In the wake of Pedro Feliciano's potentially season-ending injury, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has revealed that he used to protect relievers from former manager Joe Torre. Cashman, who signed the left-hander this winter, believes the Mets overworked Feliciano. He also said that he sometimes went behind Torre's back to try and prevent some of New York's relievers from the same fate. While complaining about the Mets' use of Feliciano, Cashman defended himself against the claim that his team does the same thing. "If you want to get Joe Torre on the phone, you'll know I'm not a hypocrite," Cashman said. "When you have someone of quality that makes it all the way and you have hopes to have them for an extended period of time, you have to use them properly." Cashman said Torre would routinely ask relievers such as Scott Proctor whether they felt good enough to throw. If the pitcher said yes, there was no hesitation to use them that day. "You have to understand these players are competitors; they're never going to say no," Cashman said. "It's just the way they're wired. So you pay people to know the answer; I'm not paying a pitcher to be the pitching coach, for instance. Or the manager. I'm paying the pitching coach to be the pitching coach. I met with Proctor and said, 'You better stop telling the manager this because the way he manages' - I'm not criticizing Joe, that's just the way he is - 'He wants an honest answer. Just tell him no.'" Cashman said he tried convincing Torre that his pitchers were not always telling him the truth, but the manager continued to use them the same way, much to the general manager's dismay. "You have to have the knowledge enough to know that you've got to back off this guy, because he won't be honest with you, he'll lie to you even if he's dragging knuckles," Cashman recalled telling Torre. "So I met with those individual players and said, 'You are hurting your career.' I covered all the bases on my end. There's no hypocrisy here."