History with Brian Cashman even if Yankees' frailty isn't
I have seen this press gathering before.
At least once a year for the past quarter century, at a time of perceived crisis, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman metaphorically perp walks through the haze of questions that come with his mega-team at a time of struggle. In some form, he is asked why does this area of your team stink, who is culpable and what is going to be done about it? He generally offers patience and perspective; both of which tend to only further antagonize his many fire-Cashman detractors.
Nothing much was different Wednesday. Cashman sat in the home dugout before the Yankees played the Guardians and absorbed 25 minutes of inquiries into injuries, underperformance and more injuries. At the moment he chatted, his Yankees were 16-15, not, say, 10-20 like the NL Central-favorite Cardinals.
Then the Yankees went to 17-15 with a 4-3, 10-inning win over the Guardians in which two of the injury fill-ins, Willie Calhoun and Jake Bauers, had their best at-bats, this being 2023 they lost two more players (Harrison Bader and Oswald Peraza) to injury in a ninth inning in which the home crowd chanted, “Fire [Aaron] Boone.” Again, the Yankees won the game. They are 17-15.
Expectations are just different around here.
There is little tolerance even in early May for last May despite an over-.500 record, especially with the offense miserable and injury list at 12 bodies and more than $150 million in 2023 luxury-tax obligation. So Cashman defended the process by which the Yankees procure players and physically care for them and insisted multiple times that it is a long season and implored: “Don’t count us out, don’t give up on us. We’ve got a good group of people, player-wise, staff-wise, support staff-wise. It’s a championship-caliber operation from that perspective, but we’re not currently flying at the level that we would have expected because we’re missing some really important pieces.”
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
There have been plenty of times in Cashman’s 25 seasons in which he gave this kind of crisis commentary and I was dubious — as if what else was he going to say when it felt like the quicksand was too thick for this team to escape. Yet, his Yankees have always found a way to contend and in all but four seasons make the playoffs. So I would not bet against that happening again.
A return by Carlos Rodon and Luis Severino could make an already strong run prevention ironclad. Aaron Judge is due back next week and Giancarlo Stanton by the end of May. And there is something in the Yankees DNA to win even when not playing particularly well.
Conversely, I also would not bet on this group. Because this feels like more than a five-week malaise. The Yankees reached their high-water mark last season at 61-23 on July 8. Since then, including the postseason, they were 57-61 going into Wednesday.
To Cashman’s “long season” emphasis, perhaps the Yankees are going to assemble their 61-23 later in the season. But what beset the Yankees in the second half last season — injuries and an offensive overreliance on Judge — hasn’t vanished. After the All-Star break last season, Judge had a 1.286 OPS. The rest of the team was .652. That was with a healthy, historic Judge. This season Judge has been good and now injured and the collective OPS is .678. Cashman added no lineup impact and lost Andrew Benintendi and Matt Carpenter. And when I cited the record since last year’s peak, Cashman noted it is unfair because of the flood of injuries since.
Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge are just two of the injury hurdles already tripping up the Yankees. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
But that’s the problem. Will there ever be a magic moment when all the key components are healthy? Or will Judge come back and the inevitable back malady strike Anthony Rizzo? Will Stanton come back, but DJ LeMahieu break down for a third straight year? And how long will Stanton stay healthy or Severino or Rodon? History says not long.
Cashman’s high-profile personnel moves from the 2021 trade deadline until today have mostly not gone well. They are replete with ineffectiveness or injuries and depleted upper-level talent that sure would be helpful for the 2023 team as internal support or for further trades.
For a team with a near $300 million payroll, the Yankees are at the mercy of their two most expensive players, Judge and Gerrit Cole. The distribution of talent up and down the roster is not nearly as good as that of the Rays and Blue Jays, and since the Orioles and Red Sox are hardly knockovers, the division is going to be difficult to navigate from bottom to top with so much physical and performance uncertainty.
History tells us to trust Cashman’s call not to give up on the Yankees. That they will find a way, at least in the regular season.
But the quicksand feels thick again in 2023.
Source: New York Post
