Brian Cashman

Three of the greatest pitchers in New York Yankee history have a lot in common.

Whitey Ford, Ron Guidry, and Mariano Rivera each were great.

Ford is in the Hall of Fame, Rivera is a lock for it, and Guidry would have made the Hall if injuries had not shortened his career.

Number 16 is permanently attached to the wall in Monument Park in Yankee Stadium.

So is Number 49.

Number 42 will be there as soon as he retires.

All three of these guys were big game pitchers.

All three of them played their entire careers only with the Yankees.

First published on Beantown Sports Observer

This past offseason was not only big for the Boston Red Sox, but for the teams in their division as well. New York, Tampa Bay, Toronto, and even Baltimore made some significant moves on their roster and though some more bad than good, the division will be tough this season.

By Patrick Read

Washington, DC

In the wee hours of Monday morning, 36-year-old former Philadelphia Phillies starter Chan Ho Park agreed to terms with the New York Yankees.

The deal is for one year and $1.2 million guaranteed, plus another $300K in incentives for a possible total of $1.5 million.

After the Joba Chamberlain/Phil Hughes debate, the topic that we have focused on the most this offseason has probably been the state of the Yankees bench.

It seems like it's one spot on the Yankees that is always in flux, and that was no different this offseason after they lost Eric Hinske, Jerry Hairston Jr., and Jose Molina.

Theo Epstein gets more bang for his buck than Brian Cashman.

Temporarily setting aside the century-old Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, let's put into perspective the decade-long Cashman-Epstein rivalry.

There is no rivalry. Beyond Epstein's perennial duping of Cashman in his many faux free-agent pursuits, the former dominates the latter where it really matters: the bottom line.

Comparing each General Manager's potential 2010 payroll with his prospective 25-man roster's 2009 production reveals Epstein's superiority.

Washington DC

By Patrick Read

After nearly a month-long hiatus, I have returned to Bleacher Report, but who cares, lets get on with the article.

It didn't take long Thursday night before Alex Rodriguez tied Reggie Jackson for 11th on the all-time home run list with his 563rd blast of his career in the first inning.

What more could I ask for since I was there?  Well the ball could of landed in my lap, but that would be too good to be true.  I got a nice view of it as I was three rows back in left and I knew it was gone as soon as it reached the outfield.  The wind was blowing out.

Although many refer to baseball's current generation as the "steroid era," far from the only changes in the game can be traced to medically enhanced physiques. Pitcher wins, losses, and saves, batting average, RBI, errors and bunting all seem to be on the way out in favor of adjusted ERA, BABIP, VORP, range factors, and pitch counts, all leading to a newer era in baseball influenced by the work of sabermetrics—trying to measure objectively what leads to wins and losses, challenging the conventional wisdom, and often upending it.

I don't know if you know about this, I sure didn't, but there is a story about Brian Cashman and Jason Giambi in a soon to be released book about Roger Clemens. The book is called The Rocket That Fell to Earth and it's written by Jeff Pearlman. Here's more from the New York Times: