Brian Cashman held court for the New York media Tuesday. He wasn’t exactly in a charitable mood. That was understandable, if only because he had been in the same job for 25 years. Everyone will undoubtedly get a little restless. Add to that the fact that he’s had to deal with the New York media and the New York fanbase, and it’s a wonder he hasn’t found his own refuge in the darkness. Although there are quite a few Yankees fans who would argue that he has been in obscurity for a while now.
It’s also easy to understand because no Yankees fan under the age of 35 can remember a losing season. 1992 was the last time the Yankees didn’t reach .500, and there simply isn’t a team in North American sports that has been able to pull off such a streak. The Yankees haven’t always been in it, but by definition they haven’t been in it for thirty years.
Cashman has also survived two generations of Steinbrenner, which is probably enough to make Mother Teresa grumpy. Cashman wasn’t afraid to let the expletives fly while speaking to the press.
“Doesn’t mean we’re firing on all cylinders, it doesn’t mean we’re the best in the class, but I think personally we’re doing pretty well.”
Cashman certainly made his fair share of mistakes, especially since the Yankees’ fortunes in 2023 depended on the health of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Rodon, who between them had perhaps one good ligament and tendon between them. He also couldn’t count on Anthony Rizzo first having to endure a concussion for months and ultimately having to sit out as a result.
Perhaps Cashman was a little too hopeful that former journeyman Nestor Cortes would stay healthy and perform well for another season. But the replacements in the lineup or in the rotation that the Yankees might have needed or needed were somewhat truncated because the Yankees didn’t act like the Yankees when it came to payroll. Especially when so much is involved with Stanton and Judge, both decisions Cashman made (one good, the other not at all).
Cashman became particularly sensitive when it was suggested that the Yankees were too analytically driven:
“Nobody’s doing their deep dives,” Cashman said. “They’re just throwing ammunition and bullshit and accusing us of being analytically challenged.”
And in a sense, he’s absolutely right to be fed up with that kind of criticism. That’s an old fight, one that the old heads lost long ago. There is still a large contingent of fans and media that would like to believe that only a certain type of player who possesses something unquantifiable is fit to wear pinstripes. While The Bronx can certainly present its own challenges, at the end of the day good players are good players and bad players are bad ones, and the fact that Mike Francesa mentions their name between belches doesn’t exactly make it untenable. a place for some to play.
The Yankees are starting from a spot that many teams would love to trade with. They have Aaron Judge, brought through the Yankees system by Cashman. They have the presumptive Cy Young winner in Gerrit Cole, signed by Cashman and one of the most effective free agents in history. There are a handful of children ready to take on everyday roles, all drafted, acquired and developed through Cashman’s system. It’s not the best, but certainly not the worst either. A few free-agent signings work out and suddenly the Yankees are back.
But that probably won’t make Cashman that much happier. New York takes a part of everyone away after a while.
Xande Silva Missions
Last night’s highlight that will make you feel better because even you could have finished this comes from Atlanta United’s Xande Silva during Game 2 of their playoff series with Orlando City:
Fortunately for Silva, Atlanta would still win the match and extend the series. But that’s the kind of miss where a player not only has to think about it every time he takes a shot for the next month or year, but probably also has to think about it during everyday activities. He could have let the ball hit him and he still would have scored. Just one of those rare moments where time stops because the entire universe takes a moment to understand what happened.
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