Yankees Brian Cashman and the judgment of the present hour

Cashman Might Sign Babe Ruth

Cash also had to clear spots on the 40-man roster and again he focused on the future. Brian traded Matt Wotherspoon and Yefry Ramirez for additional international bonus pool money, also receiving some from Billy Beane in the Gray trade. And getting Beane to part with money in any form is akin to a miracle.

That probably means getting more of the best young international talent next year, which takes five to seven years to impact the big league club. But it could mean something bigger, such as a run at Shohei Otani, even with his injury prone season. Either way, he was already thinking of how he can restock the Yankees in five years, and beyond.

At Least it wasn’t 87 Years Ago, for those of you Keeping Score

We cannot forget that there was a time when such a rebuild would not have been tolerated. That it has happened, and we have been led through it so successfully, is a compliment and a credit to Brian Cashman. Please do not read this is as a claim of arrogance and assumption.

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It is true that our faith in Cash was often taxed, although it never failed; it was enough for us that Brian was at the head of this great Yankees movement.

Under his wise and steady rule, we have seen the Yankees transformed and transmogrified. The organization has been lifted from the depths of irrelevance to current and future contenders. And the road He has laid before us stretches through the foreseeable future and into our imaginations.

A Man for All Seasons

When I sat down to write this piece, I could not help but think of Frederick Douglass and his eulogy for Abraham Lincoln. Many of you have probably recognized my not-so-thinly-veiled references. I hope, gentle reader, that you will not hope I am comparing the two men. That was never my object and their accomplishments are not on a level field.

No, I only seek to stand on the shoulders of a Giant: Douglass. I have used his words, words I could never write, to craft a worthy paean to Brian Cashman. Again, there is no comparison between Lincoln and Brian.

Next: Relive the Day Brian Cashman Faced his Destiny

Although, in fairness to Cash, Lincoln only played in a two-team league and had only to defeat the South to win the pennant in ’65. And, when you think about it, Lincoln had more troops, better equipment, and a deeper farm system than the South. I’m sure Vegas gave the North better odds then, than the Yankees today.

And Lincoln had firmness in the right because He gave him the right; Cashman has to rely on video. Actually, maybe the comparison is unfair the other way, at least for these two.

Douglass, however, is in a league of his own. And I am grateful, and humbled, to copy from his scouting report.