Yankees GM Brian Cashman hears the ever-changing beat of the drums. But they all point to the same thing. The season is timed out, and it’s time to go home.
The Yankees tried their best to keep hopes alive that there would still be some form of fantasy baseball to tune into at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida.
Initially, Yankees players on the 25-man roster voted unanimously as a team to remain in Florida. Brian Cashman supported the vote and pledged to maintain and keep open all facets of the Spring Training facility.
For a few days, the spirit of making the best of a lousy situation saw most, but not all, players participating in rehab exercises (Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton) and on the field drills.
Yankees Shift Into Reverse
But now it appears that the end of the week will close the complex, and Brian Cashman himself is heading back to New York.
Echoing Cashman, Yankees manager Aaron Boone told MLB Network Radio that he would be leaving Florida in the next few days, explaining that it “is becoming harder and harder” to have workouts.
Always practical and minding of Yankee’s player needs, Cashman stressed that MLB’s announcement the season is likely postponed through May 15 explained that “It was again new information I think that you have to allow our players to process.”
Elaborating, Cashman told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News, that “you have to allow them to process and information and make the best decisions they feel on an individual basis. And so I just suspect it’s going to change because things continue to change.”
Yankees Forced To Turn Back The Clock
And so it is with all of us in this ever-evolving and unprecedented attempt to grapple with a situation few saw coming.
For Yankees players, everything changes now as far as baseball is concerned. There’s no longer a rush to get ready for the season.
They’re, in effect, back in time to December when the season and workouts were far away and completely voluntary.
Brian Cashman has indicated he will yield to the individual and very personal decisions each of the Yankees players makes.
That said, it can get a bit complicated if, for instance, James Paxton decides he’s going home to the state of Washington, the second most virus affected state (to New York) in the union.
Does it not make sense the Yankees want (and need) to “keep tabs” on Paxton, who is rehabbing from back surgery, between now and whenever it is the team comes together in the future?
Of course, it does. Just as the Yankees need to “follow the money” and their investment in other rehabbing players like Judge, Stanton, and Aaron Hicks.
Remember though, this is all unchartered territory. No one could have dreamed the Yankees, or any other team would find themselves asking and seeking answers to the questions raised now.
Call The Roll, Brian
The logical first step is for Brian Cashman is to “call the roll”. Who are you? Where are you, and how long do you intend to stay there? And further, what can I do to help you and your family?
Staying with the same example, but it can be applied to numerous Yankees, Paxton answers: “Thanks, Brian. Can you send “John Doe” out here for a bit? We had a good thing going. We’ll put him up in our home if necessary…”
These are tenuous times. The 24-hour news cycle has been filtered down to a one-hour cycle in which what was up is now down.
And the reverse can be true when we wake up tomorrow morning.
Brian Cashman can and if he needs to work from home. He can direct his staff to do the same. What better time, for instance, than now to explore a trade that can send Giancarlo Stanton to the L.A. Angels or Dodgers?
We All Need Time To Process
But the point is that tenuous times demand innovative and fragile answers to issues that vary from day today. Two days ago, Yankees camp was open. That’s changed, and it’s not because of anything they did or didn’t do.
All we know for sure is there will be no Yankees baseball for the foreseeable future. And just like Brian Cashman says of his players, it takes a while to process that.
I’m trying, and I’m betting you are as well.
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.
