Yankees Show Off Their Christmas Gifts

The Yankees offically introduced CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett on Thursday at the old Yankee Stadium. It was really surreal to see those two men standing next to eachother wearing pinstripes. They were the top of the free agent market and the Yankees were able to get them to commit to the Bronx. It was a good day in Yankeeland.

Brian Cashman deserves a lot of credit for the work he's done. A few notes about the process that Cashman used in getting Sabathia are quite interesting. These notes I found while reading Peter Abraham's Yankees Blog . If you've never visited the site you should, it'll fulfill your every Yankee need and desire.

Cashman had a plan in mind and knew exactly what he was doing all along. In acquiring Santana the Yankees would've had to surrender Phil Hughes and throw an insane amount of money at Johan. Remember when Cashman was hesitant to make the move, everyone thought he was crazy. With Sabathia, he only had to throw the insane amount of money. Turned out to be the right move, as the Yankees kept their most prized pitcher. Here are some other notes in the CC Sabathia Recruiting Process:

  • The Damons spent their first two years with the Yanks living in Manhattan, but then moved to the New Jersey suburbs, and Michelle Damon sold Amber Sabathia on the suburban life. “She said you’re going to love it,” Amber said. “The schools are good, the pediatricians are good, the supermarkets are good – it’s like a nice little place to live.”
  • At the final meeting Cashman and Sabathia had at Sabathia’s California home, Cashman laid out exactly how long Sabathia had been on the Yankees’ radar. He told Sabathia and his agents how the Yankees had been targeting him for over a year and explained the entire process behind their decision, in hopes it would show how committed the Yankees were to Sabathia. “Ten minutes after he left, I called him to tell him I’m in,” Sabathia said. “That really meant a lot to me.”
In recruiting Burnett, Johnny Damon also played a part in the process by calling the big righty. Derek Jeter also called AJ. I think once Sabathia agreed to come to the Bronx that it would get another big free agent pitcher to come here too. The group of Burnett, Derek Lowe, and Ben Sheets you knew one of them was going to follow CC to the Bronx. There was even a point where some thought, myself included that the Yankees could very well sign all of them (that is still a possibility albeit an unlikely one). The Yankees in my opinion got the two best options and that's quite alright with me.

However you want to look at it, the Yankees did what they set ouot to do this winter, get starting pitching. Whether these guys work out in the end or not, Cashman did his job and filled the biggest needs of the team. If he doesn't get CC or AJ then everyone is calling for his head just like last winter. Good work Brian, I commend the work you've done this offseason. I've said it many times, he's the best GM in the game and that's not because he has an open checkbook to work with, it's because he lays out a plan before it's a thought in most people's minds. He's the right man for the job and he got the right men to fix the Yankees. Now all we need is for Andy Pettitte to re-sign and we're ready to go.
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Mixx
  • Google
  • Furl
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati