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3 Brian Cashman replacements Yankees should target in offseason

By Thomas Carannante |
OAKLAND, CA - MARCH 30: Oakland Athletics Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Billy Bean looks on before the game between the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Oakland Athletics at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on March 30, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - MARCH 30: Oakland Athletics Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Billy Bean looks on before the game between the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Oakland Athletics at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on March 30, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
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If general manager Brian Cashman’s job isn’t hinging on a World Series berth, then New York Yankees fans will simply be at a loss when the 2022 season concludes. How much more can the man afford to fall short?

It’s not like this is the Premier League, where managers are sacked after two disappointing games. This is the world’s most renowned sports franchise mostly falling flat on their face since 2004. Yes, some fan bases hardly ever experience championships, so the Yankees’ lone 2009 triumph would mean a lot more to other unlucky folk, but the standard is different in New York.

Cashman’s had one of the game’s highest budgets and largest support systems to work with ever since taking over in 1998. The Yankees have captured four World Series over that span (and have been to five), but Cashman was only the true architect of one of them (2009).

Now, in a contract year, Cashman simply needs to be held accountable if the Yankees fall short yet again. Their below-.500 spurt from mid-June until now somehow feels like more of the norm than the team’s incredible start did.

But as the Yankees do under Cashman, they choked away a sizable lead in the AL over the Houston Astros for home field advantage and are now the talk of the league after a five-game skid in the wake of the GM’s trade deadline that was actually solid until he spoiled it at the very last moment.

If Hal Steinbrenner knows what’s best for this team, he’ll target one of these three executives in the offseason if the Yankees fail to make a World Series run in 2022.

Yankees should target these possible Brian Cashman replacements in offseason

Third Base Coach Mark Kotsay #7 and Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Billy Beane of the Oakland Athletics (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
Third Base Coach Mark Kotsay #7 and Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Billy Beane of the Oakland Athletics (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images) /

3. Billy Beane

The Mets tried this past offseason! Why can’t the Yankees? Though it seems like Billy Beane is destined to rot in Oakland and die by utilizing Moneyball in baseball’s most disgraceful market … does that have to be the way his story ends?

Beane is 60 years old and has been essentially doing the same thing in Oakland since 1997. That’s 25 years! And still, nobody knows what his contract situation with the team is. Could he have been verbally handed a “job for life” until he wishes to leave? No idea! But that’s what makes this intriguing.

Can the Yankees lure him away if they opt to move on from Cashman? The only reason that’s even a thought right now is because the A’s are the bottom of the barrel yet again with a rebuild on the horizon. How many more times does Beane want to play out his Westworld fate under owner John Fisher?

Perhaps it’s time for a change of scenery, a budget big enough to foster competition, and a more successful analytical approach than Cashman’s in New York. If Beane can blend his philosophy with quadruple the budget, the Yankees can finally fulfill their quest to be more like the Dodgers, who allowed former Rays exec Andrew Friedman to live that reality.

President of Baseball Operations and general manager for the Washington Nationals Mike Rizzo (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
President of Baseball Operations and general manager for the Washington Nationals Mike Rizzo (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

2. Mike Rizzo

How about another shrewd executive mired in turmoil? Less than three years ago, the Washington Nationals were World Series champions. Now they’re without Juan Soto, who was expected to be a lifetime member of the franchise. Think that was president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo’s choice?

Nope! It was the Nationals’ current ownership prepping to sell the team without saddling the new buyers with a half-billion dollar investment on the books. That would’ve taken away from the Lerners’ profit! Can’t let that happen.

Once the deal is done, will Rizzo remain? Or will the new owners look in a different direction? Will he even want to stay if they opt to keep him? Rizzo is signed through 2023 alongside manager Dave Martinez, but perhaps the sale changes that.

The 61-year-old has been calling the shots in the nation’s capital since 2009, dug the team out of a 59-win season in 2008, and made them a playoff contender from 2012 to present day. He built the franchise’s first World Series roster from nothing, which is an astute accomplishment. He has the same amount of World Series titles as Cashman since taking over the Nats in his current role, too!

That said … does Rizzo want to do this all over again? Didn’t he perhaps have the expectation that if he were to build a contender, he’d get more money to invest in order to avoid this vicious rebuild cycle? The Yankees can offer him the same control Cashman has, which gives him more prestige, power and championship aspirations.

Rizzo’s frequently been viewed as an open-minded executive who loves to blend “baseball” with analytics, and the Yankees could use a refreshing change at the top with someone who has experience building from the ground up and possessing a big budget at times.

David Stearns President of the Milwaukee Brewers (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
David Stearns President of the Milwaukee Brewers (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) /

1. David Stearns

How about … someone younger, though? According to MLBTradeRumors.com, the terms of Brewers general manager David Stearns’ contract aren’t known, but there’s a belief he could be a free agent after 2022 (or possess some sort of vesting option for 2023). But then there was a report from SNY’s Andy Martino suggesting that if the Brewers don’t make the World Series, he’ll remain under contract through 2023.

The Mets tried to poach him this offseason, but made no traction.

However, if he loses the NL Central to the St. Louis Cardinals, does that change what Brewers owner Mark Attanasio had in mind? Stearns, who is just 37 years old, is one of the brightest young minds in the game, and perhaps that’s the fresh perspective the Yankees need at this moment.

Stearns took over for the Brew Crew in Sept. of 2015, and the “rebuild” lasted one year. After six straight years of no postseason berths, Stearns got the Brewers back there in 2018 (which featured a seven-game NLCS loss to the Dodgers), and they’ve reached the postseason every year since.

That’s been with a bottom-half payroll to work with, too. What if Stearns is allowed some aggression? Perhaps he’ll target the right free agents, considering he’s been largely restricted from doing so the past seven years. On top of that, he’s fleeced countless teams in trades, so he’ll always have that working for him (Cashman’s favorite thing to attempt to do, but which he only does half the time).

Though his draft track record isn’t the best … it really can’t get worse than the Yankees’, who have only recently improved their wildly flawed system/philosophy that’s persisted under Cashman for two decades. Nonetheless, Stearns’ proven track record in his first years on the job as a big-time executive is all the Yankees need to interest them, should they look for a Cashman replacement.

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