Yankees Take a Bigger Gamble Than We Thought

This deal may turn out to cost two GMs their job.

From scouts, to sports-talk radio hosts, to newspaper reporters, everyone is saying that Bill Smith and Twins got fleeced on this deal, and I agree.

There were many bloggers and Yankee fans angry at Cashman yesterday when they thought Phil Hughes was worth the risk, now they're going to be really pissed.

Today we find out from Bob Klapisch that towards the end of negotiations the Twins tried to get the Yankees involved again by asking for a package of Ian Kennedy, Melky Cabrera, and another prospect. The Yankees obviously passed on that opportunity, though, I'm not so certain they should have.

Once the Twins accepted that Hughes was off the table, and still wanted to make a deal, I think the Yankees should have tried harder to make something happen. To me, they had the Twins right where they wanted them.

Was it really worth losing out on Santana for Ian Kennedy? A rotation of Santana, Wang, Pettitte, Hughes, and Joba, sure looks like a championship rotation to me.

Cashman was obviously dead-set on winning, or losing, with the kids. And it may cost him his job. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying I think he should be fired, because I don't. But would I have tried to make a deal without giving up Hughes? Yes.

With that said, I don't have a problem with the Yankees giving the kids a chance. But what I think doesn't matter, it's up to Hank, and from this quote it looks like this is the deal that will make or break Cashman's future in the Bronx.

"But as far as missing the playoffs - if we miss the playoffs by the end of this year, I don't know how patient I'll be. But it won't be against the players. It won't be a matter of that. It will be a matter of maybe certain people in the organization could have done something else."

Let's all hope Cashman made the right decision. Only time will tell.

Update 3:57 PM: Adam Rubin and Bill Madden wrote an article today, and in it said that the Twins asked for Kennedy and Wang, not Kennedy, Melky and a prospect, like Klapisch reported. If that was the case then this was a no-brainer for Cashman. He would have been stupid to make that kind of trade.

The real question is which paper was accurate with their reporting, The Record or the Daily News?

Update 6:00 PM: Buster Olney was on SportsCenter today, and backed up the Daily News story that the Twins asked for Kennedy and Chien Ming-Wang.