A-Jax in hindsight
March 31, 2010, 11:00 am by iYankees · 28 Comments
Over 19 spring games, former Yankee top prospect, Austin Jackson, who was used to acquire All-Star center fielder, Curtis Granderson, is hitting an impressive .356/.441/.576 with 9 walks and just 8 strikeouts. Manager Jim Leyland is particularly pleased with A-Jax’s performance this spring. “Let’s face it, we (traded) a real good player, a very popular player (for Jackson),” says Leyland. “He would have had to really show us he’s not ready, and he hasn’t shown that. He’s done very, very well. I’ve been very impressed.” Now, as I have said in the past, spring performances, whether good or bad, must be taken with a grain of salt given the limited number of at-bats. However, let’s discuss a hypothetical for the moment in view of A-Jax’s strong spring–if Curtis Granderson has a year similar to his 2009 season and if Austin Jackson delivers on his promise for Detroit, rather than for New York, would you second guess Brian Cashman’s decision to pull the trigger on that trade?
In my opinion, I think, at the time, it was the right move for the Yankees, so Cashman should not be accountable in the event of a disappointing outcome, however, I could see many Yankee fans and writers criticizing him endlessly if Jackson succeeds and Granderson scuffles.
Photo by Reuters Pictures
