Yankees GM Brian Cashman fighting Grinch feels like slap in the face

Oct 17, 2019; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman talks on his phone during batting practice before game four of the 2019 ALCS playoff baseball series against the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 17, 2019; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman talks on his phone during batting practice before game four of the 2019 ALCS playoff baseball series against the Houston Astros at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

In any other offseason, Yankees GM Brian Cashman rappelling off a building during the dead of winter dressed as an elf while kicking and punching the Grinch would qualify as adorable and absurd.

During this particular winter, with the Yankees front office’s silence pre-lockout amplified to a chilling pitch, watching Cashman’s charitable endeavors — especially when they’re this over-the-top hilarious — really feels incongruous.

It’s like when the U.S. Government does an adorable TikTok with Olivia Rodrigo instead of guaranteeing its citizens health care. Like, cute video, but isn’t there, like, a job you theoretically do?

None of us needed an additional reminder of just how little baseball activity is going on right now, and yet there was Cashman, jet-setting down the side of a frigid-cold building dressed as an Elf on Sunday night. Much like his recent sojourn in a sleeping bag, this is sure to get meme’d to death while the rest of us wait for something … anything …

Even worse? The Grinch was rocking a Mets hat, and signed all of Cashman’s targets once the two men hit the ground.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman dressed like an Elf fighting the Grinch this weekend.

And … on top of everything else … aren’t we supposed to be the Grinch?

Aren’t we supposed to ruin everyone else’s Christmas?

Yes, this is just innocent fun. Yes, it’s for a good cause. But you have to understand why it’s extra frustrating for Yankee fans, mired in this silent and now locked-out offseason, to read tidbits like this in an honest-to-goodness insider’s column.

This segment from Brendan Kuty’s examination of the Yankees’ pursuit of Seiya Suzuki made me reflexively cackle:

“I can’t speak to even that,” Cashman told reporters on Sunday night. “If he comes over here, it would be a major-league situation. So I can’t speak to that.”Cashman had just dressed as an elf and rappelled down the side of a building as part of a Christmas celebration aimed at benefitting the downtown Stamford business district.

Fans understand they can’t have answers or clarity right now, but to be rebuffed by the GM while he rocks bells, tassels, and pointy shoes just adds an extra level of humiliation to an offseason full of Christmas punkings.

Just let the Grinch win. What’s the point of even fighting anymore?