Yankees: Who is Brian Cashman without the cash?

The Yankees entered this week’s series with the Astros coming off an impressive and desperately needed sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. Sunday’s game was a complete blowout and a historical win for the franchise under GM Brian Cashman.

Behind the brilliance of starting pitcher Domingo German and a barrage of home runs courtesy of Gary Sanchez (3) and Clint Frazier (2), the Yankees had a good day at the office. Do you know who else had a good day at the (front) office? Brian Cashman. With Sunday’s win, the Yankees General Manager for the last 21 years reached an important milestone. The 2000th win with him as the Yankee GM.

Since Cashman became the Yankee GM, New York leads the MLB in:

Titles – 4 (tied with the Red Sox)
Winning percentage – 58.71 (The Dodgers are second with a 53.94)
Postseason wins – 93 (The Cardinals have 64 and the Red Sox have 63)
All-Star Players – 95 (The Red Sox have 85)

In short, since Cashman got the job, the Yankees have been the best team in baseball. The question is, how much credit does Brian Cashman really deserve?

Derek Jeter, Mariano Riviera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams were all there before Cashman became in charge. Those 5 would combine for 37 All-Star appearances and were each an essential part to every title run in the Cashman era (except for Williams who would retire before the 2009 campaign) and the Yankees have not won since their departure.

Is Cashman the mastermind behind this dynasty or is he just playing the hand he was dealt? A common question in sports is, was it the coach or the player? Was it Michael Jordan or Phil Jackson? Tom Brady or Bill Belichick? Who brought more to the partnership? Who made whom great? How would one be without the other?

Regardless of which side you take, you cannot claim that Phil Jackson did a “bad job”. He simply “played the cards he was dealt”; He was given the best player ever, and he maximized it. The point is, while Cashman was definitely gifted a talented young core, he still added valuable pieces which would prove to be crucial in their postseason runs:

• Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez would go 8-1 in the ’98, ’99, and ’00 playoffs.

• David Justice was the ALCS MVP in 2000.

• Roger Clemens won the 2001 Cy Young Award

As is well-known, the Yankees are historically big spenders. The biggest in fact. Since 1998, the Yanks spent approximately $3,732,000. The Red Sox spent approximately $2,842,000! Almost a billion dollar difference! It was just the way George Steinbrenner did things back then.

In 1973, Steinbrenner became the principal owner of the Yanks. The “Boss”, as he was known, demanded winning results. Anything that didn’t amount to a World Series win was considered to be a failure. Known for his impulsive reactions to a “losing season”, Steinbrenner would often instruct, if not demand that Cashman sign that year’s big offseason name(s).

It was the Yankee way. As a result, the Yanks have bestowed the unfavorable title known as the “Evil Empire.” When The Boss passed in July 2010, his son, Hal Steinbrenner, became the managing general partner and co-chairman of the franchise. Hal isn’t as big a spender as his dad was. In fact, he has been heard saying “…logic dictates that you don’t have to [spend $200 million] to have a championship-caliber team” (per Newsday).

Such blasphemous talk would never leave the lips of The Boss. But while the Yanks have not reached the Fall Classic in a decade, they’ve gotten awfully close. In 2017, they lost to the Houston Astros in game 7 of the ALCS, falling just one game shy of the World Series.

The starting 9 for the Yankees combined salary was 43.3 million dollars. The opposing starting 9 combined for 51.1 million.

This new era of Yankees Baseball is proof of Brian Cashman’s ingenuity. Cashman would go on to:

• Trade for the struggling switch-hitting CF Aaron Hicks and give up minimal compensation in return. Hicks was tied with Jose Altuve for 35th on the WAR list this past season.
• Acquire defensive-oriented-can’t-hit-lefties shortstop Didi Gregorius in exchange for a low tier prospect. Since 2016, Gregorius has hit .289 with 12 HRs off of left-handed pitching.
• Acquire the “asset in distress” as Cashman referred to Aroldis Chapman, turn around and flip him for future No. 1 ranked prospect in Gleyber Torres, and then resign the tall flamethrower in the offseason. Last year, Torres ranked 3rd in the AL RoTY voting and looks destined for superstardom.

From just those 3 transactions, you now have your center fielder, shortstop and second baseman of the future while giving up inconsiderable talent in the process.

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But possibly the most impressive achievement of all is how he created a second, completely new dynasty without “tanking”. From 1998 until the present day, the Yankees have never had a losing season. Every season they have finished above .500. While teams like the Astros and Cubs won their titles from seasons (and in the case of the Cubs, a century…) of tanking, the Yankees were never really ‘bad’.

This is what Brian Cashman deserves credit for. To go from one dynasty to another without skipping a beat. Very rare is it that we see such a seamless transition. Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers. Joltin’ Joe to The Mick.

And now Derek Jeter to Aaron Judge.

As the great Ezzie Schaffran would say, Brian Cashman has been absolutely ‘Money’.