CASHMAN'S COMING BACK... BUT SHOULD HE?

It's been revealed by many, that Brian Cashman will get a new contract with the New York Yankees.  I'll use Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com on this one who writes:

"While the Yankees appear likely to miss the playoffs for a second straight season, top team brass isn't about to blame any possible disappointment on long-time general manager Brian Cashman, and by and large give Cashman good or better marks for his performance, assuring that he'll be asked to return for a 18th season as general manager and beyond, according to people familiar with the situation."

 The headline? Yankees Likely To Offer GM Cashman A New Contract.

First off, "people familiar with the situation" means anyone Heyman can pin it on without naming names. Secondly, "likely" doesn't mean Cashman's coming back. It means it's likely.  Hal and Hank could change their minds tomorrow if another solid GM became available.  Now that we've cut through that... let's talk turkey...

I'm not a Cashman hater. Many of you are, and that's OK.  Personally, I think what he did in the off-season, getting some top free agents, made a lot of sense and it needed to happen.  Sure, looking back at it, Brian McCann seems like a lousy signing, but at the time, I was jumping up and down with excitement.  I give credit to McCann for dealing with pitcher turnover and that's a plus for the Yankees, but I hate his bat right now and I hope it improves.

I love the fact that Masahiro Tanaka is in pinstripes and Cashman was instrumental in getting that done.  But those are just 2 examples of what Cashman had to do to improve this club who was slammed with injury. Plus, we've had to deal with a lousy offense. Cash improved the pitching staff tremendously with a bunch of guys I would have never grabbed, let alone be able to pick out of a lineup. Chris Capuano. Brandon McCarthy? They're brilliant for us and I could not be happier with them.

(In Photo: Brandon McCarthy)
Shane Greene is a beast.  Nice work bringing him up!

But back to the offense... Not exactly Cashman's fault, although at the trade deadline, the idea of swapping Kelly Johnson for Stephen Drew seemed ridiculous.

I don't think I'll ever understand it.  Martin Prado, his energy, has appreciation for the pinstripes... it was a great move.

In this world of Yankee frustration, I need to tell you though, there's not a lot to blame Cashman for.  We've really just had terrible offense, and as a player, you need to fix it.  It's what professionals do. Figure out the problem with Kevin Long or yourself and improve.  If you can't, you shouldn't play.  Don't agree?  Let me make it clearer;  It's my belief that if a team is in a free fall, and you have players unwilling to change their routine and continue to clog up the lineup with strikeouts and RBI-less at bats... you bench them.  Like business, if productivity ain't leaning the companies way, bench them, move them, fire them... do what you gotta do. Make a statement. Make someone an example.  You know who does that when he needs to?

Don Mattingly and he's done it to a true athlete in Yasiel Puig, read HERE. The point is, don't tell me how valuable these Yankee hitting stars are... if they're not performing the "Yankee way", bench them and let them and the rest of Yankeeland know.  This however does NOT fall under Cashman's job description.  Cash brings the players in, good players mind you.  He did his job. Joe Girardi needs to do his alittle better. Anyway, I'm rambling now and getting off track, but that's how I feel.

The only slap against Cashman I have is not giving the Yankee youth movement enough time to blossom.  This week we Designated Zoilo Almonte for Assignment.  If he's not outrighted and picked up by another club, I'm gonna be pissed.  Almonte is a good player, young and talented.  We've seen others leave as well.  Eduardo Nunez went away.  Melky Mesa disappeared.  Remember Austin Jackson? We traded for Curtis Granderson, and now Curtis is a Met now. That was fast. We don't give our youth enough time, and we should. And I don't mean on the farm, I mean in the bigs. If you're gonna blame Cashman for anything, blame him for that.

Cashman is "likely" to come back... and that's not a bad thing.  So far we've got 5 Championships with him as GM.  He brought in players that contributed to that.  It's a guy you want in the Yankees corner. Sure, you can argue it's more of the same, but the reality is, we have some interesting star pitching coming down the pike... Max Scherzer... Jon Lester.  Don't you want Cash around to try and snatch those two up?

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