New York Yankees: Brian Cashman should be on hot seat as well

A great deal of blame for the New York Yankees early departure from the postseason has fallen at the feet of manager Aaron Boone. It is understandable; after all, he is the one deciding who plays and which pitchers are coming into the game from the bullpen. His inconsistent lineups in the postseason, where he had eight different starting lineups in nine games, with three different players starting at short, did not help either.

At the same time, Boone could only work with the pieces he was given. He was not the one putting the roster together. The blame for that debacle goes to general manager Brian Cashman, who deserves to be on the hot seat as well.

New York Yankees need to take long look at Brian Cashman

In a vacuum, Cashman has done relatively well. The Yankees are perennial postseason contenders and are usually considered one of the favorites to win a World Series. But they also have not won a championship since 2009 and have been eliminated in each of the last five times they were in the ALCS, a record that no one would want to hold.

The 2022 Yankees were no different. They were a flawed roster from the start, a team in need of another starting pitcher, a viable center fielder, and help in the bullpen. A white hot start to the season overshadowed their problems, as did a historic showing from Aaron Judge. However, they ended the season on a 41-45 run, falling out of the top seed in the American League in the process.

To some degree, one has to give Boone credit for getting the Yankees to the ALCS. For far too much of the season, the offense was entirely dependent on Judge, with Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton making contributions. Matt Carpenter was a revelation for a few weeks before getting injured, but reverted to his 2020-21 form when he returned for the postseason.

Those roster issues come back to Cashman. He has not gotten the pieces needed to put the Yankees over the top. They remain a formidable regular season team, but do not have the pieces needed to be anything more than that.

It is also fair to wonder if Cashman’s approach has run its course in New York. He has been the Yankees general manager since 1998, and was the team’s assistant GM beginning in 1992. Cashman was a part of the team when King George was lording over the organization, helping run the show while the elder Steinbrenner was suspended. He is as much a part of the organization as pinstripes at this point.

But the game has also changed in that time. Cashman has not. Instead, there have been plenty of excuses, from injuries to complaining about the roof being open in Houston. Those playoff losses never seem to spur forth a push to get the missing pieces. Instead, the Yankees have become content to hoard their prospects and fall just short, so long as they are making the postseason.

Changes need to be made with the New York Yankees. It is starting to be time for Brian Cashman to come under the microscope as well.