State of the Yankees: According to Brian Cashman

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman spoke with members of the media prior to Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

As you can imagine, the bulk of the media’s questions for Cashman, pertained to the Baby Bombers, and their sudden lack of offensive production.

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Rookie right fielder Aaron Judge was a predominantly posed subject, as reporters honed in on his .178 BA, three home runs, and 37 strikeouts in just 77 plate appearances.

Cashman simply deemed Judge’s struggles as “growing pains,” before elaborating.

On Judge’s diminished return to date…

It’s a bother, no doubt, but it’s not unexpected because it’s part of his game. … Currently, it’s a concern because we’re trying to win games, but because of his makeup and his efforts, we think it’s a part of the growth process, and these are growing pains.

Offering a reminder that Judge has struggled early on at every level up through the Yankees’ system…

You saw that he struck out a lot last year when he first got to Triple-A, as well as this spring, but his second round at Triple-A this year was clearly much better, and he’s someone who has shown when he has struggled that he can get through it and adjust.

On why Judge will continue to play every day…

If Aaron Hicks was up and running, maybe some different things might happen, but with Hicks down, this is the way we’re going. … (Judge will) always have strikeouts as part of his game, but it won’t always be like this.

On Tyler Austin and where he fits in–going forward…

He’s done a nice job. … Obviously, we’re going to try to learn as much about him as we can the rest of the way, and going into next year with (Greg) Bird, may the best man win.

On why the AL August Player of the Month–Gary Sanchez, has hit his first big league rough patch…

Maybe pitchers are throwing some more wrinkles his way, but, for the most part, I wouldn’t say I’ve noticed anything, other than the fact that I think he’s getting less pitches to hit per at-bat. … He’s currently in a slump, but he’s struggling through it–but he’s trying to find that consistency, and hopefully that tide will turn sooner than later.

Why he’s not surprised by the results of the Baby Bombers…

There was a hope that we couldn’t be worse offensively–offense was our problem, and we just could not consistently plate runs for whatever reason, despite having a better team on paper than last year. … It was time to turn the page and give some of the younger guys an opportunity, and there was hope that there would be a catalyst in that. That’s happened to some degree, and I can’t say we expected it, but I’m not surprised by it.

On how many wins it will take the Yankees to make the playoffs, with only 26 games remaining (as of Tuesday afternoon)…

Don’t go 0-26. … I don’t worry about that, I just worry about us winning today’s game, taking care of business today and watching the scoreboard.

On why Aaron Hicks went on the DL, even though rosters had expanded…

He’s going to be down for at least 15 days, so he’s on the DL. Close is one thing, but if they’re down for 15 days or more, you might as well capture it and look at it for what it is. I don’t need it administratively if he’s down for more than 15 days, why not.

The future for Luis Severino as a starter vs. relief pitcher…

We’re not juggling that. If we wanted him to develop, we could leave him down (in Triple-A) to keep starting. This team is in an effort to try to win, so it’s all hands on deck.

On whether or not he thought the Yankees’ poor 9-17 start would affect the overall outcome of the season…

The bottom line is that we hadn’t played up to our capability. When you don’t do that and you underperform, it can bite you, so we had to dig ourselves out of a deep hole. But, in the last month, we’ve given ourselves a chance, and hopefully, we can take advantage of it. Our guys are having fun competing on a daily basis, and the hope is that we can keep that up.

Next: Where Does Tyler Austin Fit In?

On if he’d be surprised if the Yankees reach the playoffs…

Surprised? No, I’ll be happy if we do.

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