Conflicting Brian Cashman reports from GM Meetings have Yankees fans riled up

To go, or not to go? That is the question. That is the question for New York Yankees senior vice president Brian Cashman as it pertains to the 2025 General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas. The annual get-together features executives from every team and a plethora of reporters as the baseball world prepares for the Winter Meetings.

Just two years ago, Cashman further popularized the GM Meetings with his nuclear rant about Anthony Volpe after getting into it with MLB insider Joel Sherman. Cashman didn't seem to like the line of questioning about Volpe's disappointing rookie season, and his NSFW tirade went viral.

Yankees fans were hoping for something of note this year. Another meltdown? Sure. Content. We love it. But most would've preferred some quotes hinting at the Yankees' offseason plans as they hope to rebound after a disappointing 2025 (and with a potential lockout looming after the 2026 campaign).

Instead we'll get ... nothing? According to Randy Miller of NJ.com, Cashman (and manager Aaron Boone) will not be present in Vegas this year for the GM Meetings and will instead speak with beat writers remotely on Wednesday.

Or so we thought! After Miller's reporting, longtime New York baseball insider Bill Madden revealed the Cashman's flight was merely delayed (ostensibly due to the air traffic complications due to the government shutdown).

Yankees Rumors: Brian Cashman not attending 2025 GM Meetings

But apparently Madden's reporting was incorrect. Miller re-confirmed (via MLB and the Yankees) that Cashman would indeed not be attending, and then the New York Post reported “something non-baseball related popped up that prevented him from being there."

So fans went from "are the Yankees kidding with this cowardice?!" to "oh, man, we hope everything's alright, sending out best!". Given the importance of the meetings, it's hard to believe Cashman would be willfully neglecting them. Nonetheless, The Post says he has a number of his "lieutenants" in attendance, including assistant GM Michael Fishman, VP of player development Kevin Reese, and director of baseball operations Matt Ferry.

We're not sure what good that will do outside of information gathering, but it's better than nothing. All we know is that the Yankees are facing another all-important offseason with a number of key free agents and trade targets there for the taking.

Hopefully Cashman has enough experience in the post-COVID world utilizing Zoom, Teams and Google Meet. Can't have any technical difficulties, though we can probably expect a few glitches when it's Sherman's turn to ask a question tomorrow.