Cashman's "plan B" Means Mending Burned Bridges

No one wants to be Brian Cashman right now. He’s in an uncomfortable spot now that he is searching for another starting pitcher, and his best option is a guy he had doubts on. Sucks to be Cashman for more than one reason, so can he smooth talk Jordan Montgomery?

As much as I want the Yankees to add some stability behind Gerrit Cole, I don’t have warm and fuzzy feelings about a reunion with Montgomery. Supposedly, Montgomery says there is no “bad blood” with the Yankees, and he said that back in October, read that HERE but Cashman made Montgomery’s exit rather unfriendly for someone they want to reunite with. 

At the time, Cashman thought Harrison Bader was going to help the Yankees more. Bader filled a bigger need in the outfield then Montgomery did in the rotation, which is even crazier to think about now in retrospect. Carlos Rodon did not have a good year and Montgomery could have brought some stability and that extra offense we hoped Bader would bring just wasn’t enough. Instead, Montgomery moved on and learned some things the Yankees didn’t bother to teach him because it wasn’t in their analytics binder.

The Yankees didn’t believe Montgomery was a playoff pitcher. They didn’t think he could help get them to playoff baseball and they didn’t develop him. Funny how the Yankees undervalued him but pitching coach Mike Maddux of the Rangers saw the potential. Montgomery developed a good cutter under Maddux and they encouraged him to throw it, not save it. Now he can set up his off-speed pitches with his cutter and suddenly he has blossomed into a stronger pitcher…. the pitcher Cashman never believed in.

I think Cashman dug himself into a hole here, and it is one I don’t believe he can dig himself out of. I don’t think he can rebuild that relationship and bring him back to the Bronx. Lord knows, if I were Montgomery, I wouldn’t take him seriously. Cashman hasn’t built a winning team, and there is no reason to believe he’s suddenly figured it out. The Rangers have a lot more to offer, hell any team has more to offer at this point.

So now we wait and see if Cashman knows how to rebuild some bridges and if Montgomery believes in giving second chances. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t look back. I’d move forward…. away from the Yankees. Maybe this is the lesson Cashman needs to learn the hard way.

–Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj