Time to question Brian Cashman's judgment

Maybe the Steinbrenners were right to overrule Brian Cashman after all. He’s clearly losing his mind.

If Cashman was really willing to offer Carl Pavano $10 million to return to the New York Yankees, then it is undoubtedly time to question his judgment. I know Pavano has resurrected his career with the Minnesota Twins, but he was an absolute nightmare in the Bronx. He left town with $40 million of the Yankees' money and gave them absolutely nothing in return for it. He is unredeemable in the eyes of the Yankees faithful and probably would have gotten booed on every single pitch he threw by his hometown crowd.

The fact that Cashman would even consider a deal with Pavano is mind boggling considering the failed return of Javier Vazquez. I had a problem with that move, but at least you could make a case that Vazquez wasn't given enough time to find himself in pinstripes during his first tenure. Pavano spent four years in New York on the disabled list and the wrong side of his teammates. Even Mike Mussina, one of the least media-friendly guys to wear pinstripes in recent years, publicly called Pavano out.

This highlights the main problem of the Cliff Lee debacle: the lack of a Plan B by Cashman. He's not the only one at fault for this as I think all the Yankee officials assumed Lee couldn’t wait to take their millions. But it's Cashman's job to have a back-up plan.

Carl Pavano doesn't qualify as a good Plan B, but at least Pavano did Cashman the favor of re-signing with the Twins. If he'd actually taken a deal from Cashman and had another disastrous tenure in pinstripes, fans would be calling for nothing less than the general manager's head on a platter.