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Cashman On Development, KT, Montero, Misc.

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"No Peter, I wouldn't agree that Darnell McDonald will be the AL MVP." (AP Photo/Bob Child)

Josh Norris sat down for a chat with Brian Cashman on Friday (part one, part two), getting the GM to spill the beans about a number of topics, including Jesus Montero, the draft, and a bunch of other stuff. Unfortunately he didn’t say anything controversial, so those of you who enjoy that sort of stuff are out of luck. Rather than give you just a link and telling you to check it out, I wanted to talk briefly about some of the stuff Cashman discussed. I block-quoted some of it and added my two cents below, but still, you should go check out the interview in its entirety. Josh did a great job as usual. On to the quotes…

We have been very aggressive in the draft and re-dedicated ourselves to tools, not necessarily to performance coming out of the amateur ranks.

I’m going to focus on the tools over performance part, because the Yankees have drafted quite a few guys with questionable college performances and turned them into quality prospects because they focused on the talent. David Phelps jumps to mind, he had a 4.65 ERA and a decidedly unsexy 7.26 K/9 in his final year at Notre Dame, but his minor league career features a 2.50 ERA (382.1 IP) and last year he struck out eight men per nine. David Adams hit just .286/.384/.411 in his draft year at Virginia, but as a pro he owns a .281/.370/.439 batting line with wood bats against much better competition. Andrew Brackman belongs in this conversation as well.

I guess the point here is that the development process is just as, if not more important than the talent acquisition process. You can spend all the money in the world and select Baseball America’s top ten draft prospects every year, but having the coaching staffs and personnel in the minors to help these kids realize their potential through instruction and training is absolutely crucial. At the professional level, pure talent will only take a player so far, they’ve got to put the work in and the team has the have the people in place to help made adjustments.

Kevin [Towers] and I are dear friends, but I only (got) Kevin involved because I knew he was going to be a GM someday somewhere else, but I wanted to get an outside perspective of our system. He’s a tremendous evaluator of talent, so Damon Oppenheimer used him for the draft. He went out there and saw the amateurs that were out there. He went through our farm system, and he was a guy I could lean on and ask for advice on a lot of different things. It was nice to have him for the short time we had him.

Until now, we had basically no idea what Towers did for the Yankees last summer aside from speculation about the Chad Huffman and Steve Garrison waiver claims. Cashman also said he had KT evaluate the team’s present minor league talent for an objective take on what they had, admitting that internal biases often come into play. I’m curious to know which (if any) drafted players came on Towers’ recommendation; he’s always been a polish and probability guy, but the Yankees went after upside and took a lot of risk this summer.

[The Russell Martin signing is] an indicator of who’s going to be the starting catcher. It’s going to be Russell Martin, period. Then after that, the back-up situation’s going to be open for discussion between Cervelli, Montero, Romine, we’ll see. Or all of them. … They all could split time and get a little education in the process.

Last week Cashman appeared to say that the starting catcher’s job would be an open competition, but that was a misquote. The competition is for the backup job, though I’m not sure how much of a competition it will really be. That’s not a knock on the process, it’s great to let the kids think they have a shot to earn a job in camp, but I believe Cervelli has a head start on the job simply because Montero and Romine need to play every day to continue their development.

Cashman also commented on Montero’s much maligned defense, saying “We believe he can catch, and we believe he can catch long-term.” That’s all well and good, but as Kevin Goldstein mentioned at Saturday’s BP/SABR event, the Yankees are the only ones that believe he’s a catcher. No one outside the organization believes that. Yes, some bias comes into play, but it’s basically the Yankees against the world. I think that as long as he can fake catcher as well as Posada did over the last few years, the Yankees will take it and wait to change Montero’s position until some yet to be determined point in the future. Or they could trade him for someone really, really good.

Kevin Towers tabbed as D-Backs’ GM

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As we guessed a few weeks ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks have tabbed current Yankees’ adviser Kevin Towers as their next GM. Towers was the San Diego Padres’ GM from 1995 to 2009 and will join a Diamondbacks franchise that suffered of late. Interestingly, the Yankees had denied Arizona permission to interview Damon Oppenheimer, one of the team’s key player development executives, for the job. The D-Backs plan keep current GM Jerry DiPoto on board in some capacity, but unfortunately, Towers won’t be able to undo the trade that sent Dan Haren to the Angels for a bag of baseballs and a “proven winner” with 16 losses this year.

Diamondbacks targeting Kevin Towers for GM vacancy

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Via Ken Rosenthal, the Diamondbacks are expressing “significant interest” in Yankees special advisor Kevin Towers for their vacant general manager position. Peter Gammons went so far as to say the two sides had a deal “set” this morning, and they just had cross some T’s and dot some I’s before it became official. It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that KT’s stint with the Yanks is temporary since another GM job will come his way before long. If nothing else, we know he had a role in the Steve Garrison and Chad Huffman acquisitions, though I suspect his impact goes far beyond that.

Perhaps the bigger news to come out of Rosenthal’s piece is that the Yanks denied Arizona permission to speak to scouting director Damon Oppenheimer about the job. He’s long been a candidate as well. To be quite honest, I find blocking a potential upward move for Oppenheimer like that to be pretty messed up, but I guess he is under contract. It’s only a matter of time before he moves on to bigger and better things, but for now the Yanks will enjoy the fruits of his labor, and that includes a much improved farm system with more pitching than they know what to do with.

Yankees will introduce Towers next week

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The Yankees will officially announce the hiring of former Padres’ general manager Kevin Towers next Tuesday, where he’ll be introduced as a special assistant to GM Brian Cashman. We first learned of the hire back in January, but at least now we know it’ll be absolutely official. Towers will be sort of a roving scout, get looks at both amateur and professional players as needed. He’s also going to be a sounding board for Cashman, a baseball guy to bounce ideas off of.

How much does a special assistant to the GM make? Well, the Yanks will pay Towers just $50,000 in 2010. Don’t feel bad for him though, San Diego still owes him over a million bucks.

Report: Yankees to hire Kevin Towers

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Via MLBTR, the Yankees are going to announce the hiring of former Padres’ GM Kevin Towers before spring. It’s unclear what KT’s responsibilities will be, though he’s expressed a desire to get out of the office and back into the field. Chances are they’re bringing him aboard as a consultant, otherwise he’d be forfeiting the money San Diego still owes him.

This is a great, yet completely unsurprising pickup. Brian Cashman and Towers have long had a great relationship, and Towers’ keen eye for pitching is a welcome addition. Welcome to the Boogie Down, KT.

Olney: Towers expected to work for Yanks as a consultant

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Finally, we have some news on the Kevin Towers front. In today’s blog, Buster Olney wrote that the former Padres’ GM is expected to work with the Yanks this year, however it would be as a consultant and he would not be given a formal title. San Diego still owes Towers about $2M for 2010, and if the Yanks were to hire him and given him a title, they’d be at risk of having to pay him out of their pocket. Obviously, it makes sense for both sides to work out a consulting agreement.

We heard that Towers was “leaning towards” joining his good buddy Brian Cashman in the Yanks’ front office way back in early January, and he indicated that he was happy to serve in a complementary role. It’s seems now that it’s only a matter of time before he joins the organization, and the more voices the better.

Report: Towers “leaning towards” joining Yanks

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Former Padres’ GM and Brian Cashman’s homeboy Kevin Towers is reportedly “leaning towards” accepting an offer to join the Yankees in some unknown capacity, according to Tracy Ringolsby. Towers is planning to meet with the Yanks, Red Sox, Mets, and Mariners about potential employment during the Winter Meetings next week, and I’ve already made it known that I want the Yanks to bring him aboard because he’s a certified genius when to comes to evaluating pitching.

Despite being more than qualified for just about any position a baseball team could possibly offer, Towers has already said that he’s not looking to sit in an office unless he’s a GM. Instead, he’s just looking to scout and be a guy that goes out and gathers information while someone else makes the decisions.

“That information-gathering is exciting for me; it gets the adrenaline flowing,” Towers said. “But I don’t mind being a sixth man or extra guy, either. I had that role before I was ever a G.M. I don’t mind being a good listener and just seeing how another G.M. works. I’ve always wanted to see how someone else does it.”

In a must read piece, Towers told The San Diego Union Tribune’s Tim Sullivan about how he wants to experience life in the American League, and how he’d just like to be a part of a big market front office for once.

“I don’t think I really know the AL as well as I know the NL, and I think it would be more educational,” Towers said between bites of a burger on Morena Boulevard. “Preferably, (with) more of a big-market club. I’d like to see how they do business, how you put an American League team together.

“I’ve always been used to a small pool of free agents. And even in trades, you can usually eliminate about 50 percent of the players on a lot of clubs’ rosters who wouldn’t fit in (the Padres’) budget. My focus has always been on a small group. I want to learn what is the process a GM has with a large group of players — internationally and domestically. How does that work?”

Sullivan also notes in the article that KT is “leery of the tension he perceives between his former boss and his former protégé, Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein,” according to Sullivan, which is good for the Bombers.

One day, Kevin Towers will get to put his GM hat back on. For now though, he seems content to just get back into the swing of things while learning as much as he can in a new environment. Ringolsby’s report make is sound like the Yankees will soon be the beneficiary of his experience and input, even if it’s only for a year or two. Only good can come from this.