Brian Cashman has been in the news the last few days because of the way Aaron Judge’s contract negotiations ended (for now) with the Yankees, the slugger and the team unable to come to a long-term extension before Judge’s Opening Day deadline.
Cashman told Carton & Roberts on WFAN Monday that he knows he’ll “get another bite of the apple” when Judge becomes a free agent after the season, and is open to talking to Judge’s reps in-season, too, if there’s any change on either side.
Here’s the thing: Cashman’s current contract is up after this season, too, so that may muddy the waters a little bit in theory…unless you’re him, and in the Yankees’ know.
“I have a job to do while I’m employed to do it, and will try to do it to the best of my ability: put together a team fans will enjoy and the Steinbrenners will be happy with,” Cashman said. “I’ve had no negotiations (on a new contract), but normally, those don’t usually happen until the end of the year. That’s usually the way the process works here, with the manager, the general manager, and everyone on the staff, and we all know that.”
Cashman took over as the Yankees’ general manager in 1998, and 2022 is his 37th year in the organization. It’s the only employer he has ever known, but the Yankees’ current drought of 11 years (and counting) between pennants (and World Series titles) is the longest the team has endured since the Mattingly era, when the team went 15 seasons between the 1981 World Series and their 1996 title.
Since reaching the World Series for the first time in 1921, in fact, the Yankees have gone more than three seasons without reaching the Fall Classic just four times – and Cashman has presided over two of those, the spans from 2001-09 and ’09 until now.
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So, the pressure may be on, but Cashman thinks he’s built a team built for October once again.
“I think it is a championship caliber roster, but stating that is easy, because at the end of the day, quite a few teams can make those same statements, and there’s a long season to play out,” the GM said. “That’s what makes this sport so amazing; things can change drastically, but we have a great team that without a doubt will take a run at this thing. We just have to wait until the end of the book to find out how it compares to the field.”
He’s learned, though, that he can only control what he can control – so, he doesn’t worry about things like, say, the Yankees possibly missing some players in series played in Toronto because of Canada’s vaccine mandates.
“One thing experience has taught me is that you can only focus on what’s in your control. When I first started this job, I lost all my hair worrying about every little thing, and I’ve learned over time to temper those things out of my control,” Cashman said. “In this case, all I can do is educate and process, and whatever will be will be. My concern right now is we have 10 games in a row and our starters aren’t stretched out, so we’re trying to navigate a 16-man pitching staff and managing their workloads.”
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