The Last Standing Brian Cashman Apologist

Ever since Brian Cashman took over as the General Manager of the New York Yankees in 1998 he has enjoyed success. While much of that success came early on in his tenure and in large part due to the late George Steinbrenner’s checkbook the Yankees GM has reinvented himself in recent years with his new found power and control over the personnel decisions for the team. Every once in a while we see shades of The Boss in owner Hal Steinbrenner while he is signing a Rafael Soriano or contributing to a second Alex Rodriguez contract, and honestly we probably always will see these types of moves from the higher ups, but we can now say with confidence that overall this is Cashman’s team. For better or worse.

New York Yankees fans are some of the most passionate, and subsequently some of the most emotional, fans in all the world and come with some of the harshest and toughest criticisms you will ever hear. Any fan can go on Twitter, Facebook, Yankees Lohud or your favorite social media site or blog to make a comment or ask a question about a trade or signing involving the Yankees and you are bound to get a flurry of responses. Some of those responses will generally be positive but for the most part those opinions have turned negative regarding Cashman and his decision making. Truth be told I’m not sure why. On a long enough timeline, and Cashman has had one of the longest timeline’s as a GM I have seen in my lifetime for a GM in Major League Baseball, every GM acquires Javier Vazquez twice and signs Carl Pavano for nine wins, four years and $40 million… right?

Cashman has not made those same mistakes this offseason as the Yankees GM has continued to stockpile young talent, hard throwing pitchers and depth at almost every position. Many fans expected Cashman to fold under the pressure and give ludicrous contracts to Brandon McCarthy or insane trade packages for broken Troy Tulowitzki's but instead he got creative and made some trades. Instead of yet another question mark and a ton of salary in Tulo New York acquired a young and promising shortstop in Didi Gregorius and a perfectly capable stopgap in the fifth starter slot in Chris Capuano. Instead of setting the team back even further with another asinine contract for Max Scherzer the Yankees instead stayed the course, stuck to the plan and showed a willingness to rebuild on the fly. There is a finish line, and it conveniently ends when his current contract does after the 2017 season, and for the first time in over 20 seasons the Yankees can see it. The team cannot see that because Randy Levine jumped in and demanded a $12 million AAV for a 7th inning pitcher, the team can see it because of the work Cashman has done since he was given full control over player decisions and personnel.  

Another common complaint against the Yankees GM is the lack of player development and a farm system. While for a long time that was an absolutely legitimate concern and gripe the tides are turning down on the farm finally and we may now be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. MLB Pipeline is releasing their Top 10 lists per position right before Spring Training and the Yankees have a Top 10 RHP in Luis Severino, a Top 10 2B in Robert Refsnyder, a Top 10 1B in Greg Bird and will presumably have a Top 10 outfielder in Aaron Judge. Also Kylie McDaniel, a former Yankees scout and current member of Fangraphs, even went as far as to name the Yankees the 10th best farm in all of baseball and possibly the "deepest in the game." The rankings and the write ups from McDaniels and others makes for a pretty good farm system without even mentioning the likes of Gary Sanchez, Ian Clarkin and the slew of International free agent signings the team has made in the last two or three seasons. 

For better or worse this is finally Cashman's team and in a couple seasons when the plan is complete and has come to fruition I may longer be the last standing apologist for the Yankees GM.