I met Sidney Ponson one time at a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, FL in October 2006. At the restaurant, the owner likens himself to a DJ, constantly spinning tunes, and always announces his “celebrity” clientele. Ponson was drinking water (not alcohol) and he didn’t punch me like I was an Aruban judge. Sidney was pleasant, receptive and engaging in conversation. Based upon last month’s reports from Texas, he isn’t like this all the time.

When I happened into Sidney Ponson, the New York Yankees, who had released Ponson 7 weeks earlier, were in the midst of losing the ALDS to the Detroit Tigers.

The Yankees did not need Sidney Ponson then and they do not need him now.

Brian Cashman made a statement for the future when did not trade Phil Hughes, Jeffrey Marquez, Dan McCutchen and Melky Cabrera for Johan Santana. It was the right way to go then, and after Chien-Ming Wang’s injury, it’s the right way to go now.

Then why sign Sidney Ponson to a minor league deal? It appears he improved his pitching to where he was 4-1, 3.88 ERA in Texas before he was released due to “disrespectful and adverse reactions to situations unbecoming of teammates.” Is that the type of attitude you want to show your young pitchers at Triple A? If the job is to build from within, then you need the young players to be given the opportunity to pitch. The young players are the Yankees’ future – not a 31-year-old Sidney Ponson.

It appears the Yankees are telling McCutchen, Marquez and Alan Horne – we do not think you are good enough, so we will sign a two-time DUI guy who has a history of putting himself over his team. As it is now, the Yanks don’t have enough innings for all their pitching prospects in Double and Triple A, because the Kei Igawa overreaction mistake is still pitching.

Instead of letting the future determine the Yankee season, Cashman is using another retread in the vein of coming up with “the next Aaron Small.”

Aaron Small is out of baseball now and Sidney Ponson should be, too.