Highlights From Cash's End-Of-Season Press Conference

(Courtesy of The Star-Ledger)

Brian Cashman held court with the Yankee beat writer corps yesterday for his yearly season-ending press conference.  Typically there's little that's discussed here that constitutes actual news.  Maybe an extra injury we didn't know about here, an announcement about coaches coming back there, nothing earth-shattering.  It's more Cash's one time to give his thoughts on the season as a whole, talk more about individual players than he might have while the season was going on, and set the stage for the upcoming offseason.  It was all of that business as usual yesterday, with a few potential nuggets of interest here and there.  It's not hard to find more detailed descriptions of what Cash said around the blogopshere, but if you're just looking for the tastiest morsels, here they are.


On Joe's Contract Situation- Cash confirmed that he spoke with Joe on Monday about coming back and said there was a meeting scheduled for today with Joe and his agent to continue talks about a new contract.

On The Upcoming Offseason- Said there's "a lot of work to do" and acknowledged that the Yankees have "a lot of problems that we need to attack."  Named the rotation and left side of the infield as 2 key areas to be addressed and said pro scouting meetings will start Monday.

On The Payroll Budget- Toed the company line and reiterated that a championship is always the goal, and once again made the statement that the $189 million figure is "certainly a goal, it's not a mandate."  Hard to say whether that's what he really thinks or if it's what Hal and Levine told him to say.

On The Farm System- Said, “In terms of changes, we’re always looking at that type of stuff. If we have changes to make, we’ll make them and deal with them” when asked about making changes in the drafting/development front office positions.  Doesn't sound good for Oppenheimer.

On CC Sabathia- “The hope and expectation is that he can pitch to the front of that rotation.”

On Derek Jeter's Health- “I certainly hope to get Derek to the Derek we’re all used to.”  Cash said he expected Jeter to be able to get his regular offseason workout routine in this year and said there are no plans to move his position next year.  He'll be a shortstop or the DH.

On Alex Rodriguez- Cash obviously didn't and can't comment on the appeals hearing, but did drop this interesting little quote: "I have Alex plugged in unless I’m told something different.”  Signals that maybe the Yankees have already put plans in place to address whatever outcome results from the appeal.

On Robinson Cano's Free Agency- "We'd love to have Robbie back. He’s been a great Yankee. If he stays I think he has a legitimate chance to experience what we saw with Mariano Rivera.”  Hefty praise on Cano and an early attempt to entice him to stay.

There's one other thing Cash said yesterday that really stood out.  It's no secret that it was a bit of a rocky year in the media for Cash, and there certainly seemed to be a more pronounced bite to his bark when he wanted to make it known how he felt and a more guarded ambiguity to his words when he didn't.  This line summing up the whole season seemed to draw from both versions of that Cashspeak:

“We got derailed this year by decision-making as much as injuries.  This was a tough year. This year was my responsibility as General Manager and I take full responsibility for that.”

That certainly reads like Cash stepping up and falling on the sword for the front office, taking the blame for not putting a good enough team on the field with the money he was given and the moves he did make on the free agent and trade markets.  The production from those new guys - Youkilis, Wells, Hafner, Overbay - definitely supports that argument.  But read that first sentence again.  "Derailed by decision-making as much as injures."  Doesn't that come off as a bit of a veiled shot at the Steinbrenners?  Not every personnel move this year was Cash's call, like the decisions to re-sign Ichiro and not re-sign Russell Martin, the guy who set an MLB postseason record last night and had the 5th highest fWAR total this year among all MLB catchers.  Those were ownership decisions.

Cash has been quick to say when the call was his or wasn't lately, and maybe that was another instance of him saying that.  That dynamic between him and the rest of the front office is going to be worth watching this offseason with all they have to do, and it wouldn't come as a surprise to hear him question the decision making again.  Next year is the last year on his current contract, and one way or another he could go out with a bang.