RIP Frank Cashen

[G-Fafif]

Rubin just tweeted passing of 1986 architect, age 91.

[Zvon]

Oh wow. Shit.


He brought (and bought) us many good times.


RIP Mr Cashen.

[Edgy MD]

Wearing a bowtie to the office tomorrow in his honor.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He was on such a roll in the early going it seemed like he was incapable of making a move that didn't pan out.

Forget the Hernandez trade. Or the Carter trade. He made the Fernandez trade. Holy shit.


Moreover, and maybe this is just misty colored memories of the way we were, but it seemed to me he ran the club in a manner that befitted the kind of club he wanted it to be: It was first class all the way. Shit he did never made you wonder whether there was some stealth (or not so stealth) efficiency program behind it all (or a directive from the commissioners office, or a need to divert potential revenue going to the Yankees, or anything else): Everyone pulled on the rope the same way because it was clear the organization knew what it wanted. It really was baseball as it ought to have been.

[RealityChuck]

Some reporter said that Cashin had a chart that showed his plans for who would be playing what position for the next five years.

Harder to do these days, where you don't know what free agency will do, but he always had someone coming up from the minors ready to replace anyone who left.

[Edgy MD]

There was also, like, the teambuidling we didn't see from 1980-1983, as much as what we saw from 1984-1986. Gooden, for instance, was selected over a handful of more highly regarded prospects, and focused as folks were on the development of Strawberry, nobody thought jack about Dwight until he struck out 300 batters in his second pro season. Len Dykstra was a 13th-rounder.

[G-Fafif]

From a piece I wrote in 2010 when Frank and Darryl (and Doc and Davey) went into the Mets HOF at last.

Cashen built his Mets on trades and from the farm. He hated free agency. When he was hired to re-create the Mets from the ground up in 1980, he gave free agency one legitimate shot � trying for Dave Winfield and Don Sutton in his first full off-season but settling for Mike Cubbage, Dave Roberts and the second coming of Rusty Staub � before removing that distasteful arrow from the organizational quiver. �Fans think that because of free agency, you can turn a ballclub around very quickly,� Cashen told Angell the spring before, �but that isn�t a useful way to go about what we have in mind here.� Thus, the open market went largely untapped by Cashen�and it didn�t hurt a bit in the buildup to 1986. Mazzilli for Darling and Terrell. Terrell for Johnson. Allen and Ownbey for Hernandez. Brooks, Winningham, Youmans and Fitzgerald for Carter. Bailor and Diaz for Fernandez. Young, Lee and Cook for Knight. Christensen, Gardner, Schiraldi and Tarver for Ojeda. Beane, Klink and Latham for Teufel. Even Trevi�o, Kern and Harris for Foster. Heck, even Scott for Heep. Frank Cashen didn�t always fleece the other guy, and not every guy he got was the equal of what he gave up (Mike Scott) or the equal of what he thought was getting (George Foster), but every part contributed to a beautiful whole. Mix the fruits of those deals with Strawberry and Gooden and Dykstra and Elster and Aguilera and Mitchell and McDowell and Sisk, all drafted by the Cashen regime � along with pre-Cashen holdover youngsters Wilson, Backman and Orosco � and you have a contender that became a champion if not a dynasty. Hardly any free agency was involved in making the Mets great in the 1980s.

In short, Cashen built Rome. He also oversaw its decline if not its fall, but nobody can stay close to perfect forever.

[Guest themetfairy]

RIP Frank, and thanks for everything!

[Benjamin Grimm]

3 honorary Schaefer points to anyone who can find Cashen's date of birth and/or place of death.

[Zvon]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: 3 honorary Schaefer points to anyone who can find Cashen's date of birth and/or place of death.

So you've seen his Wiki. Strange, year but no day of birth. Amazing that his demise date is already up on his page, but no more details than the date.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I don't doubt Frank's legit aversion to Free Agency but do wonder how his plan succeeds if owners weren't concurrently colluding.

[G-Fafif]

Collusion didn't hit until after 1986.

[smg58]

G-Fafif wrote: In short, Cashen built Rome. He also oversaw its decline if not its fall, but nobody can stay close to perfect forever.

In hindsight, it's easier to build a team up to elite status from scratch than it is to keep it elite for a long period of time. Hell, he might fared better in the long run by ripping the team up and starting over in 1990 or so, but that would have been a tough sell to himself as well as the fans.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Noble: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/former-mets-orioles-gm-frank-cashen-dies?ymd=20140630&content_id=82377066&vkey=news_mlb

[G-Fafif]

BTW, Guys! just tweeted Frank wasn't 91 but 88, which makes the circumstances of his birth even murkier...that is assuming he was even born.

Why won't Frank Cashen just show us his birth certificate? Besides the fact that he's no longer with us?

[G-Fafif]

smg58 wrote: G-Fafif wrote: In short, Cashen built Rome. He also oversaw its decline if not its fall, but nobody can stay close to perfect forever. In hindsight, it's easier to build a team up to elite status from scratch than it is to keep it elite for a long period of time. Hell, he might fared better in the long run by ripping the team up and starting over in 1990 or so, but that would have been a tough sell to himself as well as the fans.

Post-1986 (a pretty convenient dividing line), Frank trusted talent and maybe misconstrued character. McReynolds was talent. Jefferies was talent. Samuel -- McIlvaine's deal but Frank had to bless it -- appeared to be talent. You couldn't blame a GM for going with guys who looked very good on paper and often on the field. Character concerns, however, squeezed out Knight maybe a little too soon, not to mention Mitchell, Dykstra and (in the face of Jefferies' potential development) Backman. I think he understood the challenge of keeping the machine humming. It just didn't hum all that efficiently after a fashion.

Even in their decline state they were still a contender. There was a lot of talent on those clubs...and not enough playoff spots, perhaps.

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: BTW, Guys! just tweeted Frank wasn't 91 but 88, which makes the circumstances of his birth even murkier...that is assuming he was even born. Why won't Frank Cashen just show us his birth certificate? Besides the fact that he's no longer with us?

this random link

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-09-20/features/1991263233_1_orioles-82nd-birthday-ad-club

from 9/20/91 mentions celebrating his 65th birthday, though not on what date. (presumably since the last article in this column). That'd put his birth year at 26 but would mean he was 87, turning 88 later this year.

[batmagadanleadoff]

According to the NY Historical Society, Frank Cashen was born on September 13, 1925, in Baltimore, MD.

http://sports.nyhistory.org/tag/frank-cashen/

[TransMonk]

RIP

[Guest d'Kong76]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: According to the NY Historical Society, Frank Cashen was born on September 13, 1925, in Baltimore, MD. http://sports.nyhistory.org/tag/frank-cashen/

Cool web-site

[Edgy MD]

I think perhaps too much is made of failure of the Mets to repeat can linked to the team emphasizing character too much. The argument also is too often used to rope in Fred Wilpon as scapegoat.

[metirish]

RIP....cool to hear Gary and Keith talking a out Cashen...Keith getting a little chocked up

[MFS62]

What I liked best about Cashen was his approach and commitment to organizational development. When he came here, I read stories that said he wanted to have a consistent method of developing minor leaguers so they would be ready when called to a higher level. So he first tried to have the dimensions of all the minor league parks identical as possible to Shea. Then he instituted a playbook, which was used at all levels of the organization so players wouldn't have to learn a new/ different way of doing things as they progressed up through the organization. It included defensive positioning and infield situational movement on bunts and where to position the relay man on throws from the outfield. It was similar (if not identical) to the playbook he had developed and used successfully while at Baltimore.

RIP, Frank.

Later

[G-Fafif]

Frank Cashen and The Glory That Was Rome, so to speak.

[Edgy MD]

In Terry Cashman's time, Met history ended with Frank Cashen. Some would say that's still true. Certainly, the future from that point began with him. The Bowtie, Cashman declared at the end of his Mets version of "Talkin' Baseball," wasn't finished yet.

Now, alas, he is. And we struggle to find a way forward.

[G-Fafif]

Recommended listening: Howie Rose with Pete McCarthy on Monday night's WOR Sports Zone. Good, fair perspective on the GM, including his professional relationship with him.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

Edgy MD wrote: In Terry Cashman's time, Met history ended with Frank Cashen. Some would say that's still true. Certainly, the future from that point began with him. The Bowtie, Cashman declared at the end of his Mets version of "Talkin' Baseball," wasn't finished yet. Now, alas, he is. And we struggle to find a way forward.

Terry actually made some Subway Series-era versions of the song, but they're not quite as the original.

I'm a geek, but a I get a lump in the throat at the line:

"Good bye, America"
When Say Hey said "So Long."
But Rusty kept us more than even
McGraw, he never stopped believing
And that's the way a race is often run
And pennant flags are won."

[seawolf17]

Frank's a centerpiece of my Mets autograph collection; wrote to him a few years ago and he returned a signed card to me.

[Edgy MD]

The Mets have announced the uniformed personnel will wear a patch (but not a bowtie, apparently) in honor of Frank Cashen.

[Benjamin Grimm]

A bow-tie patch would be the way to go.