Cashman knows what he is doing. He has a plan. Cashman has infused the Yankee farm system with desirable young pitchers. It’s not a secret that Johnson and Clemens don’t get along. So, shedding the ornery Johnson and his fat paycheck certainly LOOKS like it paves the way for Clemens.

BUT, I believe these moves are designed for a much much bigger target than Clemens. That’s not to say that we won’t see Clemens in a Yankee uniform this year, but it means that Cashman is also focused outside the obvious:

Cashman is planning his move to aquire Johan Santana. And it may not even be something he is targeting for 2007. Santana has two years remaining on the extension he signed with Minnesota. Barry Zito’s $18 Million per year payday will make Santana:

a) The highest paid pitcher in the game

b) A luxury that the Twins can no longer afford

Brian is aquiring an array of young, inexpensive power pitchers that may be able to pry the costly Santana from the Twins. Many of the big market teams are overextended after this post-season and may not have the delicate combination of talent and budget to make a Santana deal possible.

In two years, Ramirez comes off the Red Sox books, so they may find the budget but may not be able to justify appropriating that much capital to their pitching staff in the wake of losing Ramirez’s offensive production.

Texas has the money. Do they have the talent? Baltimore has the money, but no talent. The Mets might be able to do it.

This will be interesting and every team will try to get in the mix regardless of budget or talent.