Cashman's Master Plan

On October 1st, Brian Cashman held a press conference announcing his return for next season and talking about the future of the New York Yankees. When asked about the biggest hole to fill on the Yankees, Cashman said the starting rotation. Clearly, Cashman is right. The rotation suffered a lot, with the injury to Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain, but also the poor performances of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. Cashman did state that Joba Chamberlain will be a starter in 2009. Cashman also stated that Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy will have to compete for a spot in the rotation. On the problem in centerfield, Cashman said that centerfield is up for discussion. The Yankees will have talks on centerfield in their meetings this winter. Cashman and manager Joe Girardi are saying that Jorge Posada will be the starting catcher for the Yankees next year. Concerning scouting international players, Cashman established a scouting office in the Far East to evaluate players better than in recent years. But going into the winter, Cashman will not have supreme authority like in recent years, because of his failures to deliver a world championship.