep it going. But we are going to be aggressive with high-ceiling, high-talent players. We have been in the past conservative, but I definitely want to change that focus and work to enjoy the fruits of that labor.

You’re not afraid to take risks if there is a high-ceiling pitcher out there with arm problems and you can’t worry if it doesn’t work out.

That’s correct. There are two players that the jury is out on but are examples. Andrew Brackman, NC State, 6’ 10”, right-handed starter who eventually wound up having Tommy John surgery here. We knew going into the draft that he had some elbow problems; we were picking 30th in the 1st round. But the difference in the talent at the back of the first round compared to the front of the round was pretty significant in our evaluation. Andrew Brackman healthy would have been a top 5 pick. In the first round, Andrew Brackman with an elbow issue fell to 30. Therefore, we asked ourselves would we rather have the high-ceiling of someone with an elbow injury that historically can be successfully corrected? Or should we go with a more conservative pick, someone with considerably lesser talent, not as high of a ceiling but healthy….we went for Door # 1.

And the same thing with the Gary Sheffield trade. We acquired Humberto Sanchez and we knew we were getting someone with an elbow issue who might need Tommy John surgery. But the type of ability Sanchez has you can’t find unless you give up a Gary Sheffield type. So again we went with the high-ceiling type. We will find out over time if these decisions will work out for us but those are some examples of our aggressiveness, going for the higher talent.

What is Humberto Sanchez’s prognosis for next year? Will he be pitching by Spring Training?

That’s our expectation. His surgery was in Mid-May. It was successful. He’s throwing now. He’s got great range of motion. Eventually, he will graduate to a half-mound and full-mound with all his assortment of pitches. Hopefully that rehabilitation process will take him through Spring Training and the first year he should be fine. His command may be off because that’s the history of Tommy John, and then in Year Two as long as he stays healthy and there are no new issues you should see the full assortment of what his abilities can show. But we’ll see. There are two option years remaining in his contract, before he is out of options at the big league level. Again, he’s a big strong, 6’5” guy with a power arm, power curve, a local guy.

People forget he was the talk of last year’s Future’s game. He led all the Starters in the Eastern league in Strikeouts per 9, even ahead of Phil Hughes. He does possess a great deal of ability so hopefully we will get him healthy and he will continue his journey in his development. He’s not a finished product yet. At some point, whether it’s as a starter or a reliever, he will impact the Yankees going forward. Obviously, you can’t have too many pitchers.

Ross Ohlendorf, have you been happy with his progress this year?

It’s been a learning curve for both of us. Ross is a Princeton Graduate. Our expectation was that he could be a 4th guy in the rotation or worse case scenario he can be a nice power arm out of the pen. Here in the 2nd half when we saw the need to improve our bullpen from within, we moved Joba Chamberlin and Ohlendorf to the pen to try to assess them as candidates, amongst others like Edwar Ramirez. Ross did much better for us out of the bullpen and that may very well be where he remains. He’ll make his major league debut for us out of the pen at some point as he just joined our 40-man roster. He picked up some velocity coming out of the pen. He’s at 92-97 mph, power sinker, he’s developed his slider. We have a high hopes that he can be a positive contributor for us, most likely for the major league club out of the bullpen.

The rapid ascent of Joba Chamberlain has to be a surprise to you and everyone in Baseball.

When you have a great deal of ability and it comes together, you can move fast. No one would have thought he’d be doing this in ’07 – same as Ian Kennedy --  but sometimes players move themselves ahead of their developmental program. In these two cases they have. Joba Chamberlain has been a huge stabilizing impact on our bullpen. The Joba rules have also contributed to the fact that – since there are days he can’t be used – it forces a situation where others have to be used, because there are no other choices, to be quite honest.  This has helped Kyle Farnsworth, whose 10 of his last 11 appearances have been shut out baseball, and Edwar Ramirez has done very well. Now the work load is spread evenly throughout the bullpen. That might not be the case if Joba were available more often.

And this is to protect Joba in a role he isn’t accustomed to.  I know that some people in the media have been saying that this is my way of protecting Joba from the manager.  Nothing is further from the truth. This is about protecting a young pitcher at the end of his inning limit who has never been a reliever before. And we relied on Nardi Contreras to develop a program that would protect him.  When I realized that we weren’t going to secure any outside help -- I didn’t want to give up the farm system -- we started to prepare him for the bullpen and his graduation to the big leagues and he has been spectacular.

Are you still planning to start Joba in ’08?

Yes. All intentions are to return him to the starting rotation in ’08. But clearly he can do the relief thing. When we drafted him, and Sanchez is another, we thought he could start or relieve in terms of set-up or closing. But the intention is to have these guys start.

Posada has mentioned that he’s very impressed with Joba’s maturity. He’s years ahead of kids his age.

It helps to have that kind of ability. With that ability the results follow, therefore the confidence goes through the roof. Joba is a very well-balanced individual and that goes to his upbringing with his father. We’ve only had our developmental hand on him for a year. He went to the Hawaiian winter league with Scott Eldred our pitching coach and then Nardi Contreras worked with him. But this kid deserves the credit for what he has become and how fast it’s happened.

Hopefully, he will stay level-headed and all the success won’t change him because he’s really a special individual. Anyone who sits and talks to Joba comes away very impressed with his sincerity. When we talked to him about the idea of moving to the bullpen and helping this club, we told him that the short term gain can’t come at the expense of the long-term effect that he can have on the organization. That’s a balancing act we have to be careful with. We look for him to be honest with us and he is so far.

He’s having fun. All the veterans like him. It’s certainly helps the front office’s initiative because the development of players can’t stop at Triple AAA; it has to continue at the major league level. There is only so much a manager or coach or GM can do. What’s more impactful is when a Roger Clemens or an Andy Pettitte takes the time to let a kid in and they share their experiences and how to react to situations and this is what it’s like to be a big-leaguer and this is what it’s like for a 45-year old like Roger Clemens to keep the uniform on.  You just hope and pray that these kids soak it up.

It’s the idea of passing the torch. Like when Jimmy Key was here he showed Andy Pettitte the ropes. Andy grew up with a poster of Roger Clemens on his wall. Now they’re great friends. These are very vital developmental opportunities that hopefully our young players will take advantage of. I’ve really noticed that we have the type of quality character people that are willing to open up and share their experiences for the betterment of these young players who will be the Yankees of the future.

Kei Igawa…how disappointing was his 1st year to you and where do you see him going in the future with the club?

The first year we had higher hopes, clearly. We saw him as a back of the rotation guy. We didn’t think his transition would be this difficult. He’s kind of a country guy from Japan. Kind of like Jose Contreras was from the country of Cuba. He’s from a quieter area.  I think the transition to New York especially was a little more difficult for him. It doesn’t mean he can’t be successful in the long run.

He did pitch in front of huge crowds for the Hanshin Tigers. We had some mechanical adjustments that we had to make. He’s making them and getting better and better at it. His strikeout per nine improved in the minor leagues and he actually had a higher strikeout per nine than most of our pitchers in the majors.  It shows you his stuff is there. Just consistency is an issue. Certainly the long ball is an issue. But he’s on such a quality contract when he was claimed by another team on waivers we were not willing to part with him that easily, especially with the free agent pitching market that is not very plentiful. He will be a successful major league starter at some point. It’s just a matter of time when. It can be here; it could be somewhere else.

But we are not going to pull the plug on the guy. We are going to keep his program going. He’s back with us as a September call-up and hopefully he will have an opportunity to finish on a high note and feel good about the hard work, despite not contributing like he or we hoped in ’07. We still have high hopes.

He was able to shut down two high-powered offenses this year, Boston and Cleveland. He does have the ability. To be honest I am not quite sure that he believes he can do it at the major league level yet. Like a pro boxer, if you get the glassy eye and wobbly knees, well, that was the first half of the season. He got hit more than he expected and that gave him, I think, a little hesitancy. It’s our job to make sure that he knows he can succeed. Now I am purely speculating. He never said he didn’t think he could do it.  But I have to think his confidence was down. But he went down to Triple A. He did a great job there and now he’s in the mix going forward.  He will compete for a starting job next year and if that doesn’t work out he could switch to the bullpen.

Now about the Injury Updates. Is Rocket slated to pitch in Boston this weekend?

We have not officially named him as a starter. He will throw a bullpen in Toronto and we’ll see how he’s feeling and how he looks.  If he needs more time, we will see. We can’t call it yet. He did have two side sessions in Kansas City and they went well. He will have to do a full bullpen next to Gator and Joe and then we will learn more. 

Luis Vizcaino was shut down, how is he feeling?

He threw on flat ground Sunday. I did not hear anything negative. But we will very careful that when he takes the mound again he’s 100% back. Obviously, we need him if we are fortunate enough to get a post-season birth.

Now Mussina has had recent troubles. Where does he stand?

Moose is going to start Wednesday in Toronto. Ultimately, at this stage of the year you got to earn what you can earn. He’s a fighter, he’s competitor and he’s going to try to get back into this thing for us. I don’t think he’s done.  I think that he will refocus because he’s a man of great desire and heart and he will look this winter about how to get back on line for ’08.

 In the meantime, he’s looking for that opportunity for when his name is called. If he can string together some successful outings for us now, it will increase the level of confidence we have in him and he will get more opportunities going forward. It’s as simple as that. At this stretch when you’re trying to secure that post–season birth, your manager is going to hand the ball to people that are securing the most consistent outs.

There was a time when Mike pushed his way out of the rotation. He can push his way back in and we are all anxious to see the old Mike Mussina. He will have a chance to show it on Wednesday.

In this age of sabermetrics, do you have anyone on staff whose job it is to report to you on statistical trends and analysis?

Absolutely. We definitely do. His name is Mike Fishman. He does a fantastic job. Our intent is that we evaluate performance on the field, on the major and minor league levels, by both scouting as well as assessing the numbers. Sometimes, the numbers are deceiving if you are not reading them properly. Mike has been a great asset for us and I’m happy he’s here. He joined us a few years ago.

Do you see a time in the near future when Jeter might transition to 1st base or any another position? 

No. First base is the last place I’d think of, to be honest. No, Jeter’s our shortstop.

Do you see Joe coming back next year?

Seeing as I am on the big hook too, we will have to wait to see how the season plays out. Those decisions will be made at the end of the year.

And your future with the club?

Same big hook statement. Well, hopefully we can make our owner proud. We’re making a run at this thing.

And if Alex opts out, the Yanks will not pursue him?

If he opts out, we won’t pursue him. It’s basically economics. Any discussions will have to be prior to opting out. If he opts out, we will have to go in a different direction.