The Yankees are working on a contract extension with general manager Brian Cashman, whose current deal expires at the end of October, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney. Reports have previously indicated that the longtime Bombers GM wasn’t in danger of losing his role despite the fact that the Yankees missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season this year.
Cashman, 47, has been the Yankees’ general manager since 1998, but this is the first time in his tenure — and the first time since 1992-93, as Olney points out — that the team has missed the playoffs in successive seasons. Nonetheless, Cashman’s strong standing with the Steinbrenner family and the organization’s overall success under his watch has him in line for a new contract.
The Yankees were derailed by a barrage of injuries to the rotation this season, as CC Sabathia missed most of the season with a knee injury, Ivan Nova underwent Tommy John surgery, Michael Pineda missed much of the year with a shoulder injury and rookie ace Masahiro Tanaka missed nearly three months with a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament. The Yankees also saw disappointing returns on major free agent investments Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran. Lesser free agents such as Brian Roberts, Kelly Johnson and Brendan Ryan also scuffled. Jacoby Ellsbury, the largest non-pitching acquisition of last offseason, provided a generally strong season, hitting .271/.328/.419 with 16 homers and 39 steals.
From a player performance standpoint, Girardi and Cashman need to re-instill the hard-nosed mentality in the current crop of players that is missing without guys like Mo, Pettite and now without Jeter. Gardner and Ellsbury, for example, seemed to lose interest when the team began struggling, as both had very good numbers throughout the season, only to see them nosedive in the last month or so. Both hovered around .300 for most of the year, only to end at .253 and .271, respectively.
Gardner, and Ellsbury for that matter struggled with injuries towards the end.
the NY Yankees need a hitting coach that teaches the basics-hit the ball up the middle/make contact. this team is a pull the ball hitting team-the entire league knows it. that’s why they’ve had a tough time scoring runs. Mark Teixeira despite being hurt is NOT a .225-.229 hitter even on the downside he still should 50/60 points higher. so how do you beat the 2014 Yankees? don’t let them pull the ball make them chase balls out of the strike zone score a few runs win the game.
The hitting coach can’t make the players younger. That is the drawback having older players and not building with the farm system. Older players are more prone to injury and have declining skills.
No. I am sorry He is at fault here. His mentality has always been power power power. Granderson turned into a power hitter with a low average why? Because of Long. Arod cant hit the ball anymore why? Because he forgot to learn to hit the other way? McCann comes over here and he tells him stop using the top tap He tries to not do it for 3 games he goes 0 for 11. He then relaxes goes back to the top tap and gets hot at the end of the year and Long probably takes credit for it. Texiera comes as .300 hitter yes hes battled injuries but hes not 220 hitter. The yankees did not score runs. They blamed the injuries and why they finished like they did last year on the strength and conditioning coach. He was fired. Same thing happens this year. Injuries and people cant hit. Sorry things need to change starting with Kevin Long.
Who has kevin long ever made a better hitter? Old, young, whatever. All I see is players having down years when they come to the Yankees. He is a terrible hitting coach and should be the first gone.
Yankees have 172 million committed to players in 2015, and they’ll most likely miss the playoffs again. How do you handcuff a team and then get a contract extension?
Because the team has made the post season on a consistent basis during his tenure. It’s a very short sighted view to just look at last year, no?
Also, the off season has just started (not even officially), and you’re already writing the team off. Assumptions assumptions.
And the obvious reason to your question is because ownership was either partnered, or gave direct instruction to throw big money at free agents. So how can they blame anyone else?
Agreed. Considering 3 of the biggest contracts that are “handcuffing them” played a big role in 2009’s World Series title certainly balances out the equation a little.
Exactly right.
He has been the GM since 1998. How many other teams have only missed the playoffs 3 times in that span?
How will they most likely miss the playoffs again? Why don’t we wait until we see what they do. They weren’t a 100 loss team, they were 4 games out of the last playoff spot. That doesn’t take an overhaul to make up that ground. That takes a few tweaks.
you can’t blame Cashman, Randy Levine has allot to do with spending the money. AND Cashman has been overruled plenty of times.
if this team hit a little better regardless of the injuries they would have made the playoffs.
Not all of those bad contracts were Cashman’s idea, and besides that, these are the Yankees. They make so much money that they really don’t care about bad contracts. Teixeira and CC’s deals look awful now, but without them, the Yankees don’t win the World Series in 2009. That World Series was worth more to them than the dead money on the ends of those deals.
Cash an stays as he should. Look at what he did at the deadline. He showed us he can go after that non superstar and get results. Something I hope he starts doing moving forward.
It must be hard work overpaying veterans and never having to worry about how to use first round picks.
Well they did so much this year with so little. That includes the highest offseason spending spree… by far…
If we break it down that way anything is easy. If must be so hard for sandy, luhnow, and Epstein to lose year after year, in pursuit of a competitive future.
I see this is going to cause some piling on. I think the Yankees could use a top to bottom review of their macro strategy, and would benefit from a respected new voice. But I’m also somewhat amused by fans of other large market teams who also signed players to expensive long term contracts (and, in certain cases, have themselves bailed out by their rich California cousins) and then talk about frugality and good judgement.
Didn’t know the Dodgers were cousins. Genetic engineering at its finest. Have the feeling you were less amused by the 2013 results.
Two-way street, dude. One of those players that the Red Sox sent to their “rich California cousins” just won the NL RBI title and hit 26 home runs in a place where people don’t hit anything. That deal helped both teams.
The Red Sox pulled that deal off because they were willing to basically give the Dodgers A-Gon to get Crawford and Beckett (and their contracts) off the roster along with him. The Yankees could probably make a similar deal with someone if they would package Gardner and some cash along with one of the bad contracts to another large-market team. Or they could swap a bad contract for another bad contract if they could identify a player who might turn around hitting in Yankee Stadium.
Fire Kevin Long and watch the batting averages rise.
I don’t think it’s that simple.
Kevin Long is good at helping players on their power swing. Granderson is one of the examples I know of for a player that sought his guidance, yeah he ended up having two consecutive 40 plus home run seasons but his batting average took a dive. This season Gardner became a power hitter and his BA took a dive, Ellsbury got some power back as well and notice his BA was down also. Alot of our recent acquisitions who spend any lengthy amount of time seem with Long seem to have the same issue. Tex being one of the most notable.
“This season Gardner became a power hitter and his BA took a dive”
Really, really unfair assessment for a few reasons.
1. Long has been Gardner’s hitting coach his entire ML career. Did they just start working together this year?
2. Gardner was hitting around .290 until he got the hernia issue. He slumped badly after that.
Alot of the players on the team do their own thing and approach Long when they want advice like Granderson. Long doesn’t seem to seek them out for instruction as if it was a team of young players, he’s dealing with mostly veterans that might want advice but don’t feel like they need instruction. On that note Gardner might not have worked with long much before the season, Gardner didn’t just develop a power swing out of thin air especially at the age of 30. He hit 17 HR this year, it took him the 4 previous seasons (2010-2013) just to it 20. He hit more HR’s this year then his past 3 seasons combined with 595 less plate appearances.
He’s the hitting coach. Even if he’s not constantly tinkering with every player on the roster, the idea that Gardner never “worked with him” is absolutely insane.
As to the power, Gardner has noticably put on muscle in the past few years and he plays in Yankee Stadium. He doesn’t need to have huge power to hit a few out.
You also didn’t respond to my point about Gardner hitting .290 prior to the injury.
Your narrative that Gardner worked with Long for the first time in his career, hit for power and his BA dropped as a result just doesn’t work when we actually take a look at what happened this season…
You twisting my words, I never said Gardner never worked with him, I said word for word he may have not worked with him as much. Usually a batting coach would want to see more of a player anyway before they start having them make adjustments. Gardner was injured most of 2012 and missed alot of 2010. In 2013 the Yankees set a franchise record for the having the most different players on the roster than any other season, I think it was about 60 so Long would have had alot more people to work with then being able to dedicate more time to a single player as he could have this year. Gardner is just one example you used but he was still hitting them out of the park after the injury.
Alright, so lets assume that you’re correct… Long attempted to completely overhaul Gardner for the first time in 2014.
How do you explain the fact that he was hitting .290 WITH power before getting injured (after which he hit around .200 with no power)?
Surely something was working prior to the injury.
If it was his first time working with Long on a regular basis obviously his batting average wouldn’t dive the first day. Gardner batted .290 in the month of May and every other month was lower. And as I’m looking up his stats he only hit 2 home runs that month. He hit the most homers in July (7) when his average started to dip. His average started off strong as usual but who knows as he adapted his swing his average did go down and he hit more homers per month as the season progressed. He only hit one in April/March.
Fire Rob Thomson and we’d score more runs and/or wouldn’t get runners thrown out at home on a daily basis. I believe I heard the Yankees led the league this year in that.
This is the move that needs to be made, watching him make bad sends over and over is infuriating.
Does higher BA with less power lead to more runs scored though? Questionable. I’m not saying Long should be 100% safe, just playing Devil’s advocate.
yea. There is probably better hitting coach out there, but are they all under contract with other teams? There is no point making a move just because. The hitting coach can’t do everything, they can only prepare, after that it is up to the player.
People have been saying for the last several years the Yankees rely too much on the home run and it’s true.
And now they hit no homers and can’t score any runs at all.
Because there’s no one on base, half the team is hitting .215. A-rod and Teix arent the home run threats they use to be or arent in the lineup because of injuries or suspension. We have to find other ways to score. Having Ellsbury and Gardner at the top of the lineup will help for the 1 and 2 slots in the lineup. Put Prado in the 3 slot (since he is a consistent hitter) and I think that would bring in alot more runs.
Well deserved after another wonderful season.
Can’t fault Cashman for injuries. Last year it was nearly their entire lineup, this year it was everyone in their rotation but Kuroda.
I think you can make strong cases for keeping him And finding someone else
.271/.328/.419 for $22 mil is “generally strong?”
Yeah his entire slash line was below his career numbers, though is OPS+ was 111 which is higher than his career OPS+ of 108. He also played 149 games, the most since 2011 and the 3rd highest amount of games he’s played in a season in his career
As of now, I wouldn’t say Ellsbury has been a disappointment, though I’m also not saying he’s been worth that what will be sooner or later an albatross contract.
I still don’t get the contract. He is a fine player, but it made no sense for me to pay the premium to get an up the middle player, when you already have one in Gardner. Is like signing a shortstop when you already have a good one. Should have saved money for a real corner outfielder.
While I agree, what other free agent would there have been? I’m glad we stayed away from Hamilton and Choo although there were alot of rumors the Yankees targeted Choo.
They offered Choo the same contract as Ellsbury.
Don’t get it either but in the end he’s one reason we even had a winning season. I’d still take Ellsburys contract over Cano’s.
a sign of the times. Offense is just going down the drain.
I don’t believe McCann under performed. In fact statistically he out performed his last two years in Atlanta. He hit 23 HR and drove in 75 which again is about average for his career. He started off slowly for sure, but by the end of the season, his numbers were solid and he became one of their best run producers. Compare that to last year’s catchers and even the Russell Martin years and I think you will find a distinct improvement offensively at the catcher position this year. The Yankees got exactly what they paid for in McCann this year.
He definitely underperformed. Lower BA, far lower OBP and SLG despite playing a lot of games at Yankee Stadium. He only hit 4 HR away from Yankee Stadium.
Compared to last year yes, though he had a better season this year than he did in 2012.
Wasn’t that a big slumpy season from him? I seem to recall that. He also wasn’t much better this year, either. This was arguably his 2nd or 3rd worst year in the majors, no?
Look at his last four years in Atlanta. Average them out and then compare to this year. He did this year pretty much what he always has done. They got exactly what they paid for.
Not true. OPS+ of 124, 122, 87, 118. This year, 94. Lower WARs. Again, lower BA, far lower OBP and SLG. Again: 4 HR away from Yankee Stadium. He definitely underperformed.
Not really. hr/rbi isn’t the way to assess his season. He still had the power, but he wasn’t getting on base enough for the people behind him to do anything.
I’m sort of surprised this hasn’t become similar to the events leading to Torre’s departure. Has Cashman got results in the past? Yes, but so did Torre. The smell of his brand has grown stale and it’s time for the NYY to find someone else to stink up the Bronx Zoo.
I think that the Steinbrenners much like the fans have blamed the recent “failures” on injuries and you certainly can’t fault anyone for a player getting hurt. Heck, one pitch can end an entire career.
Plus who knows what really goes on behind closed doors when the Yankees give out a big contract. Sometimes the Steinbrenners just do all the ruling over him (A-Rod, Rafael Soriano, Alfonso Soriano). Also I think Cashman has made some excellent trades for the team (yes he’s made some bad ones like every GM has. No one is perfect).
I can see the Yankees keeping Cashman until the team has a record like the Red Sox and Phillies the last few years (except the 2013 Red Sox for obvious reasons).
Fair points. You can definitely blame him in part for some of the injuries since he signs old people though much of that is bad luck.
He doesn’t draft particularly well. That’s the problem.
The Yankees have actually gotten a good amount of value out of the draft recently, with much more on the horizon. Just not with the high picks, and they haven’t really had all that many high picks. Hard to hit them too hard when the success rate for late first-rounders is well below 50/50.
The real problem has been with developing the tools-heavy, unpolished type of players, which unfortunately was all they were drafting in the high rounds for quite a while. The Yankees didn’t realize their own weaknesses, and it resulted in drafts that were incongruous to their organizational strengths. Hopefully they’ve recognized that weakness and now will be drafting more college players like Refsnyder and Judge, whom they excel at getting the most out of. They are also excellent at drafting high-leverage relievers, and with Girardi at the helm, excellent at keeping them effective. I’d wager the Yankees are among the best at finding value in the later rounds.
Meh, the only reason Yankee’s farm gets knocked so hard is because of the lack of a marquee offensive talent. From Low A to AA Yankee’s pitching is 4th or better at run prevention at their respective levels. They will have some home grown pitching in a few years making it to the show. A lot of interesting pitching talent in the low minors.
Yeah I know they don’t draft very well, though technically it’s not very easy when you’re lucky to even have a single first round pick each year. Their 2013 draft was excellent and many said they got a steal with Lindgren last year (who was about pick #53 overall, give or take).
But yeah you’re pretty much right, though the scouts should be at fault just as much as the GM there and I believe the Yankees are making or have already made some changes to their scouting team.
A little harsh, Rev. A pungent bouquet doesn’t limit itself to just a borough of New York. It may also be found in areas that were once marshlands….
I think Cashman mishandled a number of things over the past several years:
1) Cano–it is wrong to stop the conversation just because Seattle gave him such a crazy contract. I believe the Yankees could have tied Cano up two years earlier (as most teams have done with their superstars) for a lot less than eventually was paid to him. I realize Boras was his agent but not every Boras client goes to free agency. Cashman believed that if Cano didn’t have to play for a contract he would be very difficult to manage and “hustle” even less than he was. Bad decision.
2) Free Agent Signings: Perhaps the ownership pushed his hand but to sign Beltran at his age, with his injury problems was a mistake. Ellsbury’s contract will hamstring the team in much the same way C.C.’s does now within two years. McCann is a terrible hitter on the road although the team was in a desperate position at catcher so the move made more sense than Beltran and Ellsbury at the time.
3. The Yankees need to start fresh with a new GM. Rebuilding by “blowing” it up is certainly not an option because the “shrapnel” can not be traded. Still, someone who can jump start the farm system and has done it somewhere else would be a welcome addition.