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[BullNBear52]

Sorry the only stadium food I eat are hotdogs and peanuts. lol. That article was written in early September. Even to the casual observer of the Yankees it was obvious that something went missing from the team after the trade deadline. Cashman unloaded a bunch of minor league talent and a few veterans that got them to where they stood at the deadline.

But I am not a casual observer and while I was on hiatus pondering the fate of the world I was paying attention to the Yankees and the record breaking season slip sliding away.

FYI Paul Simon is a big Yankee fan.


From mid August,

3 midseason Brian Cashman decisions that have killed the 2022 Yankees
by Thomas Carannante

When A-Rod’s calling you out, then that’s when it’s obvious you’ve screwed up big time. New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, step on down! Here’s how you’ve contributed to killing the 2022 roster, which is now performing like one of the worst in the league.

The Yankees are 8-16 since the All-Star break and 2-10 since the trade deadline. Is that good? The only reason this situation isn’t worse is because the Blue Jays and Rays can’t string together wins to save their lives. Otherwise, the Yankees would be in a lot more trouble at this juncture.

The offense isn’t scoring and the bullpen isn’t holding leads. That’s resulted in far too many quality starts to count being totally wasted. This roster was not built to absorb injuries or significant role changes. The precious Cashman/Yankees puzzle needs to be totally perfect for this team to operate like a productive baseball team.

That’s not a recipe for winning, and it never has been. Somehow, Cashman hasn’t learned since taking over as GM in 1998. He’s captured one World Series as the main architect of the roster (2009, when George Steinbrenner signed off on spending $500 million that offseason) and has overseen some of the worst shortcomings in franchise history.

In 2022, he’s done it again. This was the best team in baseball about a month ago. They now have the fourth-best record, lost their stranglehold on the AL lead over the Astros (Houston leads by 2.5 games now) and look more lost than anyone could’ve imagined. Care to know why?

3. Not Trading Miguel Andújar
One thing Cashman and the front office haven’t understood for years is the human element of the game. This organization has watched Miguel Andújar fall dramatically from the pinnacle he reached in 2018. The man has requested a trade twice now. He’s become a Triple-A legend when he should be playing at the MLB level somewhere.

But Cashman refused to fulfill the very reasonable request and Andújar is still with the team … contributing nothing. He has no role here. He hasn’t ever since Gio Urshela took his third base job. So what are we doing? He doesn’t want to be here! How is he supposed to play well?

Because of the Yankees’ poor depth and unwillingness to call up young players, Andújar’s been tasked with filling a roster void at the big-league level due to injuries. He’s provided zero impact for years now but … for some reason this is the move the Yankees think will keep them afloat throughout the dog days of August.

In 15 at-bats since returning for the first time since July 2nd, Andújar is 4-for-15 (OK, not bad) with four of the weakest singles you’ll ever see. He hasn’t scored a run. He hasn’t recorded a walk. He’s struck out six times.

How does putting him at DH help this lineup? It doesn’t! Why does Marwin Gonzalez have nine plate appearances since July 24? SOMEBODY EXPLAIN. Andújar was optioned this week in a roster shuffle, but the point remains: he doesn’t want to be here, he doesn’t fit here, so he shouldn’t be here.

2. Acquiring Andrew Benintendi
Bad trade acquisition? Not really. A low-risk trade acquisition (when better options were available) that won’t exactly change the complexion of the Yankees? Yes.

Benintendi is no doubt a solid player, but he’s unsurprisingly crawled back into his shell since arriving in the Bronx, hardly making an impact and failing to emphasize the top of the lineup or lengthen the middle/bottom of it. But that’s to be expected when you acquire a contact-heavy bat who’s been playing meaningless baseball for over 3.5 years now (two playoff-less, injured years with the Red Sox and 1.5 years with one of the worst MLB teams in the Royals).

Additionally, when you look at his defensive impact, despite being a “Gold Glove” left fielder, he’s entrenched in left field. He has hardly any experience playing elsewhere. At least Joey Gallo could play all three positions somewhat effectively. Benintendi eating up reps in left field just means more playing time for Aaron Hicks in center field, where he’s beyond atrocious. It’s unclear why he’s even being trotted out there every day at this point.

Did Cashman really think those somewhat-promising 35 games from Hicks indicated a turnaround? The guy has been bad or injured for YEARS now. In fact, his lone “full” productive season since debuting in 2013 remains his 2018 campaign, which earned him an undeserved seven-year extension. CashGod, we guess.

Look around the league. The Mets struck gold with Tyler Naquin (how?). David Peralta has been rock solid for the Rays. Robbie Grossman appears to be turning it around for the Braves. Tommy Pham is dominating for the Red Sox! The Yankees somehow end up with the worst deal of them all despite, on paper, acquiring the best player.

So, in trading for Benintendi, the Yankees got the cheapest top option on the market because of their hesitance to ever do something aggressive (Juan Soto, Ian Happ, Mike Yastrzemski, for example), they’ve maximized Hicks because Benintendi is not versatile on the defensive end, and they’ve taken away the Aaron Judge center field reps that make them a better team. The trade was bad for a multitude of reasons. The sad part is we can’t even go as far as to blame Cashman for not trading Hicks because, well, that contract is untradeable unless the Yankees eat a ton of the money or attach a prospect.

Now we’re DYING for the Harrison Bader era to begin even though most fans HATED that trade. Speaking of …

1. Optioning Ron Marinaccio/Clarke Schmidt, Trading Monty
If Cashman’s decisions on the pitching front didn’t indicate the Yankees were waving the white flag in August, then the only other explanation is that they’re the dumbest roster moves known to man.

Despite an exhausted/struggling bullpen, Cashman optioned two of the most effective relievers in Ron Marinaccio and Clarke Schmidt for … reasons unknown (well, at least Schmidt is supposedly being built up to be a starter, but the Yankees are only doing that because of another bad trade).

What’s happened since? The bullpen continues to blow saves and cost this team games. In fact, it’s cost them SEVEN games since July 31. Seven!

Then you have the Jordan Montgomery/Bader trade, which, we cannot stress enough, was the most deflating deadline deal in recent Yankees history. After acquiring Benintendi, Frankie Montas, Lou Trivino and Scott Effross, Cashman subtracted from the most valuable aspect of the roster and didn’t have a contingency plan in place. Oh wait, he did. It was Domingo German, who, admittedly, hasn’t been bad, but is far from “the answer.”

Thankfully, the rotation’s largely been good without Monty, but the left-hander is also dominating in St. Louis (0 ER in his first 11 IP) … so, yeah, it’d be nice to have that instead of Bader in a walking boot as fans sit here hoping they never have to see Hicks start again. Plus, it’s not the best when the players don’t exactly agree with the decision to blindside one of your homegrown talents with a last-second trade. Morale killer. No pulse on the locker room. That’s Cashman.

You cannot convince anybody that there’s logic behind any of this because all of it has done nothing but make the Yankees drastically worse and further exploit their weaknesses. We’ve been telling you for a while that the 2021 problems have been here all along.

It just took a few boneheaded moves from Cashman to re-awaken them.

https://yanksgoyard.com/2022/08/20/3-midseason-brian-cashman-decisions-killed-2022-yankees/3/