Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayhawk Bill
Yankees annual AL Team ERA rank under Brian Cashman:
| Year | Rank | | 1998 | 1 | | 1999 | 2 | | 2000 | 6 | | 2001 | 3 | | 2002 | 4 | | 2003 | 3 | | 2004 | 6 | | 2005 | 9 | | 2006 | 6 | | 2007 | 8 |
I researched this initially to defend Cashman, but looking at the numbers it appears that he's struggled after losing his initial talent base of pitchers, especially considering the Yankees' league-leading payrolls. |
It's really not as easy to get pitchers as it used to be. Revenue sharing has allowed small market teams to lock up most of their starters, or ask a king's ransom for them. To get Josh Beckett the Sox had to give up Hanley Ramirez, who could be the best player in baseball. The game is different now, you have to develop your own pitching to have a chance to win, and that's what they've realized and started to do.