Along with all the other free agents they have at the end of the season, the Yankees also could have a general manager opening, as Brian Cashman’s contract expires this fall.
Cashman has been the GM for almost a quarter-century now, and one might think he’d be safe…and you might be right, because as he explained to Carton & Roberts Thursday, the fact that he doesn’t have a contract for 2023 isn’t anything out of the ordinary.
“Historically the Yankees don’t do anything with anybody until the very end, that’s part of our practice,” Cashman explained. “But I still love doing this. I love it when we’re winning, I hate it when we’re losing, and when the blood really starts pumping is when it’s time to figure out how to fix or improve something.”
Cashman gives a lot of credit to his staff, quoting Hannibal from the A-Team in saying he “loves it when a plan comes together.”
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He also understands when Yankees fans are upset that plans – those the team had, or even those only they wanted to come to fruition – don’t come together, but knows it’s part of the territory.
“With the staff we have, we’re competing every day, and we’re getting judged harshly or really well sometimes depending on how things are going, but that’s the environment I love working in,” Cashman said. “I understand it’s all driven from our fans wanting the best, most talented team they can enjoy.”
So does Cash ever want to tell the fans ‘I told you so,’ or walk away from the headache?
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“No. I have too much respect for the game,” he said. “Every decision I’m a part of, even with all the advice I get from a lot of people, I’m the one who has to live with the better or worse, but at the end of the day there’s never any guarantees. There’s no perfect “this move makes this happen.” We’ve had great teams consistently, but it’s hard to get that to the very end, and I understand and respect that, so I have no issues with any of it.”
He is glad, though, that the 2022 Yankees are where they are, because he believed the 2021 Yankees had a similar makeup – but again, he understands that games aren’t played on paper.
“There’s no guarantees, and everything has to be fine-tuned. Some guys over-perform or underperform, injuries happen, there are ebbs and flows – I thought last year’s team was a significantly better product than it delivered, but that’s baseball,” Cashman said. “You go back to the drawing board and try to figure out what happened, and you go back at it. I felt like our team last year was really good, and this year’s team is a similar version. I’m thankful for it, but none of it matters if it doesn’t happen in October.”
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