Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Here's An Idea, Ask Him

 Far be it for me to criticize or question the way Brian Cashman is doing his job, but I'm not sure I like him saying he still doesn't know what Hiroki Kuroda plans to do next year 6 weeks after the season ended.  How is that even possible?  I know Kuroda is a quiet guy, but is it really that hard to pick up the phone and put a call in to him or his agent to ask?  The Yankees have been gearing up to be aggressive on almost every other front this offseason and yet they don't know anything about their best starting pitcher's intentions?  That seems like a hole in the plan to me.

Last time I checked, the Yanks needed to replace 60% of their starting rotation next year.  If the season started today they'd be filling it with Michael Pineda, David Phelps, and Adam Warren, and I don't think anybody needs to be reminded how small an amount of the mustard that trio is going to cut.  Kuroda could be a safe, reliable 1-year stopgap for one of those open spots or he could be passed on for a younger FA option.  The only way the Yankees find out which option makes more sense for them is by first seeing what Hirok wants to do.  I'm all for giving a player time and letting him do his thing, but now that he's rejected the QO, it's time for Cash to get on the horn and start getting an idea of what Kuroda wants to do.

3 comments:

papa said...

Do you think he might be waiting to see what offers he gets before making up his mind, or what moves the Yankees make to see if the team has a real chance of making the playoffs. If the player has told me ether of these things, I might not want to release this info and hurt ticket sales.

Unknown said...

I don't think Hirok or no Hirok is going to make a huge difference in terms of ticket sales next year, but I get what you're saying.

Hirok could very well be taking that approach, and if he is then that's all the more reason for the Yanks to either shit or get off the pot on him. Now that he's declined the QO and has draft pick forfeiture attached to him, I think the Yankees are in the driver's seat in determining his market value.

I'm not asking Cash to sit in front of the media and play every voicemail he's left or anything like that. But it would be nice to know that he's at least reached out to Kuroda or his agent.

papa said...

thanks for the response, and I agree that I would like to know what is happening here but Cash is the best in baseball at not letting anything slip that he doesn't want to lol