The Yankees intend to offer GM Brian Cashman a new contract at season’s end, sources tell Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Cashman’s current deal — a three-year extension signed after the 2011 campaign — expires after this year.
It is hard to argue with the results that the Yankees have enjoyed under Cashman. 2014 marked his 17th year at the helm of New York’s baseball operations. During that run, the team has never finished with a winning percentage lower than .525 and has qualified for the postseason in all but two years.
That has not stopped at least some speculation that Cashman’s time in the Bronx could be coming to an end, particularly given some reports of tension with ownership over baseball decisionmaking. (Of course, as Heyman notes, that is nothing new.) As things stand, the club’s current iteration owns its worst record under Cashman’s watch and would fail to make the postseason for consecutive years for the first time since he took over. On the heels of some rather significant offseason spending, that could be seen as evidence that a fresh voice was needed.
According to Heyman, however, Yankees ownership does not blame Cashman for the fact that free agent signees like Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran have not performed to expectations. Moreover, the organization feels that he did well to once more scramble a contending roster — this year, by adding turnaround pieces like Brandon McCarthy, Martin Prado, and Chase Headley.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether Cashman himself will want to re-up with New York. But Heyman says that his personal circumstances and preferences seem to align with continuity, making it likely that Cashman will remain the game’s third-longest-tenured GM.
I don’t blame Cashman. He was perfect with George, but now he has to be a bit smarter.
I think Cashman’s done a decent job the past few years. Most of the big FA are busts (some done by him, some not done by him such as A-Rod), but I think he has made very good trades over the years, particularly this year.
Sometimes also the best moves are the ones you Don’t make. The Yankees in all likelihood would still be where they are right now in the standings had they traded for players like Lee (who’s done for the year) or Marlon Byrd (who’s done decent in August, but Prado has been much better), while holding on to the farm which isn’t great and only would have gotten worse if he fell for RAJ’s terrible offers
And as much criticism as McCann has gotten, he hasn’t been as bad as many say he has. For one thing, he hits better with men on base than without (which makes sense since the shift is always on him when the bases are empty), and as most already know, he has done excellent calling the game. In no way, shape or form has McCann done well enough in Year 1 to earn that contract, but I think he has gotten criticized a bit too much. Beltran on the other hand, has not done well.
Back to Cashman, I wouldn’t be against the move of bringing him back, but I also wouldn’t be against it if the Yankees went in a different direction.
I mean, if you can spend like Cashman, anyone can bring similar results.
I wouldn’t say that. And I can name many examples. The Phillies had much more success with a payroll under $100 million (won WS with a $98 million payroll) than they have with a top 3-4 payroll in the league (.500 or worse for 3 straight seasons).
Yes the Red Sox won the WS last year but they have only made the playoffs once since 2009 (again, last year) and that includes 2 years in last place. So if the standings today hold as they are, they’ve spent more years in last place than years in which they’ve made the playoffs since 2009.
The Cubs and Mets are in the top 10 payrolls in baseball the last 10 years. The Cubs will have 5 straight losing seasons whereas the Mets will have 6 straight. The Mets have not made the playoffs since 06, the Cubs have not made the playoffs since 2008 and haven’t won a playoff series since 2006.
The highest paid pitcher on the Baltimore Orioles is their worst pitcher by far. Scott Feldman makes up 1/4th of the Astros payroll.
Name me a single decent size – large contract that has worked well for the Atlanta Braves. Surely you won’t say Hampton, Lowe, Uggla or Upton.
How has Curtis Granderson does this year for the Mets? I’m sure they didn’t pay David Wright $20+ million for 7 years to be ranked 17th in WAR for 3B.
I’m aware some of the team’s I listed above don’t have some of the highest payrolls, but some of their highest paid players have been completely unproductive.
The Cubs were not in the playoffs in 2006. I believe they were in 2008, but I don’t think they’ve won a playoff series since 2003. Anyway, I just know it wasn’t 2006. Haha
You’re right. Was mixing them up with the Mets who did win a series. And then your boy Wainwright fooled Beltran in game 7 one series later
I forgot your 2006 Cards won it that year. One of the worst WS winners of all time (2000 Yankees right up there too)
The Yankees were in a completely different universe when it came to spending, so you cannot compare the Yankees spending to any other team after 2002. The Yankees absolutely blew the 2nd place teams away in spending after 2002. It wasn’t even close. For example:
2009
#1 N.Y. Yankees
$201,449,289
#2 New York Mets
135,773,988
Median
$81,625,567
2008
#1 New York Yankees
$ 209,081,577
#2 New York Mets
$ 137,793,376
Median
$ 78,970,066
That still doesn’t argue against what I originally said. The Mets were still a high spending team, and in those years you posted, as you can see, they still spent more than 28 other teams. You’re only making the argument look worse for you.
Check the Business Weekly (or Business Daily?) article of the worst spenders in sports for 2009-2013. The Mets were the 2nd worst team, and No, the Yankees were not the worst.
The failure of the Mets the past 5 years should not be compared to the Yankees. Also I’m not comparing the Yankees spending with theirs. I’m proving a point that there can be a lot of teams that do just as bad if not worse than when they spend big money (Phillies, Red Sox except 2013)
Based on your recent comments I take it you’re a Cubs fan (or Mets fan). When I said the Mets were 2nd worst in spending the last 5 years and the Yankees were Not the worst, now I’m sure it’s only going to take you one guess now to guess who was the worst.
Just out of curiousity (as I am a believer in the Cubs being horrible spenders in recent years) as where the Yankees did rank? You keep saying not worst, but doesn’t mean they have spent smart either.
24th I believe. So no don’t take it as if I’m doing bragging rights lol. No where anywhere did I say the Yankees spend smart. They surely don’t
If interested, Cards got #1. And this was an article for Every sports franchise, not just baseball. Cubs happened to be dead last among All teams. Cardinals were #2 overall, #1 was another Chicago team, the Blackhawks. As mentioned the Yankees 24th in baseball, and overall somewhere in the 80’s-90’s out of 122 teams.
No way he will re-up with anyone else. The record is fine considering the financial resources he has had to work with. Only the Yankees could sign the Texieras, the Sabbathias, the A-Rods and numerous others and be able to eat the final years of contracts and still not be financially strapped. No other team – even if they had the financial resources – would spend those resources so recklessly.
“No other team – even if they had the financial resources – would spend those resources so recklessly.”
Dodgers certainly may.
As strange as it sounds, I’m not sure how I feel about Cashman’s job performance. I know Cashman isn’t always responsible for some of the worse signings because management either negotiates the deal or orders it done, but I’m not sure in a lot of cases. Maybe a Yankees fan can help me out. Which of the big contracts on the Yankees’ payroll were NOT Cashman’s idea? A-Rod for sure. Anybody else?
He would have probably waited Arod out, and Soriano the reliever. Soriano worked out pretty well. He also wouldn’t have done the corey black for soriano trade. He was forced to sign sheffield over vlad i think, and probably pushed for Randy johnson. Not sure what else.
Was hoping he’d be ‘promoted’ to President of Baseball Operations or something, and they let Billy Eppler take over the day-to-day GMing a la Theo/Hoyer. Eppler’s obviously a talented and coveted FO guy. The Yankees should really try to keep him.
He still could be.
Oh, now it’s not the GM’s fault when his signings don’t perform? Must be nice. Even that aside, I mean really, Beltran is how old? Did they really think he would keep putting up those numbers indefinitely? People age and their skills deteriorate. You can’t sign a 37-year-old player and expect the same performance year-over-year. And it doesn’t take much of a drop-off in skill to go from mashing .850 OPS’s to struggling to stay over .700.
“Oh, now it’s not the GM’s fault when his signings don’t perform?”
It’s really never been automatically the GM’s fault. No projection system would’ve predicted this type of season from Mccann or even beltran for that matter.
I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted it, but we’re not talking about monumental collapses here. Their production is well within the realm of reason, that you can’t really look at it and just say “we blame the players for under-performing”, while not also considering that “well, we signed a 37-year-old player who was bound to regress soon, and a player who had a terrible season two years ago that we can’t count on as being a sure producer given that.”
The McCann signing looks worse when they let Martin leave for a 2 year 15 million deal with Pitt. I know his bat hasn’t always been the strongest but they had an up close look at him and the value he provides through defense, framing, throwing and handling the staff. They should have done a better job of understanding Martin’s value and it’s a bad sign when you don’t scout your own organization well. If they had given Martin a QO and he accepted, 1 year at 13 mil seems like a steal for the Yanks.
Absolutely true
I think Cashman has done a good job this year in season and he’s an overall above average GM. My criticism would be the lack of player development. Instead of giving huge contracts to aging free agents more money should have been invested in finding and developing young talent.They should have been taking advantage of the previous international spending and draft rules more. It seems like they haven’t developed anything more than relievers lately. They only recently signed a big IFA in Tanaka. It just seems like the Yankees should be heavily invested in scouting and coaching the best young ball players from all parts of the globe and you’d expect better results if that was the case.
100% agree with everything here.
well, he is the “Cash”-man….and the Yanks have lots of cash
Didn’t realize Cashman had been the GM since ’98, wow.
Whoever the GM is next year, they need to retool, reevaluate and rework their player development and scouting. The Yankees just can’t afford to keep whiffing with their young players.
They aren’t really whiffing with their young players. They’ve been whiffing with expensive free agents instead of letting their young players get a chance. At least on the offense side of things. Their young pitching talent has actually been quite good, considering.
That’s what needs to change with the offense, especially now that they actually have some promising young position players on the horizon like Refsnyder, Austin, Sanchez, Judge, Bird, and Cave. No more Ichiros, Brian Roberts, Vernon Wells, Alfonso Sorianos, etc. Stop relying on old, bench-level quality veterans to be starters and start injecting youth into the lineup. We may actually start seeing that next year and especially 2016.
They also need to recognize that signing these long term mega-deals gives you no flexibility within your roster. A lot of the other smarter (and financially restricted) GM’s are playing chess and the Yankees are still playing checkers in a lot of ways. That’s their ownership IMHO. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in that regard. I wonder when they will notice just how inefficiently their MO is becoming. The game has changed an incredible amount in just 10 years and they haven’t followed along. It’s no different than any other business where the little guy has figured out how to do it better and for less money.
I don’t understand where everyone is getting this “Yankees are bringing Cashman back” quote from. The only actual quote I read was on the ESPN article that an unanmed source said “I don’t see Cashman as being in any trouble at all,” the source said.
“But as far as I know, [Cashman’s situation] has not been discussed yet.”
How if his situation hasn’t even been discussed is everyone saying he’s getting an extension?
Nooooooooooooo! It’s time for him to ride off into the sunset. ny needs a GM who scouts drafts and develops. You know, the way the other 29 teams have been doing it for much of the 2000s. Signing 37 year olds in decline doesn’t work. Plus for future reference if the braves and cardinals – two of the best run organizations pass on resigning their over 30 year old veterans perhaps they know something you don’t ??
“braves and cardinals – two of the best run organizations pass on resigning their over 30 year old veterans perhaps they know something you don’t ?” I agree 100 % every GM should take notice of this.
Hard to argue with the results? This past season’s free agent signings were a disaster. His judgement this century when it comes to acquiring pitching talent is quite poor. The minor league system is a mess. There are those who will make excuses for him when it comes to the departure of Robbie Cano but the club could have signed Cano several years ago to a long-term deal–every other team seems to lock up their stars before they hit the market. His ability to spend big to at least partially cover his blunders has kept the Yankees relevant as well as the work that Gene Michael did (the Core 4 lest anyone forget).