BT and Sal welcomed David Cone to the show, and he was completely understanding of the vocal corner of the Yankee fanbase that is frustrated with the direction of the franchise in recent years, and some of the decisions that have been made.
“This is a fanbase that grew up with George Steinbrenner…speaking on the fans’ behalf, I totally get it,” Cone said. “The Aaron Hicks contract, they counted on him a lot…then he goes to Baltimore and kind of picks it up a bit. Kind of makes you wonder. The Joey Gallo trade, it just did not work out. There’s been a series of moves that you look back on and go ‘Wait a minute,’ going all the way back to the Justin Verlander trade in 2017. Even before that, going back to Jacoby Ellsbury.
“From a fan standpoint, you say ‘Hey, wait a minute, we had Brett Gardner, why did we sign Jacoby Ellsbury? We had Aaron Judge, why did we trade for Giancarlo Stanton?’ the list goes on and on. ‘Why wasn’t Bryce Harper in the mix? Why didn’t we talk to his camp? What about Manny Machado?’”
Cone noted that the Yankees have been a mediocre team since the second half of last season, and clearly are very flawed without Aaron Judge. That mediocrity leads to louder questions about the construction of the roster, and Cone can see the argument from both sides.
“I know Brian Cashman would refute that and say ‘Here was out thinking at the time, here is what we thought, here were our bets at the time, it didn’t pay off,’” Cone said. “’But we made these decisions based on our internal information.’ And I get it.”
BT countered with the opinion that Cashman has missed on far more moves than he has hit on in recent years, and is seemingly content with just being in the playoff picture, to which Cone wouldn’t argue, acknowledging that it is a different time, with a different mindset, in the Bronx.
“It’s certainly valid,” Cone said of BT’s response. “[Cashman] would say ‘We haven’t had a losing season in over 20 years.’ There’s a difference between having a process in place and being sustainable and competitive every year, and the old guard of George Steinbrenner, ‘No, we have to win. Everything less than a World Series is a bust.’ That’s sort of the difference.”
WFAN MIDDAY
Follow WFAN's midday team on Twitter: @BTandSal, @BrandonTierney, @sal_licata, and @HoffWFAN
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
Listen live to WFAN:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker (just say ‘Play W-F-A-N’)