Brian Cashman did not satisfy the appetite of Yankees fans looking for a splash at the trade deadline. Still, he’s dead on the pulse of his team…
Brian Cashman sat still in the Yankees war room as the minutes counted down to the end of the trading season.
With 29 other teams, he watched in amazement with the rest of us as the Houston Astros pulled off the biggest coup of the day, adding Zack Greinke to an already formidable starting staff led by Justin Verlander.
Spoiled by Cashman’s magic at the deadline in previous years, Yankees fans struggle to understand Cashman’s inability to add pitching to a starting rotation and bullpen that cries for help. Or so the thinking went.
But Brian Cashman “gets it.” He always has. He gets that you don’t need to scour the dredges of dates to the Senior Prom – merely to attend the dance. Cashman also understands that sometimes the trades you don’t make are just as significant and profitable as the ones you do make.
Brian Cashman: Seeing Through The Charade
Cashman was also quick to recognize that many of the “names” put out there by selling teams and the media weren’t (really) out there at all. Which is why Robbie Ray, Matthew Boyd, Mike Minor, and the rest of them are still with their teams today.
If pressed into action in a panic mode to meet fans expectations, Cashman would easily have put together a boatload of prospects to meet the demands of teams holding rights to this pedestrian group of pitchers. As if these same fans would rejoice when Aaron Boone names Matthew Boyd as the starter in Game 3 of the ALCS.
He could have. Some say he should have. Still, others lament Cashman’s inability to sweep in as he always has, to land Greinke. Even though Greinke has a firm no-trade clause and prior acknowledgment he would never accept a trade to the Yankees. So, why bother?
In his own words, here’s Brian Cashman…(17:52)
Furthermore, Brian Cashman sees a perspective on the Houston Astros that put their backs to the wall, forcing a deal that adds millions of dollars to their budget. He recognized the anxiousness of the Astros to fortify their staff now, anticipating the impending free agency of Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley, comprising 40% of their rotation.
While the Astros are pressured to win now, given what their team might look like next year, Brian Cashman sees a Yankees team that is built for the future as well as the present. And nothing precludes the possibility of the Yankees pursuing Hyun-Jin Ryu, Stephen Strasburg, Dallas Keuchel, and a host of others who is listed as free agent pitchers come November. Hell, Gerrit Cole can even be stolen from these same Astros for the right price.
Yankees: Forward March…
The inaction of Cashman means the Yankees go with what they have from here forward. Dellin Betances and Luis Severino figure prominently in the Yankees plans as they continue with their rehabs with no specific date set for their return. Uncertainty exists, and because it does, Cashman can easily be left holding the bag if his gamble doesn’t pan out.
But as Yankees reliever Zach Britton recalls:
So there you have it. If you didn’t like this Yankees team and their starting staff before, you wouldn’t like them any better now.
Brian Cashman knocked on doors. He didn’t like who answered. So he took his ball and went home — a novelty of sorts – but the right move at the right time for these New York Yankees.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
