Brian Cashman Lets Paul Byrd Pass to Red Sox

Say what you will about the speculative firing of Mets General Manager Omar Minaya, the next baseball executive to walk the plank in New York may be Brian Cashman of the Mets crosstown rivals.


That gleam reflecting off the forward deck of that sinking Yankee clipper ship on the East River Waterfront is coming from the hardened steel sabre of Yankees Co-Chairman Hank Steinbrenner, who watched as Cashman failed to claim Indians hurler Paul Byrd off the waiver wire, thus allowing Byrd to fall to Boston.


How convenient for the Red Sox, whose precarious five-game wild-card lead over the Yankees had just been been seriously jeopardized by the loss of starter Tim Wakefield to his all-too-familiar shoulder problems.


What can Cashman be thinking?


All the Red Sox had to pay was a bag of balls, six cans of chowder and a David Clyde rookie card for Byrd, a playoff experienced, veteran starter with a 1.46 ERA and 4-0 record since the All-Star break. Though 37, Byrd already all season had been a perfectly serviceable option, but suddenly is even more valuable since discovering he can stop surrendering homers by not tipping his pitches.

This is Cashman's second dubious decision, since he, Gene Michael and Stump Merrill were believed to have ganged up on Steinbrenner to talk him out of signing free agent home run king Barry Bonds.

Cashman opted instead to trade for Xavier Nady of the Pirates. There's nothing particularly , wrong with Nady -- and Bonds comes with his share of baggage -- but Cashman had to give up prospect Jeff Karstens to acquire Nady, and all Karstens has done since leaving the Yankees is pitch 15 scoreless innings, including a two-hit complete game.


Bonds would have cost Cashman nothing more than a major league, season pro-rated minimum of $150,000, yet would have been an unmistakable force in the middle of the lineup, providing a desperately needed spark in the Yankees flat, demoralized lineup.

Hopefully Cashman has an explanation that will become evident in the next few days. It had better be good.

Red Sox Land Indians' Byrd

The Red Sox have acquired pitcher Paul Byrd from the Indian.  After placing Tim Wakefield on the 15-day DL, AL wild-card leading Boston felt an increased urgency to add depth to its pitching staff.  It's basically a no-risk move by Boston as all they gave up was cash or a player to be named later.  Byrd got off to a horrendous start this season, but has won all four of his starts since the All-Star break.

SP Paul Byrd Will Step Out from Under HGH Cloud

Expect Indians hurler Paul Byrd to be cleared of wrongdoing in the steroids/HGH scandals, and be back on the mound before the first Spring Training game.

Though Byrd has admitted to using human growth hormone, he had a legitimate reason to do so and was under the care of a licensed physician at the time.

Surprisingly, not everyone is in agreement that HGH enables players to enhance their performances, with some schools of thought insisting that HGH is of no benefit to mature adults. They scoff -- for instance -- at claims that HGH has caused Barry Bonds' forehead and feet to enlarge, claims that have never been confirmed.

At any rate, HGH can be of great value, especially in combating dwarfism in adolescents and other conditions in grownups, a fact that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will have taken into consideration when Byrd is cleared by March 1 or sooner.