Brian Cashman’s annual rappel down the Landmark Building in Stamford, Connecticut, is usually a good chance to gauge the Yankees GM’s mind heading into MLB’s Winter Meetings.
However, with MLB locked out and those Winter Meetings currently off the table, Cashman, known to be one of the more loquacious in the game, had to give a version of “no comment” when asked about anything field-related due to the lockout.
"I really can’t comment on anything Major League Baseball-wise," Cashman said atop the roof of the Landmark Building before his practice rappel Friday morning. "I cannot speak to anything regarding the industry currently. So I’m taking my orders from above and I will take those very seriously."
Cashman had the same convo with FOX News Channel meteorologist Adam Klotz while the two were on air for FOX and Friends’ morning show during their practice rappel.
“We’ll see what happens over the course of time, but you know, I got to kick that to the powers that be above me,” Cashman said after joking that ‘I don’t want to break my job’ during Klotz’s questioning.
One thing he could answer: Klotz asked whether his annual rappels was scarier than dealing with Yankees fans, and, well…apparently not!
“Dealing with the Yankees fans actually is scarier because obviously they’re hard to keep happy, so they deserve to be happy,” the GM joked.
Other than those moments, the only things GMs can do right now are engage players on minor-league deals (including the Rule 5 Draft, which apparently will go on for at least the minor-league phase as scheduled next week), and address openings on their coaching staffs.
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That latter item is still on Cashman’s agenda, as the Yankees still have to replace first base coach Reggie Willits – the team hired Luis Rojas last month to replace third base coach Phil Nevin – and will look to hire three hitting coaches to replace the Marcus Thames/P.J. Pilittere tandem, as well as two more pitching coaches to work under Matt Blake.
Those moves could come soon, Cashman intimated.
"I feel like we are down the tracks with our major league coaching staff," Cashman said. "We're dotting I's and crossing the T’s. That's something that will be revealed here, if it's permissible, at some point."
Those latter five spots represent a 100 percent increase for the Yankees, who had one pitching coach and two hitting coaches in 2020, but Cashman believes giving each position three and three is the future of the industry.
"I think that the industry has expanded and changed over the course of time with technology and analytics and, and obviously, biomechanics, along with collaboration with the strength and conditioning department in the training room, that it's become incumbent for people to consider at least expanding their staffs because there's so much more ability to try to assist and impact an individual player with all that type information," Cashman said. "So it takes time to assemble it."
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