Brian Cashman's insistence that no Yankees' budget exists should ring alarm bells

The baseball world has descended on Orlando, Florida for the peak of hot stove activity, the Winter Meetings. Upon his arrival, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman did his best to assuage fans' concerns.

Hal Steinbrenner's been making cryptic comments about profits, and it's convinced many in the Yankees' universe that there is a budget in place. The magic number, according to most, is $300 million, which would represent a decrease from 2025's final tally. If $300 million is truly the number they want to end 2026, that doesn't leave much room to operate this winter, as funds will need to be set aside for in-season moves.

That has led to much consternation that the club will not do much to address its many holes. Cashman spoke to reporters and addressed the elephant in the room, insisting that there is no hard budget in place.

Brian Cashman's proclamation that the Yankees do not have a budgetary restriction in place sounds like he's preheating the excuse oven

This feels like a classic case of thou doth protest too much, rather than any sort of reassurances. When asked how the Yankees plan to improve the roster, Cashman said that there are "a lot of different ways to skin a cat."

That might be true, but some work better than others, and if the Yankees take the cheap route, you might as well consider the cat as having its skin intact.

Cashman insisted that the direction he's received from Steinbrenner has not changed throughout their numerous offseason conversations, but added, “I think that’s every owner’s [ideal] — you’d love to win the whole thing at less of a cost if you possibly can."

Cashman would go on to gas up the likes of Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez, two struggling young players who fans would love to see replaced.

He'd close out by talking about how he operated at last year's Winter Meetings in comparison to this year's affair, saying “Last year, we were able to get a lot of things done from the Winter Meetings and beyond,” he said. “So I don’t think there’s as much — as deep a need of a lot of things as there was last year. But there’s things I’m obviously trying to do.”

So there you have it. Insisting there is no budget, while acknowledging that every owner would like to be successful at the lowest possible payroll mark. When you couple that with talking up the young guys and downplaying the urgency of the current needs, you can see he's just setting the scene for the excuses to come.

And expect them to. The Cashman and the Yankees will start talking about value propositions as if the difference between $28 million and $30 million a year or Cody Bellinger actually makes any sort of difference. We'll hear about the number of years some of the top targets get as something that puts them in an uncomfortable spot for the future, as if the current Aaron Judge-Gerrit Cole-led window isn't on the verge of closing.

Maybe he's telling the truth, but if the Yankees truly aren't active during what is always the busiest part of the offseason, it will be telling. The actions, rather than the words, will show us what we should believe. So for now, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.