The Yankees are in danger of missing the postseason for the second straight season, but general manager Brian Cashman’s job is safe, according to a source.
While Cashman’s three-year contract is up at the end of the season and several of his expensive moves last winter have not panned out, the organization was totally on board with all of them.
After toying with the idea of staying under the $189 million payroll threshold last year, ownership elected to green-light a torrent of free agent spending and Masahiro Tanaka, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran all ended up coming to The Bronx as part of a nearly $500 million investment.
The group has had decidedly mixed results, but because there was consensus on the moves, Cashman hasn’t been second-guessed.
So the early struggles of McCann, as well as the health issues of Beltran and Tanaka aren’t being held against Cashman.
Cashman also has received credit for the midseason reboot he performed during the season with the additions of Brandon McCarthy, Chase Headley and Martin Prado — which were all made without paying too high a price.
McCarthy has helped stabilize a starting rotation that has been depleted by the losses of CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Tanaka for large portions of the season. And Headley and Prado have improved the lineup and the team’s flexibility after the disappointing Brian Roberts and Kelly Johnson were jettisoned.
Cashman declined comment on his future after the Yankees beat the Red Sox, 5-4 Thursday.
The Yankees rarely make contract offers during the season, so nothing has been made official yet. That was also the case a year ago when manager Joe Girardi’s contract ended before he was locked up for another four seasons.
At last month’s ownership meetings in Baltimore, general partner Hal Steinbrenner hardly guaranteed Cashman’s return.
“We’re so busy right now, trying to figure out who’s going to be playing in any given game, much less that,” Steinbrenner said at the time. “We’ll be talking about that soon enough. But you know me. We’ve got enough things to worry about during the season. That’s where our focus needs to be. Let me get to October — hopefully the end of October, beginning of November — and we’ll go from there.”
With the Yankees four games back of Detroit for the second wild-card spot, Cashman was asked about where his team stood.
“Hopefully we can piece some more wins together here and other teams can assist by stumbling a little bit,” Cashman said. “That’s our hope. But we’ve made it hard on ourselves. … I don’t know what our chances are. All I know is we have to win our games.”
If the Yankees do fall short, it would be the first time they have missed out on the playoffs in consecutive years since the ugly days of the early 1990s.
Cashman has worked for the Yankees since being hired as an intern in 1986 and has been the general manager since 1998.
CBS Sports first reported Cashman was likely to return.
If Cashman is back, he figures to have another busy offseason in front of him, with Derek Jeter retiring and potential holes to fill also at second base, third base, right field and in the rotation — as well as David Robertson’s free-agent status.