Thursday, September 11, 2008

Yankee Players Feel Demotions Were Handled Coldly

Throughout the course of the season, the New York Yankees have had to demote several players who were not playing up to expectations. While demoting a player is not a fun or easy task, several former Yankees expressed the reassignment was not handled in an appropriate manner. Several former Yankee players who were sent to the minors have reported that the Yankees dealt with the reassignment "coldly" and "without concern". Our "Respect Jeter's Gangster" investigative reporters interviewed several former big league players about the process of being demoted.

"It was a tough situation for me, but I understand why they did it." Explained former Yankee centerfielder Melky Cabrera. "It wasn't the fact that they demoted me, it was more how they did it. They treated it very coldly."

Melky Cabrera's sentiments were expressed by several former big league players when approached about how they were demoted.

"It wasn't handled very well when they did it with me." Stated former Yankee pitcher Ian Kennedy, who still felt stung from the incident. "It was handled without concern and just all around could have been handled better."

Kennedy went on to explain the situation.

"Joe (Girardi) called me into his office, and you know, I knew what was coming. When I came in, Cashman was sitting there next to a karoake machine, which I thought was odd. When I sat down, one of the stadium workers came into the office with a box filled with my equipment, and Cashman asked them to place it to the left. Once the worker went out of the room, Joe shut the door, and Cashman hit the play button on the karaoke machine. It was Beyonce's 'to the left' song. I wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but then Cashman started singing 'to the left, to the left. Everything you own in the box to the left.' At first it was kind of fun, and I was clapping along, but then I realized what he was doing. It became especially clear when he took special delight in singing the 'I could have another you in a minute.' line, hitting all the proper notes in the process. Then he pointed at himself while he sang the 'you must not know 'bout me' line and then would point at me when singing the 'don't you ever get to thinking your irreplacable.' line. I just felt it was a little unnecessary."

Melky was demoted in a slightly different yet equally demeaning way.

"He called me in and Cashman had that karoake machine. He then started playing the Ludacris 'Get out the Way' song, only instead of rapping the real words he would say 'Move! Get out the way. You're blocking Brett Gardner so get out the way. Move! Get out the way. Hope you like Scranton 'cause you're going there today.' I wish it could have been done differently, but I guess that's how Cashman handles business."

What our investigative reporters found was that this has been a long standing trend with Cashman, who has demoted players in unnecessarily hurtful ways. Former Yankee pitcher Kei Igawa explained how his demotion was handled last season.

"Cashman wasn't even there in person to do it." Igawa explained through an interpreter. "He left me a card with my name on it sitting in my locker. Then when I opened it, it had the following haiku:

Your time here was short
No we did not enjoy it
Go lose in Scranton

"It was mean."

But did Cashman leave these players with any words of encouragement or special instruction when he sent them to the minors?

"He told me that I should work on not sucking." Explained Kennedy. "It was very unclear."

"He said to me that I will be in the majors next season as long as their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th back up options fall through. He then drew a picture of the outfield depth chart and had me listed after imaginary players such as 'Catch N. Throw', and 'Hits 4 Average'." Said Melky.

"He told me to not get comfortable in Scranton, because I would probably be pitching my way into Double A in no time." Stated Igawa.

Although Cashman was not available to comment, a source close to the situation explained that "We just needed to respect his [Cashman's] gangster."

Truthfully, it is the only thing his former players and us fans can do.

20 comments:

Fred Trigger said...

Very funny, as usual. However, I dont think they were DFA'ed, because if a team does that, they either have to place them on waivers, trade them, or just outright release them. I think you meant to say they were demoted to the minors. Big difference. I could be wrong, though. Because, as much as I like to think so, I am not an infallible genius.

Fernando Alejandro said...

You're right, and once again my late nights and early mornings have caught up to me. Good catch.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Done and done. That should read much better now.

Fred Trigger said...

to be fair, though. I am absolutely shocked that they havnet DFA'ed Igawa. They might as well just release him, because he is pretty much useless. Granted the yankees would have to eat that contract but, they're the yankees, they can do that. When I first read it I was like "that cant be right" because even though melky had a terrible year, he is still highly regarded as a toolsy prospect, and some team would probably snatch him up in a New York minute. Either way, I still respect the gangster (the blogs, not jeter. I shall never respect his gangster. little bastard burned my team too many times :)

On a side note, the image of Cashman singing Ludicras is almost as good as Selig smashing through a wall with hulk fists.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

this is a classic Fernando, kudos.

Anonymous said...

A lousy baby boss.
A lousy GM.
More than one lousy coaches.
Nearly a dozen lousy players.
NO doubt this team sucks.
A Warren Buffet buyout is the only salvation for this baseball club.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

Buffet only makes smart investments I'm afraid.

Anonymous said...

Just tell him to take it for the peace of the world.

TribeGirl said...

OK....here's the thing about Melky and Damon. Now I watch every Yankee game so I swear I know what I'm talking about. Damon is awful!!! I know he gets hits every now and again - more than Melky. But his fielding is AWFUL. And I'm not just talking about his errors. I'm talking about plays they don't count as errors, but plays that Melky or other center fielders in the league could have made, throws he can't make, catches he can't make, etc, etc, etc. He has NO BUSINESS being in center field and him being there has hurt the team tremendously in many many games. Again, I know Melky has no bat, but Damon has absolutely no defense and nobody is mentioning that anywhere. Michael Kay is in love with him (and Jeter), ESPN only mentions the errors, but has ANYBODY else noticed this??? Just curious.... Maybe I'm spoiled by Grady but Melky made these routine plays too...

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

who isn't in love with Jeter? but you're right, Damon is not a great fielder, but that's not what we have him for. He's there to lead off hit. That's it. leave Damon alone. He's sensitive.

Broken Arrow said...

Excellent post :)

Funny, demotions aren't sugar coated in the "real world," why should millionaires be coddled?

Back in the day, if you screwed up that bad in the military, they would bring you up in front of the entire unit and rip all of the patches off of you. I wonder how Melky would feel if they ripped the NY off his chest in front of 51000 fans? hehehe

Steve said...

Tribegirl marry me! At long last someone who's not afraid to say the emperor has no clothes. If Damon is going from left field to right field he should have to go by way of second base so that he doesn't set foot in the land of Dimaggio, Mantle, Murcer, Willims, Rivers (OK I got carried away with Mickey Rivers but you get my point). In my heart he is still a Red Sox.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

If the Yanks ripped the NY off of Melky's uniform I think he would have a Seinfeld moment and go "this is your uniform."

The thing with Damon is, he supports the troops, so stop being unpatriotic by questioning his center field play.

Fernando Alejandro said...

I always felt that Damon had good range, but an awful arm, and this season has made some careless errors. In reality I think he would do much better in left. Either way, we do have him to lead off, which he still does very well. Melky had decent range and a cannon for an arm, but his offense hurt the team more than the defense helped. My point? I think the Yankees need to bring back Bernie Williams. Its time.

Okay, maybe not, but they do need a new centerfielder. Perhaps the Yankees can spring a trade for Sizemore.

Broken Arrow, I'm glad you liked it!

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

I liked it too you jerk!

TribeGirl said...

Fabulous! A proposal by way of the Respect Jeter's Gangster Blog! That's how Gangster Jeter is ~ he has the power to marry other people off while keeping himself the ultimate playa playa!!!

Plenty of people support the troops. Has nothing to do with baseball and it doesn't win games. I happen to be one of those troops Damon supports (early medical retirement blah blah blah...) Just cuz he's a good guy doesn't make him a good centerfielder. I agree with my new fiance Steve. I still always think of Damon as a RedSox.

And quit trying to take any player Cleveland has that's worth a crud! You guys are already getting CC and LeBron pretty soon - leave Grady alone. He's gonna inherit Jeter's Gangster anyway once he retires! Can't Cleveland have SOMETHING????

BTW - the original post was another CLASSIC!!! Hilarious!!!!

Anonymous said...

fred trigger, the fact that another team would snatch him up quickly is why the Yanks haven't released Igawa. He is a fairly young lefty who was a strikeout champion in Japan. That combined with his decent performance at the minor league level should allow the Yanks to trade him either for a prospect or at least a bucket of balls. With 2 years left on the deal, maybe they'll trade him in the off-season or early next season. I haven't checked, but I assume he was originally DFA'd and cleared waivers in order to be sent down, as I think would have to be the case with a major league contract. It hasn't translated at the big league level, but he does still have potential. I think his time has run out with the Yankees, but perhaps a team like the Cardinals would think they could reinvent him and take a chance.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

If the yankees eat his contract, I will trade a bucket of balls for Kei Igawa. I don't know what I'll do with him, probably make him run errands and other things I don't want to do, but I'm willing to part with a bucket of balls for his services.

yeah, I don't care if Damon supports the troops either (at least not as far as him being our center fielder goes, crap, I bet I'm on a watch list now, you too TribeGirl, though lucky for you that's probably not your real name), but interesting reaction.

Jim N. said...

this post was absolutely hilarious

bravo friend

sing to the world said...

very funny! the singing was great, ludicras!