The 2021 MLB season was the first full one with just one trade deadline, and the week leading up to 4 p.m. Friday was one of the wildest in deadline history. It was an incredibly active one for the Yankees, who made five deals to add five new players to the 2021 club, and for general manager Brian Cashman, it was not only crazier as ever, but also perhaps better than ever.
“Trying to get common ground with others isn’t easy, but we were able to do that more this year,” Cashman said Friday afternoon after the deadline. “Some of the deadlines I’ve walked out disappointed with what we did or didn’t do, or glad with some of the things we didn’t do, but for whatever reason, we had more viable options this year, and I felt like we were able to match up more this year and found a number of deals we could say yes to.”
The Yankees are conscious of the $210 million luxury tax threshold, and while Cashman said that Hal Steinbrenner and ownership were willing to go over it if necessary, the Yankees were able to get the Rangers, Angels, and Cubs to all pay some or all of the salaries they sent to the Bronx for the remainder of 2021, maximizing what the team was able to do.
“The threshold is obviously something that there’s a benefit to stay under, but it wasn’t a detriment, and Hal has maintained every step of the way that if we were in a position to do something that would have an impact to such a level, that he would go over,” Cashman said. “We were checking into everything that was available on the marketplace, position players and pitchers, some with a lot of salary, some with no salary, so we tried to make sure we assessed every opportunity. The ones we secured, the teams we were engaged with were very open at the same time to providing that they’re not necessarily worried about the money, they’re looking for, obviously, the best value, so they’re showing with their poker hands early that they’re willing to pay the salaries.”
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But for those fans who may still be haters, Cashman noted that’s not a measure of the Yankees’ frugality, per se, but more a league-wide trend this season.
“I think you’ve seen throughout these trades around the game that most of these seem to have their deals being paid or paid down, so it’s not a Yankee thing, I think it’s an industry standard thing right now,” he said. “And, we didn’t have to give more players, or hit the talent pool harder, because we were getting money back.”
Cashman still thinks the Yankees’ farm system, as underrated as some may see it, still has “serious talent,” and he was happy he was able to keep some of the top prospects off the table.
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That said, though, it’s now up to the 25 men on the active roster, and all those on the 40-man, injured list, or in the minors who can supplement them, to go out and be the New York Yankees.
“We just haven’t performed up to our expectations, but I think we have great talented players, and we’ve been pushing ourselves into the arena of there’s no question that we’re in this,” Cashman said. “We’ve had some injuries and some underperformance, but bottom line is, they all have to come together on a consistent basis in a short period of time now to obviously navigate the landscape of the final two months of this season, see if we can take an opportunity to be special. And I know they’re capable of special things, we just have to prove it by earning it every day.”
And that, he noted, is why the Yankees were willing to do anything, and everything, they could or had to do to build a final roster they feel is capable of winning it all.
“Are we gonna sit back and just let it play out with what I think is an extremely talented playing roster as it is already, or do we acknowledge that it’s not good enough, despite the talent, and it needs more?” Cashman posited when asked what his strategy was. “This deadline was a lot different than other ones, where we might have had guys lined up, a record that put us in a driver’s seat, players coming off the IL at some point that you knew you could count on, etc.; in this case, there was a lot of areas that you could address and improve on, and our positioning is not where we need it to be. We’re right there, and we’re recognizing and acknowledging that, and because of that, we pushed more chips in the table to try to take care of our fans and take care of our team and take care of the opportunity that’s before us, which is a chance to make the playoffs and take a shot at the title.”
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Hopefully, that’s a redeeming end to a season where Cashman has already had to come out and flatly say the Yankees “stunk” at one point.
“When I addressed the frustrations of how the season had gone to that point, I said it’s up to me to try to do everything in our power to fix it. That was our commitment, and we’re trying to do that, and we’ll see how it plays out,” he said. “I know we’re better today than we were yesterday, but I also know everybody got better here in the last week or so. It’s gonna be fun to watch how it all plays out if you’re a baseball fan, so we’re excited about the opportunity before us, because I think we can do some damage and get back into this thing. We just have to win as many baseball games as we possibly can over the next two months.”
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