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Agent Joel Wolfe Responds To Brian Cashman’s Comments On Giancarlo Stanton

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Yankees general manager Brian Cashman held a fiery session with the media at last week’s GM Meetings in Arizona, speaking with a level of candor that’s not typical for himself nor for baseball operations leaders at large in today’s game. A fired-up Cashman at times took a combative tone, defending his organization’s processes, his scouts, his baseball operations personnel and his analysts — all while pushing back on the notion that the Yankees are driven primarily by data and analytics at the expense of conventional means of scouting and player evaluation.

Cashman wasn’t shy about acknowledging blame for the state of the Yankees’ 2023 roster. “We lost way too many games last year,” he said (video link via SNY). “…That’s my fault. I’m responsible as the baseball operations GM. If the owner wants to tag me out at any time, he clearly can do that.”

Among the many contributing factors to the Yankees’ playoff miss in 2023 was an unusually weak season from Giancarlo Stanton at the plate. Injuries are nothing new for the towering slugger, but Stanton’s .191/.275/.420 batting line was uncharacteristically feeble. Cashman plainly acknowledged as much during his broad-reaching address with the media.

“We’ve got to get Stanton up and running again,” the GM said (link via Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News). “He’s injury-prone. We all have lived and known that, but he’s never not hit when he’s playing, and this year is the first time that that’s happened. … We try to limit the time he’s down, but I’m not gonna tell you he’s gonna play every game next year because he’s not. He’s going to wind up getting hurt again more likely than not because it seems to be part of his game. But I know that when he’s right and healthy — other than this past year — the guy’s a great hitter and has been for awhile.”

Given Stanton’s frequent trips to the injured list, nothing Cashman said stands out as especially unfair. Certainly, it’s uncommon for any top baseball ops exec to speak so candidly, but with the possible exception of calling injuries “a part of [Stanton’s] game,” it was a fairly measured characterization of the situation. Cashman noted that Stanton himself has been frustrated by his injuries and declining mobility and has worked to get some answers. On multiple occasions, he referenced what a typically productive hitter Stanton has been.

Nonetheless, it seems at least part of Cashman’s comments struck a chord with Stanton or his representatives at Wasserman — likely the characterization that future injuries are an inevitability. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic spoke with agent Joel Wolfe about the surprisingly frank comments from Cashman.

“I read the context of the entire interview,” Wolfe tells Rosenthal. “I think it’s a good reminder for all free agents considering signing in New York, both foreign and domestic, that to play for this team you’ve got to be made of Teflon, both mentally and physically because you can never let your guard down — even in the offseason.”

Wolfe slipping the “both foreign and domestic” qualifier into his quote surely piques the interest of Yankee fans — and not in a good way. Wolfe is the agent for star Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who will be posted for MLB clubs in the near future. The Yankees are known to have interest in signing Yamamoto, who will be one of the most sought-after players to ever make the jump from NPB to MLB. The 25-year-old ace has won NPB’s Cy Young equivalent, the Sawamura Award, in each of the past three seasons and just wrapped up a season that saw him log a 1.21 ERA, 26.8% strikeout rate and 4.4% walk rate.

Understandably, Wolfe’s comments have created some angst among an already frustrated Yankee fan base that has been hoping for broad-reaching changes on the heels of a disappointing season. It’s already clear that there won’t be any sweeping changes to the organizational hierarchy, and any instance that comes with the perceived possibility of hindering the chances of augmenting the roster aren’t well received.

That said, it still seems unlikely that the comments regarding Stanton will ultimately present any real impact on the team’s negotiations with Yamamoto. The expectation has been and should continue to be that the right-hander will sign for the best offer. Perhaps if the Yankees’ best offer is identical or only narrowly separated from a competitor, something along the lines of the Stanton/Wolfe comments can tip the scales away from the Yankees, but there are numerous small factors that can sway negotiations when things are that close.

It’s hard to envision a scenario where Yamamoto leaves an extra year or significant per-annum dollars on the table over Cashman’s candid comments regarding a player who’s not even Yamamoto’s own teammate at present. Yankee fans will surely point back to the comments from Cashman and Wolfe’s reply if Yamamoto lands elsewhere — and perhaps that’s the true motivation behind making them, to increase pressure on Cashman — but the Yamamoto bidding was always going to be fiercely competitive. In the grand scheme of determining factors for where Yamamoto lands, this seems like little more than a footnote. Nevertheless, it also offers a glimpse at why so many executives defer to boilerplate speak and generalities in media sessions like the one held by Cashman last week.

Brian Cashman Discusses Yankees’ Season, Future Plans

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The 2023 season has undoubtedly been a disappointing one for the Yankees. They snapped a nine-game losing streak yesterday but lost again today, bringing their record to 61-66. That has them last in the American League East, 6.5 games back of the fourth place Red Sox. They are 10 games away from the final Wild Card spot in the American League and FanGraphs pegged their playoff odds at 0.3% coming into today’s action. For a club that came into the season aimed at contending and ran up one of the league’s highest payrolls, it’s obviously not an ideal outcome.

General manager Brian Cashman spoke to the media yesterday, acknowledging the obvious, with Brendan Kuty of The Athletic among those to relay some of the specifics. “It’s been a disaster of a season,” Cashman said. “We’re embarrassed by it.” He also made it clear he was aware of the disappointed fans who wanted him fired but also defended his claim on continuing in his job. “I think we’ve got a pretty good track record here,” he said. “We’ve had a real good run of success. But this, at the same time, is not an easy sport. Nothing is guaranteed.”

The overall track record is indeed strong, when looking back to Cashman becoming the general manager in February of 1998. The Yanks have never finished below .500 since then, with their last losing season coming back in 1992. Since 1995, they’ve only missed the postseason four times and have won the World Series five times.

For some fans, that’s not enough, or it’s been too long since the most dominant stretch of the Cashman era. Four of those five titles came from 1996 to 2000 with the last one in 2009. Though the Yankees have made the playoffs in each of the six previous years, they haven’t made it past the ALCS in over a decade and have a chance to break their 30-year streak of winning seasons here in 2023. Whether that track record is enough to keep him in his current position remains to be seen and Cashman himself provided little clarity, saying that it would be “somebody else’s decision that’s above me,” presumably in reference to chairman Hal Steinbrenner.

How much blame Cashman deserves for the struggles of the 2023 club is a matter that could be debated, and certainly is in certain circles. Injuries have been a significant factor in their results, as various players who were hoped to be key contributors have missed significant time. The starting rotation has been without Frankie Montas all year while Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodón have each bounced on and off the injured list while posting diminished results when on the field. On the offensive side of things, players like Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and others have dealt with significant injuries issues that led to absences or downturns in performance or both.

Defenders of Cashman could point to that litany of injuries as evidence that a strong on-paper roster was cursed by the baseball gods, but detractors could highlight the fact that all clubs deal with injuries and part of the job is building a roster than can succeed over an entire season as player health ebbs and flows.

Regardless of the reasons, it seems like all manner of possible changes will be considered in the coming months. “I think we’re all going to be evaluated,” Cashman said, referring to himself and manager Aaron Boone. “You’re going to see look at every aspect of the operation because that’s what you have to do under these circumstances, and then that takes us where it takes us. Nobody’s happy here. We’re better than this, but it’s not played better than this, and we’ll see. Stay tuned.”

How the franchise responds to this down year will be an interesting thread to follow over the coming weeks and months. The Yankees are usually one the most reliably aggressive teams when it comes to competing and spending. Before the offseason has even begun, their 2024 payroll is at $186MM while their competitive balance tax figure is at $197MM, per Roster Resource. Those figures don’t include arbitration salaries for players like Cortes, Gleyber Torres, Clay Holmes and more. Factoring in raises for those players will put the Yanks in the vicinity of next year’s base luxury tax threshold of $237MM before even making any offseason additions.

Assuming the Yanks look to compete again next year, there would be plenty on the to-do list this winter. The rotation theoretically has a strong front three, with Gerrit Cole followed by Rodón and Cortes, though that’s dependant on the health of the latter two. Even if they are healthy and Clarke Schmidt takes a back-end spot, there would be room for another pitcher in there, keeping Jhony Brito and Randy Vásquez as minor league depth.

The lineup has many question marks, as the team has collectively hit .229/.304/.400 this year for a wRC+ of 94. Some of that can be explained by the aforementioned injury struggles of Judge and Rizzo, but the club has also received poor performances from veterans like DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton. The 35-year-old LeMahieu has hit .239/.316/.370 this year, 91 wRC+, and still has three years and $45MM left on his contract after this one. The 33-year-old Stanton has a line of .193/.277/.423 this season for wRC+ of 88 while still being owed $128MM over the next four years. The Yanks could try to move on from those players but their respective contracts and ages will make it very difficult.

There will also be fresh holes made in that lineup, with Harrison Bader and Isiah Kiner-Falefa set to reach free agency. Neither played is having an outstanding season at the plate but Bader at least provides speed and excellent center field defense while Kiner-Falefa also has speed and can provide cover at multiple positions. Josh Donaldson is likely to depart for the open market as well, as his deal has a mutual option that is unlikely to be picked up.

There are many questions for the Yankees to answer between now and 2024, but it seems they will start by using the remainder of the current campaign to get a look at some younger players. Earlier this week, they promoted youngsters Everson Pereira and Oswald Peraza to get some reps in what’s left of the schedule. That group could soon be joined by Austin Wells, as Kuty reports the catching prospect is likely to join the club when rosters expand from 26 to 28 in September.

Wells, 24, was selected in the first round of the 2020 draft, with the Yanks taking him 28th overall. He has since climbed the minor league ladder and is considered by many outlets to be a top 100 prospect, with Baseball America currently having him in the #83 slot. He’s considered a bat-first catcher and is hitting .241/.333/.443 in the minors this year, walking in 10.8% of his plate appearances while hitting 26 home runs.

The Yanks are without Jose Trevino for the rest of the season, as he underwent wrist surgery in July. They are currently using the duo of Kyle Higashioka and Ben Rortvedt behind the plate but the expanded rosters could allow them to carry three catchers and get a look at Wells before the offseason arrives. Wells isn’t yet on the 40-man roster and would require a corresponding move to be added.

Yankees Notes: Kiner-Falefa, Judge, Center Field

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As youngsters Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe make strong cases to take over the Yankees’ starting shortstop role, there’s been plenty of speculation over the future of Isiah Kiner-Falefa. That speculation has only intensified as the Yankees have announced a series of injuries that’ll affect their roster over the opening few weeks of the season and beyond.

Kiner-Falefa is owed $6MM this year, and does appear to be lagging behind in the race to win the shortstop job. The Yankees have been giving him time at second and third base, and plan to work him out in the outfield this spring, which suggests they may view him as more of a utility player at this point. Yet the team already has the highly impressive Oswaldo Cabrera capable of bouncing round the diamond as a utility option, and he’ll only earn the league minimum in 2023.

Now, with the Yankees dealing with rotation, bullpen and outfield injuries to Carlos Rodon, Frankie Montas, Lou Trivino, Tommy Kahnle and Harrison Bader, it would make some sense for the team to deal from their infield depth to address other areas. According to Brendan Kuty and Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, the Yankees have had conversations with the Dodgers and Rockies over Kiner-Falefa. It’s not known the exact timeline or extent of those conversations, but it’s worth noting the Dodgers checked in on Kiner-Falefa early in the off-season prior to acquiring Miguel Rojas from the Marlins.

General manager Brian Cashman addressed the trade market to reporters, and while he didn’t specifically name Kiner-Falefa (or any other infielders), he certainly didn’t close the door on a deal involving their infielders before the start of the regular season.

“I would say typically trade conversations usually are a bit more serious in the second part of camp than the first part. I do know that’s an area of strength for this franchise right now in real time. So if somebody is looking for help, we wouldn’t be surprised if they’re knocking on our door,” Cashman said.

A trade could help them address their thinning rotation and bullpen stock, but even with Bader on the shelf for a while, it doesn’t appear the outfield is a pressing need. As Kuty notes in a separate piece, Bader’s injury likely means a temporary return to center field for Aaron Judge. That would allow the Yankees to give Giancarlo Stanton more at bats in right field, with Cabrera and Aaron Hicks likely to handle left. Rafael Ortega and Estevan Florial are other candidates to fill in with Bader out, but it appears Hicks – a career center fielder who moved to left last year – is not among them, with Kuty noting it seems the Yankees prefer to keep him in left.

Speaking of Judge, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic sheds some more light on the high profile free agency of the new Yankees captain. While it’s been widely reported that the Yankees’ decision to tack on a ninth-year and take the total value of the contract to $360MM sealed the deal, there’s been a little bit of uncertainty over the extent of the Padres late interest in the slugger. According to Rosenthal, the Padres put forward a deal in the range of $415MM over at least 12 years.

Brian Cashman Discusses Yankees’ Injuries, Offseason

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Yankees GM Brian Cashman was a guest on the latest edition of The Front Office with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, and discussed a number of topics related to the Bronx Bombers’ offseason.  Perhaps most notably, some more moves could still potentially take place, as Cashman said the team would still like to add a left-handed hitting outfielder “to balance us out” in the left field mix.

While the Yankees have a noticeably right-handed heavy roster, left field is actually one of the only positions that already has some balance, between switch-hitters Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Cabrera, plus the left-handed hitting Estevan Florial.  However, New York might prefer to move Cabrera all around the diamond rather than commit him to a fuller-time role in left field, Florial is still an untested commodity at the MLB level, and rumors continue to swirl that the Yankees are trying to trade Hicks and at least some of the $30.5MM remaining on his contract.

Cashman cited the Hicks/Cabrera/Florial trio as the team’s “default” for left field in lieu of any other moves, and noted that the Yankees are intrigued by what they see from their in-house options.  Cashman said that Hicks “is fully recovered now” from the knee injury suffered in Game 5 of the ALDS, which kept Hicks from participating in the ALCS against the Astros.

In other health news, Cashman shared some details on Frankie Montas, following last week’s news that shoulder inflammation would keep Montas sidelined through the first month of the season.  Montas is only set to begin his normal offseason throwing program this coming week, and thus he’ll need more time to fully ramp up.  The right-hander visited Dr. Neal ElAttrache two weeks ago, Cashman said, and the silver lining is that Montas’ shoulder problem doesn’t appear to be structural.  “All the diagnostic testing shows a thumbs up….and we’ll know a lot more as the throwing program commences,” Cashman said.

With Montas now sidelined for at least part of the season, the Bombers’ acquisition of Carlos Rodon has become even more important, as the starting staff might not miss a beat with Rodon joining Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes at the front end of the rotation.  Cashman revealed that the Yankees first tried to acquire Rodon from the Giants prior to the trade deadline, and though the club “had our conversations with San Francisco” about a possible deal, the Giants opted to keep Rodon because they felt they still had a shot at both reaching the playoffs and re-signing the left-hander this winter.

As it happened, the Giants finished 81-81 and missed the postseason, and Rodon departed for the Bronx on a six-year, $162MM contract.  Even with the Yankees focused on Aaron Judge, Cashman said the team “stayed in touch with [agent] Scott Boras and Rodon,” and the GM felt the Yankees were helped because “I know that this is the place [Rodon] wanted to be.”

Rodon’s interest in wearing the pinstripes was a boost to a club whose entire offseason was more or less put on hold while Judge made his decision.  Even amidst the fast-moving nature of this winter’s free agent market, “thankfully there were things on the board still after [Judge re-signed], since we weren’t sure what was going to be in play,” Cashman noted.  Once Judge had officially agreed to return to New York, “ultimately we were able to pivot” to also land Rodon.

There was certainly some risk involved in the process of making such a priority of Judge, as “certainly no team wants that scenario where you put all your eggs in that basket and then the basket comes up with goose eggs,” Cashman said.  Still, the front office had little choice but to wait for Judge’s decision, especially since the AL MVP and his camp gave seemingly little information about which way he was leaning, despite Judge’s public declaration that he preferred to remain with the Yankees.

“I felt like for a long time we were flying blind,” Cashman said.  “Normally you kind of get a feel for where things are at, and if you can come to the right number, or you get the numbers whispered….My speculative thought on [Judge’s] end was that he earned the right to free agency and he was going to go through that process in a very methodical, deliberate way.”

“In terms of negotiation, that waiting game….at times, it was difficult.”

Fortunately for Cashman, the Yankees, and the Bronx fans, Judge chose to re-sign for a nine-year, $360MM deal, and he’ll remain as the centerpiece of New York’s lineup.  In terms of another returning face, “hopefully we have pure health on DJ LeMahieu’s side,” Cashman noted, “since he was a huge part that we lost last year, really the last two years with two separate injuries.”

A sports hernia kept LeMahieu from participating in the 2021 postseason, while a ligament issue in his right foot/toe area sidelined him for last year’s playoffs.  It wasn’t entirely clear whether or not LeMahieu would ultimately need surgery to correct the problem, and while Cashman didn’t firmly provide an update on the infielder’s status one way or the other, the lack of news could be a good omen that LeMahieu’s efforts to rehab the injury without surgery are working.

If LeMahieu is healthy, Cashman described his role as an infielder who can play every day while bouncing around the infield, playing first base, second base, and third base.  Breaking down the starting infield, Cashman cited Anthony Rizzo at first base, Gleyber Torres at second base, Josh Donaldson at third base, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa competing with star prospects Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe for the shortstop job.  Naturally there still might be some flux in this plan, depending on LeMahieu’s health and the fact that Donaldson is also reportedly a player the Yankees are trying to unload in order to save some payroll space.

Yankees Appoint Brian Sabean Executive Advisor To Brian Cashman

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The Yankees announced today that Brian Sabean has been appointed executive advisor to senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman.

This is a homecoming for Sabean, as he began his career in Major League Baseball with the Yankees. He was hired as a scout back in 1985, later earning other titles such as director of scouting and vice president of player development/scouting. He was with the organization as they drafted and signed the young players that would later form the core of the club that won four championships from 1996 to 2000. In relaying today’s news, Joel Sherman of The New York Post recalls a statement Cashman made about the teams of the ’90s. “The underrated heroes of the dynasty are Bill Livesey and Brian Sabean,” Cashman said.

However, Sabean was no longer with the Yankees when those trophies were lifted. He joined the Giants in 1993 as assistant to the general manager and vice president of scouting/player personnel. He would later be promoted to general manager in 1996. The Giants finished 68-94 in that year but went on to post winning records in each season from 1997 to 2004. They dipped below .500 for a few years but later returned to success in a big way, winning the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

After that third title, Sabean was given the new title of executive vice president of baseball operations and seemed to move away from the day-to-day business of running the club. Bobby Evans took over as the general manager and stayed in that role through the 2018 season. At that point, he was reassigned and Farhan Zaidi was hired as president of baseball operations. As those transitions were taking place, Sabean seemed to have moved into an advisory/scouting role.

The Giants released a statement about Sabean’s hiring to reporters, with Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area among those to relay it on Twitter. “The San Francisco Giants would like to extend its deepest gratitude to Brian Sabean for his enormous contributions to our organization and wish him the best of luck in his new position with the New York Yankees.” The statement goes on to list the club’s aforementioned accomplishments during his tenure, before finishing thusly: “We truly believe he’s a Hall of Fame worthy executive in every sense of the word and wish him, his wife Amanda, and his entire family nothing but the best in the future. He will always be a Forever Giant.”

In the past few years, he has been connected to front office jobs with the Marlins and Mets that didn’t come to fruition, but he will now return to where his career began and rejoin the Yankees.

Yankees Extend GM Brian Cashman

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The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve signed general manager Brian Cashman to a four-year contract extension.  He’s now signed through 2026.

Now 55 years old, Cashman has been in place as the Yankees’ general manager since 1998. With Billy Beane’s recent transition to an advisory role with the A’s, Cashman became the longest-tenured baseball operations leader in Major League Baseball. The team has somewhat remarkably had a winning record in all 25 of Cashman’s seasons at the helm and made the playoffs in 21 of those 25 campaigns. However, it’s now been 13 seasons since they’ve reached the World Series, with their 2009 victory over the Phillies standing as the most recent time the Yankees advanced past the ALCS.

Cashman has become a lightning rod for criticism from Yankee fans as they continue to voice frustration over the team’s World Series “drought,” and that criticism will only grow louder if reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge departs in free agency, whether to sign with the Giants (his childhood team), the Dodgers or a “mystery team” whose presence in the Judge bidding is not yet known.

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, however, has taken a different tack than that of his late, oft-impulsive father George, praising Cashman’s stability and the annually competitive rosters he’s put together. Granted, possessing one of the sport’s largest payrolls each year can help to paper over plenty of missteps, but we’ve seen plenty of deep-pocketed clubs with huge payrolls post sub-.500 records and miss the postseason over the years. Payroll notwithstanding, that level of consistency is indeed impressive, though the regularity with which the Yankees reach the playoff field has also inherently increased expectations; division titles and ALCS berths are  not considered sufficient by a substantial portion of the team’s fan base.

The challenges for Cashman that lay ahead begin but certainly don’t end with Judge. The 2022 American League MVP carried an otherwise lifeless Yankees offense through the second half of the season and captivated a national audience along the way, chasing down and narrowly surpassing Roger Maris’ longstanding American League home run record. Re-signing Judge would send the Yankees barreling into the second tier of luxury tax penalization at a time when there are other clear needs on the roster.

Even if Judge is retained, the Yankees will have a heavily right-handed lineup in need of some balance, to say nothing of multiple undesirable contracts (e.g. Josh Donaldson, Aaron Hicks) driving up the actual bottom-line payroll and the team’s luxury-tax number. There’s work to do in the bullpen, too, and the Yankees could see two starters reach free agency following the 2023 season in Luis Severino and Frankie Montas. Their potential exit surely plays a role in the team’s reported interest in Carlos Rodon, who’d likely become an even greater focus should Judge depart. At that point, Cashman and his staff would need to determine whether to pivot and dive back into a shortstop market they eschewed one offseason ago. That decision, in particular, will be placed under a microscope over the next couple years as prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza take center stage in the Bronx.

As with any general manager or president of baseball operations, Cashman’s tenure is checkered with hugely successful transactions and regrettable deals. Last winter’s acquisition of Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa likely didn’t provide the value the team was hoping for (particularly since it cost them a solid campaign from Gio Urshela), and August’s Montas acquisition immediately harkened back to Sonny Gray’s disappointing tenure with the Yankees. Then again, recent trades for Jose Trevino, Clay Holmes and Anthony Rizzo have been excellent, and Harrison Bader shined with a brilliant postseason effort.

All any general manager or president of baseball ops can do is hope the successes outweigh the missteps and hope to be able to convince ownership they’re the proper person for the job. Yankee fans can have spirited debates about whether the first half of that sentence applies to Cashman, but it’s abundantly clear that Steinbrenner values the continuity, professionalism and persistent winning that Cashman has overseen in what’s now an incredible quarter century on the job.

Yankees Notes: Judge Free Agency, LeMahieu, Kiner-Falefa

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Brian Cashman addressed reporters, including The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, for the first time following the Yankees’ ALCS defeat to the Houston Astros. Cashman’s future was among the topics discussed, but the GM also took time to provide some insight on various areas of the playing roster.

Aaron Judge’s future with the organization will be the biggest question heading into the off-season, and Cashman says the team would ideally get a deal done soon if they’re to re-sign him. Judge is a strong favorite for AL MVP after hitting 62 home runs and posting a .311/.425/.686 slash line. A worst case scenario for the Yankees would be for them to miss out on Judge after his free agency drags long into the off-season and likely replacements have since signed elsewhere, so it makes sense that Cashman would prefer business to be completed swiftly.

“He’s gonna dictate the dance steps to his free agency because he’s earned the right to get there,” Cashman said. “We’ll see how it plays out. He’s the most important. If he came in here today and said, ‘I’m signing up. Let’s go,’ there’s still work to be done.”

Cashman wouldn’t offer much insight into the process, offering a “no comment” when asked if the Yankees and Judge had engaged in discussion since the end of the season. He also noted it’s more of a decision for Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner as well. Cashman’s clearly stated he wants Judge back, but the ultimate decision will land at Steinbrenner’s feet as to how big of a contract he’s willing to hand out.

DJ LeMahieu struggled with a foot injury late in the regular season and wound up missing the entire post-season. The Yankees haven’t settled on a path forward for managing that injury in the off-season, but surgery remains on the table. LeMahieu posted a .261./.357/.377 line with 12 home runs this season, well short of the MVP-level offensive output he produced for the Yankees during 2019-20. The Yankees will hope a full recovery from the injury will allow LeMahieu to post better offensive numbers, but he’ll also turn 35 in 2023 and it’s perhaps unreasonable to expect much bounceback for the veteran. With four years and $60MM remaining on his contract, he’ll certainly be back in pinstripes though, but just where he fits in is up in the air and may depend on how the off-season plays out.

LeMahieu’s played plenty of first base with the Yankees, but that’s become less of a need since Anthony Rizzo joined the team last season. It’s already been reported that Rizzo is expected to decline his $16MM player option for 2023. It’s not much of a surprise given Rizzo had a strong season and is expected to benefit from shift restrictions next year. Cashman stated the Yankees will seek to re-sign Rizzo if he opts out. That could come in the form of a qualifying offer, but it seems likely Rizzo would decline that in favor of a multi-year deal.

The left side of the infield drew plenty of criticism throughout the season, and particularly during the playoffs, but Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are both controlled for 2023. Donaldson is owed $21.75MM while Kiner-Falefa is into his final year of arbitration and is predicted to make $6.5MM per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. Donaldson ranked eighth among qualified third basemen in Outs Above Average, but scuffled with the bat, hitting just .222/.308/.374 with 15 home runs. Kiner-Falefa was never expected to be a major offensive contributor, but defensive metrics were mixed on his glove work at shortstop, ranging from 28th in Outs Above Average to seventh in Defensive Runs Saved. While a change at third might be tricky given Donaldson’s significant salary, Cashman’s left the door open for change at shortstop, particularly given the impressive showing rookies Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza made down the stretch. The Yankees also have top prospect Anthony Volpe getting close to the majors.

“I think Kiner was along the lines of what we expected,” Cashman said. “It gave us an opportunity to bridge the gap while the kids continued to develop because everybody in the industry, fans and teams alike, recognize that we have some pretty impactful prospects that we’re developing and needed some more time.”

In other bits of info from Cashman’s press conference, he said he wouldn’t discuss trading players but noted that outfielder Aaron Hicks would be back and that the team felt he still had something to offer. Hicks hit .216/.330/.313 in his age-32 campaign, and has $30.4MM and at least three years remaining on his contract. It’s worth adding here that manager Aaron Boone said today he wants to utilize Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield a couple of times a week next season. Stanton has largely played as a designated hitter of late, but factoring him into the outfield depth chart more regularly would affect Hicks’ playing time.

The Yankees are also hoping to bring back pitching coach Matt Blake. Hired out of Cleveland after the Yankees parted ways with Larry Rothschild in 2019, Blake is out of contract. The Yankees ranked third in the majors in team ERA with a 3.30 mark this year, behind only the Dodgers and Astros.

Latest On Brian Cashman’s Future

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Brian Cashman’s contract with the Yankees officially ended on October 31, but while he’s no longer an employee of the team, he continues to act as GM and the expectation is his contract will be extended, per Andy Martino of SNY. Jon Heyman of the NY Post is even more certain, citing a source saying there’s a “100 percent” chance Cashman returns.

Cashman has been with the Yankees since 1986, and served as their GM since 1998. During that time the team has gone to the World Series seven times, winning four championships, the last of which came in 2009. They’ve made the playoffs each of the past six seasons, but there’s been some frustration among Yankees fans over the team’s inability to get back to the World Series lately. That frustration does not appear to extend to owner Hal Steinbrenner though, and Martino cites the strong bond between Cashman and the Steinbrenners as reason to believe that even if a split were to happen, it would be amicable.

The expectation is that a renewal will happen, although Martino reports that while Cashman and Steinbrenner have discussed the future of the franchise recently, they haven’t talked on contract terms. Cashman’s previous contract was a five-year, $25MM deal signed in December of 2017. Nonetheless, it seems a near formality that Cashman’s contract will be renewed, and the Yankees can turn their attention to the playing roster moving forward, beginning with the enormous task of trying to re-sign Aaron Judge.

Yankees Notes: Cashman, Judge, Gardner, Payroll

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Yankees GM Brian Cashman met with reporters yesterday, discussing numerous Bronx Bombers-related topics with Newsday’s Erik Boland (Twitter links), MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, The Associated Press, and other media members.

Aaron Judge’s contract was one of the subjects addressed, as the star slugger didn’t agree to terms with the club on his 2022 salary before last Tuesday’s deadline to file arbitration figures.  As it stands, Judge and the Yankees will now head to a hearing, with Judge seeking $21MM and the Yankees offering $17MM — the $4MM gap is the largest between any player and team slated for an arb case this spring.

However, a much larger contract could be in the offing.  Judge is set for free agency next winter, and Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner has already stated that the club will discuss a long-term extension.  Cashman said the same Saturday, with a nod to Judge’s preference to have all negotiations wrapped up prior to the start of the season.

“Between now and Opening Day we’ll make an offer and he’ll obviously receive an offer and all the conversions will have taken place and will either resolve into a multiyear deal or it won’t,” Cashman said.  “We’re committed.  We’ll make an offer and hear what he has to say in response and then it will be pencils down before Opening Day.”

It should be noted that the opener probably isn’t an absolute deadline, as the two sides aren’t likely to cease talks if they’re on the proverbial two-yard line towards finalizing an extension.  Most players have shared Judge’s preference to restrict contract talks to the offseason, yet it isn’t uncommon for major extensions to be announced a few days or even a few weeks beyond Opening Day.

In fact, Judge himself told The New York Post’s Dan Martin and other reporters Saturday that there could be some flexibility to his April 7 deadline.  “If there are negotiations [after Opening Day], I won’t be talking to [the media] about it at all.  We haven’t decided yet, but for right now, that’s what we’ve got.”

Given that the Yankees have rarely extended players in the Hal Steinbrenner era, the fact that the two sides are talking long-term is itself notable, and a nod to just how well Judge has performed over his first six seasons.  If a multi-year pact can’t be arranged, it isn’t out of the question that the two sides might still just work out a one-year pact in order to sidestep the potential awkwardness of an arbitration hearing.  As Martin notes, the Yankees haven’t gone to a hearing since 2016.

“Our position has always been, we wind up only in a hearing if we’re dragged there,” Cashman said. “We only go when forced to go.  We’re not afraid of going.  Our history shows that we stay out of that arena unless we’re compelled to get there.”

Judge’s situation might dominate the headlines for the Yankees in their final days of camp, as the team could be finished with its major offseason work.  “We’re prepared to go with what we have here,” Cashman said, while acknowledging that the door is always open in some respect for potential new moves: “We’ve stayed in touch and engaged a lot of clubs about our needs.  If something comes out of those discussions, great.”

In terms of what any new additions might cost, Cashman noted the financial “flexibility” provided by ownership “doesn’t mean it [the payroll] won’t get higher but that doesn’t mean it will either.”  Team spending has been a hot issue in the Bronx over the last two years, as the Yankees looked to get under the luxury tax line in 2021, then largely sat out free agency both before and after the lockout.  (This isn’t to say that the offseason has been all that quiet, given that the Yankees’ five-player blockbuster deal with the Twins is arguably the winter’s biggest trade.)

Cashman did point out, however, that the Yankees are set to have their highest-ever payroll.  Roster Resource projects the club for roughly $245.9MM in actual dollars spent on payroll, with a luxury tax number of just under $262.3MM.  That latter figures not only puts New York back in excess of the $230MM tax threshold, but beyond the first tier ($250MM) of penalization.  That means that the Yankees are currently slated to pay a 32% surtax on every dollar spent beyond the threshold, given they reclaimed “first-timer” status after getting under the tax line last year.

A new deal with longtime Yankee Brett Gardner isn’t likely to cost all that much, though it remains unclear if Gardner is a candidate to return for a 15th season in the pinstripes.  “Right now we’re focused on what we have,” Cashman said in regards to the roster, while also adding that he has had multiple talks with Gardner’s representatives since Spring Training opened.

In theory, New York already has plenty of outfield depth on the roster, between the starting trio of Judge, Aaron Hicks and Joey Gallo, Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar capable of playing on the grass, and Marwin Gonzalez, Tim Locastro and Ender Inciarte all in the mix.  With injuries an ever-looming threat, a reunion with Gardner could be feasible, especially since Gardner has been such an important clubhouse leader.

Managers & Top Front Office Executives On Expiring Contracts

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Now that the new year is upon us, it could also conceivably be the last year for several managers or lead front office executives (i.e. president of baseball operations, general manager, chief baseball officer, or whatever title a club bestows upon its top baseball decision-maker) in their current jobs if their teams don’t enjoy some success in 2022.  With this in mind, here is the list of team personnel facing particular pressure — the managers and top execs who are entering the last guaranteed year of their contracts.

This list is by no means exhaustive.  Firstly, some clubs don’t publicly disclose specifics of management contracts, or even whether or not an employee has signed an extension until weeks or months after the fact.  It could be that some of the names mentioned are already locked up beyond 2022, or perhaps have already signed extensions in the last few weeks that won’t be made official until after the lockout.  While transactions involving Major League players are prohibited during the lockout, teams are free to proceed with normal business involving team personnel, so some club might look to handle other internal matters in advance of the transactional avalanche that will come when the lockout finally ends.

Second of all, any number of factors beyond just contract status can influence an employee’s job status, and sometimes on-field success isn’t enough (just ask former Cardinals skipper Mike Shildt).  However, extra years on a contract is usually the simplest way to gauge just how much leeway a manager or front office boss has, barring something unforeseen.  It’s probably safe to assume that most or all of the names listed wouldn’t mind a little extra job security, if for no other reason than to avoid a season of media questions about their future, or the perception of any “lame duck” status from their own players or staff.

Thanks to Cot’s Baseball Contracts for reference information on some of these contracts.  Onto the list…

Angels: Owner Arte Moreno is a huge Joe Maddon fan, but since bringing Maddon back to the organization on a three-year, $12MM contract, the Halos have recorded two losing seasons.  In fairness to Maddon, he has rarely gotten to deploy an Angels roster at the peak of its potential, as Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, and Shohei Ohtani (who barely pitched in 2020) have been injured or limited for large chunks of Maddon’s tenure.  Since the veteran skipper turns 68 in February, there might also be some question about just how much longer Maddon himself wants to keep up with the grind of a regular-season schedule, especially after the challenges of managing a team through the pandemic.  With the clock ticking on Ohtani’s team control and Trout’s prime, another losing season might inspire some changes in Anaheim.

Astros: Back in November, Dusty Baker received a one-year contract extension that takes the veteran skipper through the 2022 campaign.  It isn’t the type of job security you’d expect for a manager who just took his team to a World Series appearance, but Houston appears content to go year-to-year with Baker, perhaps owing to his age (Baker turns 73 in June).

Athletics: Billy Beane has been running Oakland’s front office since 1997, and while the exact length of his current contract isn’t known, it is probably safe to assume Beane will have his job as long as he wishes.  Beane withdrew his name from consideration from the Mets’ search when New York showed interest in Beane’s services this past fall, and for now, it seems as though he and GM David Forst are preparing to lead the A’s through yet another spin of the payroll-cutting “cycle” so familiar to Oakland fans.  Since Beane also owns a minority share of the team, there would be an added layer of complication for the A’s in removing Beane if they did decide to make a change.

Blue Jays: Manager Charlie Montoyo was initially signed to a three-year deal with a club option for 2022, and the Jays exercised that option last March.  The club might have been taking a bit of a wait-and-see approach by not negotiating any more additional years with Montoyo, but since Toronto won 91 games last season, Montoyo would now seem like a prime candidate for a longer-term deal.  Montoyo has won praise both for the Blue Jays’ success over the last two seasons, and his steady leadership over a difficult period, with the pandemic forcing the Jays to play “home” games in Buffalo and Dunedin before finally returning to Toronto last July.

Brewers: David Stearns’ contract has been the subject of great speculation in recent months, as the Mets were focused on poaching the president of baseball operations away from Milwaukee.  With Billy Eppler now inked to a four-year contract as the Mets’ new GM, it could be that Amazins could be moving away from Stearns, but several other teams might have interest if Stearns is indeed available anytime soon.  The exact length or nature of Stearns’ contract isn’t known, as 2022 might be his last guaranteed year, but there may be a vesting option of some type in place that would keep Stearns with the Brew Crew through the 2023 season.  For his own part, Stearns has said that he is happy with the Brewers, and owner Mark Attanasio obviously covets his PBO, as Attanasio has rejected all overtures from the Mets and other teams to interview Stearns.  There seems to be plenty of leverage on Stearns’ part to either work out another extension with the Brewers, or perhaps wait out the remainder of his deal in Milwaukee and then test the market for a new challenge.

Cubs: 2022 is the last guaranteed year of David Ross’ contract, though the Cubs have a club option for 2023.  It has been a tumultuous two years to begin Ross’ managerial career, between the pandemic, a first-place NL Central finish in 2020, and then a 91-loss season in 2021 after the Cubs went all-in on a rebuild.  However, the acquisitions of Marcus Stroman and Wade Miley are signs that Chicago is looking to compete next season, leaving Ross with the twin challenges of mentoring young talent and also winning some ballgames.  Given the long relationship between Ross and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, it doesn’t seem like Ross’ job is in much jeopardy, and an extension (even if just an early call on that 2023 option) wouldn’t be a shock.

Diamondbacks: Manager Torey Lovullo spent much of the 2021 season as a lame duck before signing an extension in September that covers 2022 and also provides the D’Backs with a club option for 2023.  Given how poorly the Diamondbacks have played over the last two seasons, this new deal gives the Snakes some flexibility to move on from Lovullo next fall, but obviously Lovullo wasn’t considered the reason for the team’s struggles.  There is also some uncertainty about Mike Hazen’s contract status, as the GM signed new multi-year contract of undisclosed length back in 2019, extending Hazen beyond 2020 (the endpoint of his original deal).  If Hazen’s contract is only guaranteed through 2022 and Arizona has another rough season next year, ownership might opt to replace both Hazen and Lovullo and start fresh.

Dodgers: 2022 is Dave Roberts’ last year under contract, as his current deal doesn’t contain any team options.  While Roberts’ postseason decision-making has sometimes been called into question by Los Angeles fans, he hardly bears sole responsibility, and it is also hard to argue with Roberts’ track record — a 542-329 record and a World Series title since taking the managerial job in November 2015.  There hasn’t been any indication that the Dodgers are dissatisfied with Roberts’ work, so another extension could be in the pipeline.

Guardians: While Terry Francona isn’t under contract beyond 2022, but team owner Paul Dolan has said that “I feel like we’re now in a situation where he’s going to be here until he decides not to manage.”  This puts the ball squarely in Francona’s court, as the veteran manager plans to return at least through next season after health problems limited his participation in both 2020 and 2021.  Also, the contract details of president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti aren’t publicly known, but there hasn’t been any indication that Dolan is looking move on from the longtime executive.

Marlins: Don Mattingly’s 2022 club option was picked up over the summer, putting “Donnie Baseball” in line for what will be his seventh season managing the Fish.  Much of that time has been spent overseeing a rebuilding team, but with Miami reaching the postseason in 2020 and now making some aggressive offseason moves, Mattingly and his staff will be facing some higher expectations.  The Marlins could opt to let at least some of the season play out before deciding on Mattingly’s future, or if they’re confident that Mattingly is the one to lead the Fish into an era of winning baseball, they could have some talks about a longer-term deal this spring.

Orioles: Executive VP/general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde are each entering their fourth season with the team.  Hyde signed an extension last year that covers at least the 2022 season, while the initial length of Elias’ contract wasn’t known.  Even if 2022 is the last season of Elias’ deal, it doesn’t seem like Orioles ownership would cut him loose before the results of the club’s extensive rebuild have been at all realized.  The same could be said for Hyde, though it wouldn’t be the first time a rebuilding team has employed one manager to shepherd it through the tough years, and then hired another skipper when the club began to turn the corner towards contention.

Phillies: Joe Girardi is now entering the last guaranteed season of his initial three-year contract, and the Phillies hold a club option on the former World Series-winning manager for 2023.  An 82-80 record represented Philadelphia’s first winning season since 2011, though it was still an underwhelming result for a team heavy in high-priced stars.  Girardi himself hasn’t received much too much blame (at least by Philadelphia standards) for the Phils’ lack of success, and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is on record as saying that Girardi “did a good job for us” last year.  There are some parallels to Maddon’s situation, as both he and Girardi are veteran skippers under win-now pressure for big-market teams, except Girardi doesn’t have the longstanding ties to Phillies ownership as Maddon does in Anaheim.  With the club option in mind, the Phils might see what 2022 entails before deciding on an extension for Girardi.

Pirates: This is a speculative entry, since the terms of Derek Shelton’s deal weren’t released when he was hired as Pittsburgh’s manager in November 2019.  If Shelton was given a three-year contract (a pretty standard pact for a first-time manager), he’d now be entering his last guaranteed year.  Since the Pirates are still rebuilding, Shelton isn’t under much pressure to start winning games immediately, so it doesn’t seem at this point like his job is in any danger.

Rangers: Another speculative case, as president of baseball operations Jon Daniels signed a contract extension back in June 2018, lengthening a deal that was set to expire at the end of the 2018 campaign.  If that extension happened to be a four-year pact, then, Daniels has only one year remaining.  While Daniels has spent much of his most recent contract rebuilding the roster, this winter’s massive spending splurge is a clear sign that Texas is ready to start winning.  One would guess that ownership wouldn’t sign off on hundreds of millions in player contracts if they had any misgivings about keeping Daniels around, so another extension wouldn’t be a surprise.  Daniels is quietly one of baseball’s longest-tenured front office bosses, as he has been running the Rangers’ baseball ops department since October 2005, when he was only 28 years old.

Rockies: Bud Black is entering his sixth and what might be his final year as Rockies manager, as his three-year contract expires at season’s end.  New GM Bill Schmidt has indicated that the team might explore a new deal with Black, and since Schmidt is a longtime member of Colorado’s front office, the Rockies might not have the disconnect that sometimes exists between an incumbent skipper and a new front office boss who wants their own hire running the dugout.  Even though owner Dick Monfort is known for his loyalty to familiar employees, managers don’t have quite as much slack — both Walt Weiss and Jim Tracy (Black’s predecessors) resigned from the Rockies’ managerial post after four seasons apiece.

Royals: Like Shelton, Mike Matheny was also hired following the 2019 season, so this would be the final guaranteed year of Matheny’s deal if he signed a three-year term.  That said, Matheny might have gotten a longer deal, owing to his past experience as manager of the Cardinals, and due to his standing as something of a manager-in-waiting in Kansas City with Ned Yost on the verge of retirement.  The Royals were aggressive last winter but managed only a 74-88 record in 2021, and if the team again doesn’t take a step forward, there could be some whispers about whether or not Matheny is the right choice for the manager’s job.  Then again, president of baseball operations Dayton Moore has traditionally been big on institutional loyalty, so Matheny’s job isn’t necessarily on the line if the Royals don’t at least crack the .500 mark.

Twins: Manager Rocco Baldelli received a four-year contract with multiple club options when he was hired following the 2018 season, so Baldelli is now entering his final guaranteed year.  The existence of those club options puts Baldelli under team control through at least 2024, yet while Baldelli isn’t a true lame duck, he does face some pressure in getting the Twins on track following a very disappointing season.  If the Twins underachieve again, Baldelli might be on the hot seat, though he did lead Minnesota to the postseason in his first two years as skipper.

White Sox: Another team that doesn’t publicize management contracts, both executive VP Kenny Williams and GM Rick Hahn signed extensions in 2017 of unspecified length.  Since that time, the duo has overseen a rebuild and a payroll increase that has thus far resulted in playoff appearances in both 2020 and 2021, though the White Sox have yet to win a series.  Though owner Jerry Reinsdorf is definitely aiming to capture another championship, it seems like it would take a major collapse for him to think about replacing Williams or Hahn, who have each been with the franchise for decades.  Depending on their contractual status, Williams and Hahn could even be in line for extensions, if such deals haven’t already quieted been inked.

Yankees: As any Bronx fan can tell you, the Yankees have gone 12 seasons without as much as an AL pennant, though the club has reached the playoffs nine times in that span and always posted winning records.  Despite this relative title drought by Yankees standards, owner Hal Steinbrenner appears satisfied with the work done by longtime GM Brian Cashman, and there doesn’t appear to be much chance of a front office change.  It may be quite a while before we hear whether or not Cashman is officially staying, as several of his contracts have been settled either around the end of the season, or sometimes well into the offseason.  Cashman’s last deal (a five-year, $25MM contract covering the 2018-22 campaigns) wasn’t fully put into place until December 2017.

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