Brian Cashman took some much deserved grief when Pedro Feliciano's possibly season-ending shoulder injury came to light.
Cashman did his best to blame the Mets for ruining Feliciano, which is an odd point to hammer when you signed him to a multi-year deal and, presumably, gave his shoulder a clean bill of health. He then went a bit overboard when asked about the Yankees' habit of destroying shoulders during the Joe Torre era by absolving himself of any blame in dramatic and emphatic fashion.
It seemed like the latest addition to the "Fire Me" file that Cashman began filling this offseason when he publicly slammed ownership for signing Rafael Soriano and generally told the truth where previously he would have opted for obfuscation. Taken with his failure to acquire any players who were close to their primes, it seemed like the writing was on the wall for Cashman's eventual departure.
That may still be a long way off, however. Cashman's collection of faded veterans did much to win his team two games against the Rangers this weekend and, in the process, made the general manager look as good as he has at any point since climbing down that wall in Stamford.
The fun actually started on Thursday when Bartolo Colon rescued Phil Hughes and kept the Yankees in position to come back and beat the Orioles. Hughes is on the DL now, Colon will start Wednesday and his live arm is making Cashman look pretty smart for betting on a guy that's barely pitched in the last five years.
On Saturday, it was Freddy Garcia and his big bag of junk that gave some shine to the general manager. Garcia never broke 90 mph with a pitch, but he hit his spots and changed "speeds" with enough savvy to keep the Rangers from making any meaningful contact.
It was hilarious to watch Saturday's game, played in a brutal rainstorm that fazed Garcia much less than Garcia fazed the Rangers. Over the years, junk merchants like Garcia have caused the Yankees no shortage of nightmares so it is nice to see them finally have one working for them.
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Sunday night was about hitters. Russell Martin slammed a two-run homer and Eric Chavez, playing for an injured A-Rod, drove home the winning run in the eighth inning.
Chavez, a truly great player before injuries wrecked his career, seems well suited to his backup role and the prospect of occasional days off for A-Rod are much less scary now that Cody Ransom and Ramiro Pena aren't backing him up. Martin has been a total relevation this season, improving the defense and swinging a healthy bat that make him look like a total steal at a position that isn't overloaded with talent.
Cashman will need to work his magic again to help the rotation at some point this season. If his offseason work keeps paying dividends, he'll have to pay less for the next new Yankee savior.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
