Yankees GM Brian Cashman calls this season 'a disaster'
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman talks with the media before a game against the Nationals at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Brian Cashman swears he’s still the guy to fix the Yankees.
In a 22-minute news conference on Wednesday, Cashman called the Yankees season “a disaster” once, “horrific” twice, added that the entire organization is “embarrassed,” and even cursed twice.
“[Expletive] happens,” Cashman said. “And a lot of it’s happened.”
Cashman acknowledged the obvious, that the Yankees have only “a minute” chance of making the playoffs. After they snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 9-1 victory over Washington on Wednesday, the Yankees are 61-65 and are 9 1/2 games out of the final AL wild-card spot. The Yankees are on pace for their first losing season since 1992.
“It's been a disaster this season,” Cashman said. “Definitely a shock. Certainly, I don't think anybody on our side of the fence, from our player group or coaches or even outside the organization, would have predicted this.”
Cashman, who has been the Yankees general manager since 1998 and is in the first year of a four-year contract extension, said he and owner Hal Steinbrenner are going to conduct a review of the entire organization to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it fast.
“We're going to evaluate it all, clearly,” Cashman said. “Unfortunately, we're going have some time to do that. But I'd say everybody's had a little bit of a hand in it, from top to bottom, and it's our job to find out where (things went wrong). Obviously, that's what we're going to be up to and tasked with. Met with Hal Steinbrenner on several occasions already. This is not something we're accustomed to or used to. There's definitely going to be a lot of internal assessments going on.”
Asked why he and his lieutenants should be the ones to lead those assessments, Cashman said: “Well, that's the job we have. So we'll do everything in our power to fix it . . . I think we've had a pretty good track record here. We've had a real good run of success. But at the same time, this is not an easy sport. Nothing's guaranteed. I don't think there's anybody in this planet that felt that the New York Yankees as constructed entering spring training or leaving spring training wasn't a playoff contending team.”
But the Yankees have collapsed. Cashman admitted “because of that there's a mess on our hands and while I have the power – which, you know, I don't have the power – but while I'm in the position I am, I'll do everything I can to try to clean it up and fix what’s broken or what has broken along the way.”
Of his record, Cashman said: “You can be proud of certain things. I'm certainly not proud of this season. I can tell you that right now. But I'm not here to make my case of why we should or we shouldn't. That’s somebody else's decision that’s above me. But I can tell you we're really, obviously, disappointed frustrated, angered . . . We've gone south. We've invited a lot of scrutiny, a lot of questions. Some of them will be legitimate, some of them will be [expletive]. But we’ve got to be professional and deal with all of it and try to sift through what's real and what's fake. Not looking forward to that because I'd rather be in a position of trying to prepare for advance scouting in the postseason and seeing how far we can take it. But right now, that’s certainly in a perilous state.”
Cashman’s most recent contract extension started this season, but Boone has only 2024 left on his contract.
Asked about Boone’s job security for next season, Cashman said: “I think we're all going to be evaluated. We're going to look at every aspect of the operation because that's what you have to do under these circumstances, and then that'll take us where it takes us. Nobody's happy here. We're better than this, but it's not played better than this. So we'll see. Stay tuned.”
Cashman earlier had said “Boonie’s doing everything he can possibly do. Just like all of us. We’re all trying.”
Boone, asked about his recent meetings with Steinbrenner, said: “I think he's certainly frustrated, obviously, as we all are. But I think we're all in this together and share that kind of same feeling.”
Cashman also acknowledged everything he and Boone have tried – including Cashman firing hitting coach Dillon Lawson in July, his first in-season axing of a coach – has failed.
Some Yankee fans have recently begun chanting “Fire Cashman” at the end of home losses. Cashman understands why.
“They want us to win,” Cashman said. “They're invested in this franchise. They're invested in our team and they're disappointed. Certainly, I hear them loud and clear. We're disappointed, too.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
