Brett Gardner for Starlin Castro? Say it ain't so.

The Yankees are standing on their heads to keep Rob Refsnyder from becoming their starting second baseman.  Many Yankee fans wanted Refsnyder to take over in 2015 and most Yankee fans have figured that the position was his to lose in spring training in 2016.

Today there have been persistent rumors from multiple sources that the Yankees may trade starting left fielder Brett Gardner to the Chicago Cubs for shortstop turned second baseman in 2015 Starlin Castro, who has been described by a reliable source as a knucklehead.

Argh!

This irks me on multiple levels, not least that Gardner has been a Yankee his entire career and he hustles as much as anyone.

Refsnyder: born 3/26/1991
Castro: born 3/24/1990
Gardner: born 8/24/1983

Obviously age is a factor but then why not go with Refsnyder, the youngest?

Gardner to Ellsbury to Hicks. The madness of Brian Cashman. Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The Yankees drafted Gardner and controlled his destiny.  Gardner is a nice player but nothing special: good fielder, good, if cautious, base stealer with no real home run power.

After the 2013 season Yankee general manager Brian Cashman signed a very similar, younger (18 days) and redundant player for much more money: Jacoby Ellsbury.  At the time I thought that Ellsbury was a bit of an upgrade but not worth the money.  So far, Ellsbury has not even been an upgrade.

Gardner has played left to accommodate Ellsbury in center.  But while Gardner is probably the best fielding left fielder in the American Conference (Why shouldn't he be, he's a center fielder?) Gardner does not provide the power one would like from a corner outfielder, especially one in left.  Think Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, even Ricky Henderson.

Maybe that was Cashman's way of emulating the younger, smarter analytical general managers.  Cashman hurried to sign Ellsbury very early in the off season in 2013.  Why?  I don't recall other bidders being reported.  Was Cashman afraid that he wouldn't be able to land a player so similar to the one he already had?  Cashman was bidding against himself for a player he didn't even need...

Obviously, the other general managers are not dopes and they realize that Cashman is in a bind.  He's being bled dry by the Ellsbury contract and now he's traded a valuable backup catcher, John Ryan Murphy, to acquire Aaron Hicks so that Cashman can use Hicks to back fill for Gardner who must now be traded to make up for all the money that Cashman is wasting on Ellsbury whom the Yankees didn't need in the first place because the Yanks already had Gardner.

Whew!  Trying to explain Brian Cashman is exhausting.  Why don't the Steinbrenner Kids just fire his ass?  Oh wait.  That would require at least one of the four to grow a pair of balls.
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Yankee GM Brian Cashman acquired Giambi, Rodriguez, Sheffield, Matsui, Teixeira, Granderson, Ellsbury, Beltran. Now what? Wednesday, November 18, 2015