Joel Sherman losing his mind on Yankees trade deadline will have Brian Cashman spiraling

Not only did the New York Yankees forget to get a catcher at the 2026 MLB trade deadline, but Brian Cashman also forgot that the club needed relievers. In fact, he subtracted from his already thin bullpen depth in the Luis Garcia Jr. trade, and while that still looks like a good move on paper, you'd have thought it'd light a fire under the long-time GM to bring in reinforcements. It did not.

One Yankees insider is taking aim at Cashman for that folly, and he's not wrong. Joel Sherman absolutely eviscerated the Yankees and Cashman for failing to address the bullpen in a video posted to Twitter/X by the New York Post.

"I am blown away! I am blown away that [the Yankees] don't have at least one more capable relief pitcher on their staff today. I think they [needed] two more capable, throw 40 innings the rest of the year, you believe in it [relievers]. Because I just don't believe everything in this game of Jenga is going is going to go right," Sherman raged.

"Forget about Judge, Bellinger, and Stanton for a second. I don't think with their pitching staff, how many different things have to go right over the next eight to twelve weeks if you get to the end of October for this to work," he continued.

The "game of Jenga" that Sherman is referring to is the perceived multi-faceted plan to fix and reinforce the bullpen with internal additions. Clarke Schmidt is working his way back from Tommy John surgery and is thought to be a possible bullpen solution. Another avenue that will likely be explored is shifting either Will Warren or Ryan Weathers to the bullpen once Carlos Rodón is set to be activated from his upcoming rehab assignment.

Sherman is right. There are a myriad of things that can go wrong with this plan. Setbacks in the injured hurlers' rehabs could derail things before they get off the ground. An injury in the starting rotation would undo any progress once these moves are made. Finally, asking pitchers to take on unfamiliar roles during the most critical time of the year is just asking for trouble.

Joel Sherman has clashed with Yankees GM Brian Cashman before, and he was right then, too

Back in November of 2023, it was Sherman who was on the other end of Cashman's defiant defense of Anthony Volpe and the Yankees' player development. Sherman was calm and asking valid questions that fans wanted answers to. Cashman was... unhinged?

“I think our player development system does a great job. You are questioning whether it does. The proof will be in the pudding….When Volpe crushes it offensively for us, you’ll say, ‘Hey, I guess your development program did a good job.’ It’s pretty basic,” Cashman fumed.

Here we are nearly three years and a .660 career OPS later, and Volpe has been demoted to Scranton in favor of George Lombard Jr. Not looking so hot on the prediction there, Brian.

Cashman may beg to differ, but there were affordable deals out there for relievers who would have been upgrades. Instead of pursuing those opportunities, the Yankees are hoping that the stars align and players like Paul Blackburn and Angel Chivilli (once he's able to resurface) will continue to step up. We'll hope he's right, but the smart money is with Sherman's take, as dismal as that is.

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