Yankees’ Brian Cashman breaks silence, talks Aaron Judge, great start, more | 6 takeaways

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman gave a state of his first-place ballclub prior to Wednesday's game against the Blue Jays.
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NEW YORK Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is missing in action no more. He talked to the media on Opening Day after contract negotiations with Aaron Judge broke down, then did no interviews for more than a month.

Cashman finally was spotted by reporters near a Yankees clubhouse doorway before Wednesday’s Yankees-Blue Jays’ matinee at Yankee Stadium, and pretty quickly a state of the organization broke out.

Here are six takeaways:

Cashman is elated the Yankees are off to a great start with a 21-8 record that was the best in baseball through Tuesday night’s dramatic 6-5 win over Toronto courtesy of a three-run, walk-off homer by Judge, who is putting up AL MVP numbers in his walk year.

“We’ve always felt we’ve had good players,” he said. “We always felt we had the capability of a really good team. Now it’s time to test those theories, and so far in the very early portion of our season it’s going quite well.”

* * *

Cashman feels it’s too early to feel any kind of vindication from fans and media getting on him for passing on high-priced free agents last winter (especially at shortstop) and not coming to terms with Judge on an extension before the slugger’s Opening Day deadline.

“Criticism comes with the territory,” Cashman said. “Our players have to deal with that all the time. The only thing that matters is going out there and winning, and these guys are winning their games right now and it’s great to see. It makes it easier to sleep at night in April and May right now, so hopefully we can keep the healthy side of it going and keep the good mojo going.

“I know we have a good crew. We knew that before the season started, but it’s nice to see these guys are coming together really well and do what’s necessary, which is finding every which way to win on a consistent basis. I remember (Giancarlo) Stanton said earlier in the year that games we lost we actually could have won. So even the ones that got away from us, right to the very end we had a chance to take another ‘W,’ which is great to see.”

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Cashman wouldn’t get into anything about Judge’s contract situation other than saying a date has been set for a salary arbitration hearing. If the sides don’t work out a 2022 contract (or extension) before then, a panel of arbitrators will decide whether Judge makes $21 million or $17 million.

“I think what we said right before the season started, just to shine a light on everything, we’re not going to talk about it now going forward,” Cashman said. “Whether that means we’re going to talk or not, I’m not saying that. But we’re not going to talk about it here in (a public) forum moving forward. But he’s been great, but that’s no surprise because he is great.”

* * *

There have been a lot of rumblings that Judge is upset that the Yankees announced their extension offer, seven years for $213.5 million.

Cashman says that’s news to him.

“All that stuff feels like a month and a half ago now, so I don’t really think that need to reiterate it,” Cashman said. “But, yes, his camp knew all about it. So I assumed (Judge) knew all about it. And if you’re saying he was upset by it, I’m unaware of that and it certainly doesn’t feel like it when I’ve interacted with him from then till now.”

The Yankees went into Wednesday tied for fifth in the AL with 17 stolen bases in 24 attempts after being 10th in the league last season. Also, the Yanks’ steals have been up somewhat for their minor-league clubs.

Cashman says credit Matt Talarico, the Yankees’ director of base running.

“That light gets shined on him,” Cashman said. “He’s fantastic. The success we’ve had in the minor leagues, and it’s obviously carrying over here to the big-league level, it’s a credit to him and obviously to (manager Aaron) Boone deciding when he wants to deploy that in game and then our players who have the green light when they want to take advantage of things. But Talarico would be the person that’s deserves all the credit on trying to heighten our ability to steal bases, whether you’re athletic or not.”

* * *

While batting .215 with two homers in 27 games, third baseman Josh Donaldson has been dealing with some sporadic right shoulder soreness since spring training that apparently hasn’t prevented him from playing to this point.

“Obviously, like all players, things come and go,” Cashman said. “Right now I’d say it’s something that he’s working through, but I couldn’t put a level of concern on it at this point.”

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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.

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