Red Sox Fans Beware: Yankees GM Brian Cashman Claims Trade Market ‘Dead Out There’

by abournenesn

Jul 22, 2010

Red Sox Fans Beware: Yankees GM Brian Cashman Claims Trade Market 'Dead Out There' So the Yankees will not be making any big waves in the trade-market pool from now until July 31, according to general manager Brian Cashman.

For Yankee fans, it sounds like a disappointing and boring trade deadline. For Red Sox fans, it sounds like a bluff. A very scary, threatening bluff.

"Right now, there's just a lot of things that aren't plentiful," the GM told the Star-Ledger. "I'll make my phone calls and if they lead to something, great. But right now, it's dead out there for us."

Bravo, Cashman, bra-freaking-vo. Let's start the slow, dramatic, tearful applause, because this acting job has been spotted many times before in the Bronx.

Sox fans may painfully recall a couple of other big Cashman pick ups in which the Yankees popped in ou of nowhere. Most recently, it was the acquisition of first baseman Mark Teixeira. Tex was the big free agent bat two winters ago and the Yankees weren't listed among the front-runners, who, among other teams, happened to be the Red Sox and Teixeira's hometown Orioles. Of course, the Yanks swooped in at the last moment and nabbed the slugger and captured a World Series title in his first year in pin stripes.

Even when the Bombers grabbed Alex Rodriguez from the Rangers prior to the 2004 season, he was initially heading to Boston before the MLBPA stepped in. Out of nowhere, so it seemed, the game's biggest star was slipping on the league's most distinguished jersey in the biggest sports market on the planet.

So why would this year be any different? The Yankees, although in first place in the AL East with a comfortable lead over the Rays and Sox, have lost starting pitcher Andy Pettitte to a groin injury that's likely to keep him sidelined for a month. Both A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez aren't pitching up to par, and the club recently lost out to the Rangers in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes.

"You compare what would I acquire and what would I have to give up to acquire, and what's the ultimate difference between that for the six or seven starts that Andy's going to be down, is it really worth it?" Cashman said. "Probably, the answer is going to be no."

Cashman is likely referring to his would-be trading partners asking for catching prospect Jesus Montero, who was rumored to be a part of the package that would have sent then-Mariner Cliff Lee to New York. Although struggling in Triple-A this summer, Montero is one of the game's top prospects and is the heir backstop to Jorge Posada's throne behind the dish.

The Yanks reportedly put up Montero in a package earlier when they were favorites to pluck Lee from Seattle earlier this month. Than, in a very Yankee-like manner, the Rangers lassoed the lefty to Texas and left Cashman in the dust. Obviously, Cashman wasn't, and likely still isn't afraid to pick up a big-time hurler to add to the already-lethal rotation, which ranks third in the AL with a 3.87 ERA. While Pettitte's on the mend and Burnett continues to struggle, would anyone be surprised to see a new big arm behind CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes?

Apparently, it's not in the cards for the Yankee boss.

"My intent is not to go out and get a starting pitcher. I'll have conversation about what teams are looking to do. I'll have proposals made to me and who knows if they lead to something that I don't expect. But that's not my intent," he explained. "Everybody [on the pitching staff] has been inconsistent other than [Mariano Rivera]. But at the same time, the trade market isn't very plentiful. So I'm not optimistic that there will be anything for us to gravitate to between now and the 31st."

If there's one thing Sox fans have learned over the years, it's never trust a Yankee — especially a Yankee with money, needs and a pair of division rivals breathing down their neck.

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