Brian Cashman discusses the Yankees season and future plans

The 2023 season was undoubtedly a disappointment for the Yankees. They snapped a nine-game losing streak yesterday but lost again today, bringing their record to 61-66. This moved them to last place in the American League East, 6.5 games behind the fourth-place Red Sox. They are 10 games short of last place for the Wild Card in the MLS, and FanGraphs has pegged the playoff odds at 0.3% going into today’s game. For a club that entered the season aiming to compete and had one of the highest salaries in the league, this is clearly not an ideal result.

General Manager Brian Cashman spoke to the media yesterday, acknowledging the obvious Brendan Cotey from The Athletic Among these to convey some details. “It was the disaster of the season,” Cashman said. “We’re embarrassed about that.” He also made it clear that he was aware of the disappointed fans who wanted him fired, but also defended his claim to carry on with his job. “I think we have a good record here,” he said. “We’ve had a good run of success. But, at the same time, this is not an easy sport. Nothing is guaranteed.”

The overall performance record is really strong, when looking at Cashman who became general manager in February of 1998. The Yanks have never finished below . 500 since then, and their last losing season was in 1992. Since 1995, they’ve only missed a period Post-season finisher four times and five-time World Series winner.

For some fans, that’s just not enough, or it’s been too long since the most dominant period of the Cashman era. Four of those five titles came from 1996 to 2000 and most recently in 2009. Although the Yankees have made the playoffs in each of the previous six years, they haven’t made it past the ALCS in over a decade and have a chance to break their streak of seasons that 30 years of wins continue here in 2023. It remains to be seen if that track record will be enough to keep him in his current position, and Cashman himself offered a bit of clarity, saying it would be “someone else’s decision on top of me.” presumably referring to Chairman Hal Steinbrenner.

How much blame Cashman deserves for the 2023 club’s struggles is debatable, and it certainly is in certain circles. Injuries have been a significant factor in their results, with several players they had hoped to be key contributors missing long-term. It was the starting turnover with no Frankie Montas all year while Nestor Curtis And Carlos Rodon They’ve each bounced on and off the injured list while posting diminishing results while on the field. On the offensive side, players like Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo Others dealt with major injury issues that led to absences, poor performance, or both.

Cashman’s defenders can point to this string of injuries as evidence that a strong roster on paper has been cursed by the baseball gods, but detractors can highlight the fact that all clubs deal with injuries and part of the job is building a roster that can’t fail. Over the course of an entire season a player’s health ebbs and flows.

Whatever the reasons, it looks like all kinds of potential changes will be considered in the coming months. “I think we’ll all be evaluated,” Cashman said, referring to himself and his manager. Aaron Boone. “You’re going to look at every aspect of the process because that’s what you have to do in the circumstances, and that takes us where it takes us. Nobody’s happy here. We’re better than this, but we haven’t played better than this, and we’ll see. Stay tuned. .”

How the franchise responds to this downward year will be an interesting topic to watch over the coming weeks and months. The Yankees are usually one of the most aggressive teams when it comes to competition and spending. Before the holiday season begins, their 2024 salary is $186 million while their competitive tax credit number is $197 million each. List resources. These figures do not include arbitration salaries for players such as Curtis, Jaliber Torres, Clay Holmes and more. Factoring in increases for those players would put the Yanks close to next year’s base luxury tax threshold of $237 million even before any offseason additions are made.

Assuming the Yanks look to be competitive again next year, there will be a lot on the to-do list this winter. The rotation theoretically has a strong triple front, with Gerrit Cole It is followed by Rodon and Cortes, although this depends on the health of the latter two. Even if they are healthy Clark Schmidt If he takes a spot at the back end, there’ll be room for another pitcher there, to save him Johnny Prieto And Randy Vasquez as a secondary periodic depth.

The lineup contains many question marks, as the team collectively hit 0.229/.304/.400 this year for 94 points in the World Rally Championship. Some of this can be explained by the aforementioned Judge and Rizzo suffering from injury, but the club has also received poor performance from veterans such as DJ Limahieu And Giancarlo Stanton. The 35-year-old LeMahieu hit .239/.316/.370 this year, 91 wRC+, and still has three years and $45 million left on his contract after this one. The 33-year-old Stanton has a streak of .193/.277/.423 this season for wRC+ worth 88 while still owed $128 million over the next four years. The Yanks can try to get ahead of these players but their contracts and ages will make it very difficult.

There will also be new holes in that lineup, with Harrison Bader And Isiah Keener Valeva Set for free agency access. Neither player has had a great season at the plate, but Badr at least provides pace and excellent defense in midfield, while Kenner-Valeva is also quick and can provide cover in multiple positions. Josh Donaldson He will likely leave for the open market as well, as his deal has a cross option that is unlikely to be picked up.

There are many questions for the Yankees to answer between now and 2024, but it looks like they’ll start using the remainder of the current season to look at some of the younger players. And earlier this week, they promoted the youth Iverson Pereira And Oswald Peraza to get some cast in the remainder of the schedule. He may soon join this group Austin Wellslike cutie Reports suggest the potential player is more likely to join the club when rosters expand from September 26 to 28.

Wells, 24, was selected in the first round of the 2020 draft, with the Yanks finishing 28th overall. He has since climbed the minor league ladder and is considered by many outlets to be a top 100 prospect baseball america He currently puts him in the #83 slot. He’s considered a top bat catcher and hits .241/.333/.443 in the minors this year, walking in 10.8% of his appearances at the plate while hitting 26 home runs.

Americans without Jose Trevino for the rest of the season as he had wrist surgery in July. They are currently using binary Kyle Higashioka And Bin Rotfeet behind the plate but expanded rosters could allow them to carry three catchers and look at Wells before the offseason arrives. Wales is not yet included in the 40-man squad and will require the addition of a corresponding move.