Pete's mailbag

Pete Abraham from his LoHud blog perch took some Hot Stove questions for his mailbag and I thought he had two good responses to one basic question:

Dave writes: Simple question – if you’re Brian Cashman how would you value 1. CC Sabathia, or 2. AJ Burnett and Derek Lowe?

Answer: If I’m Brian Cashman, I quit back in October and now I’m making huge bank giving corporate speeches and waiting for a job to open up with a team whose owner had no children. But since you asked, I would value Sabathia more. Give me one great pitcher instead two guys I can’t be sure of. Burnett is not another Carl Pavano, but he is very overrated.

I find it interesting that if he were in Cashman's shoes, he would have walked away from the Yanks. No matter that he's a 20 year Yankee employee and his only employer he's ever known. Sure that's easier said than done, but maybe Cashman's more loyal than any of us. Maybe he feels a degree of indebtedness for the opportunities he's been given. Maybe he's come to appreciate George via his absence. Maybe he's developed a good rapport with Hal and have figured out how to keep Hank effectively out of the kitchen. Maybe he just loves having that sort of financial clout at his fingertips. Maybe he's just batshit crazy.


As far as the free agents, I also agree that I'd rather have one cannon than two rifles.