Brian Cashman had a pretty good Wednesday. The Yankees won (albeit with two more injuries) and he got exactly what he wanted from his pregame press briefing.
Fans may not be buying what the general manager was selling amid the Bombers’ rocky start. But local columnists are. Which is the point.
One of the big reasons Cashman is entering his 25th season on the job is his media savvy. By being consistently available and candid, he gets the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes too much of it. He also protects himself from the type of confrontational spectacles with reporters that have done in other GMs in town (Jerry Reese’s final years with the Giants come to mind).
This dynamic buys Cashman time for the Yankees to straighten themselves out. Which they almost always do. So Cashman’s “don’t give up on us” spiel resonated with the intended audience. As did most of everything else he said. And, chances are, the Yankees will begin to get healthy and then find a groove and they’ll end up winning 90-plus games and making the postseason and this will all be a distant memory.
Q&A: YES Network’s Jack Curry discusses the legendary 1998 Yankees
But we must call BS on one of Cashman’s claims, which came when he was asked about why the Yankees never made another big move in the offseason after owner Hal Steinbrenner said they were not done following Aaron Judge’s return and the Carlos Rodon signing.
“We are deep on the infield side,” Cashman said. “So we were obviously pursuing opportunities for trading from an area of strength if we got the right value. And if we didn’t get the right value, it wouldn’t make sense.”
He then later added he would ideally “trade from an area of surplus, which would be the infield, to take care of an area of need somewhere else.”
Come on. Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are not a surplus. They are dead weight. You want to trade Gleyber Torres for a outfielder? Fine. But don’t put a ridiculous price on him. Which is what it seems the Yankees did. So this idea the Yankees have jewels in their infield and just could not find a fair deal to part with them is ridiculous.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.