Brian Cashman’s ‘job security’ saga with Yankees was nothing but a tease

If New York Yankees fans didn’t enjoy manager Aaron Boone’s Thursday appearance on The Michael Kay Show, then they’re definitely not going to like the combo Friday presser that featured Boone and general manager Brian Cashman.

Boone’s 30 minutes with the media, for the first time since the season-ending loss in ALCS Game 4, provided us a whole lot of nothing. To be expected. He supported Josh Donaldson again. He talked about Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s top defense. He was hopeful about an Aaron Judge return. He muttered a lot of “ya knows.”

Once owner Hal Steinbrenner revealed Boone would be returning for 2022, fans kind of tuned out. Boone’s largely been the same for five years. It is what it is. Nothing he says is going to change fans’ minds, and it’s hard to believe anybody could get any angrier over what’s happened/will happen.

But for Cashman? There was hope for a day or two that he might not return as his contract expired on Oct. 31. Outside of Andy Martino’s hunch that Cashman was likely to return, there was no official information or insightful report.

On Friday, though, Cashman revealed that he’ll (all but officially) be returning. Like we said all along. Changes were not going to be made after an ALCS exit. The more and more intel we see about Steinbrenner valuing stability that breeds second-tier contention, the more likely we can predict these outcomes.

Brian Cashman is returning to the New York Yankees. Fans, have at it

Cashman doesn’t have a contract at the moment, but he said he and Steinbrenner are “operating on a handshake agreement” as they work out the finer details on his next deal.

So much for that Martino report on Cashman’s future being “unresolved.” Nope. Never was the case. But you did fool some of us! We got excited for a moment! With how the Yankees have progressively slipped out of premier contention, fans needed any excuse to convince themselves a change up top could be made or at least considered.

Cashman answered a number of other questions with poise, but wasn’t awfully insightful on much. He talked about injuries affecting the roster. He claimed he didn’t know what the term “three true outcomes” meant. He thought Aaron Boone “did a great job.” He said the team would like Aaron Judge back but wouldn’t provide any details on whether or not talks have begun.

To sum it all up, he then talked about the analytics department when asked about the organization’s processes on that front. Not only was he vague, but he confirmed the fans’ worst fears: there really isn’t a cutthroat approach in the Yankees organization anymore when expectations aren’t met or if poor decisions are made.

It really feels like the Yankees won’t reach the World Series anytime soon unless the rest of the top competitors in the AL lose their four best players overnight or unless Steinbrenner decides to clean house and start anew.

In better developments, though, the Yankees want to keep Anthony Rizzo , Jameson Taillon and Andrew Benintendi. They’re picking up Luis Severino’s option.

Whoops, is that good news? Sounds like they’re “running it back” to us. Hope you enjoyed that nothingness after a weeklong tease of Cashman’s departure that was never happening.