Brian Cashman’s guarantees should actually make Yankees fans feel good

Brian Cashman’s latest “guarantees” should make the Yankees offseason less bleak.

It’s fair for Yankees fans to feel anxious about the molasses-slow speed of the offseason, as well as the wide gap between their current offer for DJ LeMahieu and the second baseman’s expectations.

Based on the team’s inaction so far, most of us in the media and at home have drawn our own conclusion that payroll will be slashed, depth will be sacrificed, and even if LeMahieu is re-signed, the team will be resigned to enter 2021 with a rotation full of unproven pieces.

But according to Brian Cashman on Wednesday, we might all be putting the horse before the cart here.

Though Cashman has to put on a happy face and remain confident as the baseball world approaches the holidays at warp speed, he was more than just pleasant in his latest media session.

In fact, he confidently guaranteed that the Yankees would have the highest payroll when the chips settled again this offseason.

Now, part of that is because most of the game’s GMs are also under strict lock and key, and won’t be making monster expenditures.

But sticking to the $210 million threshold probably wouldn’t make the Yankees the game’s biggest spenders, so this seems to indicate that the $210-$230 million range is a plausible pillow, and that a few veteran reinforcements could be on the way.

Oh, and LeMahieu still seems likely to stick around, considering Cashman once again reiterated the team’s commitment to securing his services, when all is said and done.

Additionally, he poured water all over the burning embers of supposed Luke Voit trade rumors, confirming the goal is to sign LeMahieu long term as a second baseman, not with a first base shift in mind. So that’s that.

Cashman also couldn’t provide the same level of certainty about whether LeMahieu would return to the team with a chance to “match” an overwhelming offer he’d received elsewhere. On the one hand, that’s not a world we’d like to live in. But on the other, we don’t foresee the Yankees getting blindsided here. They’re plugged into negotiations across the league. They’ll know what they’re competing with.

Obviously, the “highest payroll” boast comes with a caveat that the entire league is slashing left and right, but this would indicate the Yanks believe they’ll finish ahead of the Dodgers when all is said and done. It also tips the LeMahieu scales in their favor.

We don’t have to be thrilled about the offseason’s motto in general, but we’ll take it.

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