Brian Cashman says the Yankees’ season has been a disaster

NEW YORK – In the midst of a nine-game losing streak that has put the Yankees in a precarious position in the playoffs, the organization has had to assess exactly what went wrong in the Bronx.

That responsibility rests squarely with general manager Brian Cashman, the chief of baseball operations, who spoke to the media Wednesday afternoon and candidly admitted that the 2023 season hasn’t gone as well as the Yankees wanted.

“It was a disaster this season, and yes, it was definitely a shock,” said Cashman. “I certainly don’t think anyone on our side of the fence, from the players’ group or the coaches or the manager, or even outside the organisation, would have expected that.”

On Opening Day, the Yankees had the highest odds of making the postseason of any team in the American League, according to FanGraphs, at 81.2%, besting even the Astros, who were coming off a World Series. Now, with six weeks left until the start of the regular season, New York finds itself more than 10 games away in the AL Wild Card race.

Although the Yankees are not mathematically out of competition, Cashman acknowledged the “bad situation” they find themselves in, with FanGraphs giving them less than a 1% chance of playing baseball after October 1. This will be the first time the Yankees have missed the playoffs since 2016.

So what went wrong?

“We’re going to assess everything clearly. Unfortunately, we’ll have some time to do that,” Cashman said. “But I would say everyone had a little hand, from top to bottom, and our job is to figure out where. Obviously, this is what we need to do. I have already met several times with Hal Steinbrenner [principal propietario de los Yankees], which is not something we are used to. There will certainly be a lot of internal reviews.

Although Cashman didn’t reveal what exactly those assessments would consist of, he did note that his group would need to be “objective” as it scrutinized every part of the club, adding that “that’s what losing teams do”.

“There are a number of different portfolios,” Cashman said. “You have a bag of injuries to assess whether or not they can be avoided. You have a bag of unexpected achievers. And then everything else, whether it’s development, or analytics, or performance science, or whatever. So there’s a lot of baggage.” different to be evaluated.

Five games under .500, the Yankees (60-65) have been last in the Middle East for more than a month and could finish the season in the basement for the first time since 1990. New York has yet to finish a record under .500 since 1992, which is 30-year streak which is the second longest in major league history.

Despite the Yankees’ troubles, Cashman doesn’t think they’ve given up this year, a sentiment echoed by head coach Aaron Boone and players on the club during the off-season.

“The fight is there. The interest is there. The intention is there. Being part of this organization for some time, I know the difference,” Cashman said. Or if he’s on the hill, he doesn’t want to miss either. And all of them are collectively trying to do their best to stop what’s happening to us, or what’s been happening now for a long period of time.”

However, the Yankees took a step toward a more future-focused approach on Tuesday, promoting their third-highest prospect, Iverson Pereira, and compatriot and former No. 2 player Oswald Peraza from Triple-A. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Both will see regular playing time along the stretch.

It remains to be seen if this is the beginning of the plan through 2024, but Cashman made it clear that the Yankees have no one to blame.

“If the dice is rolled, so be it. We are what our track record says we are, and we certainly aren’t proud of that,” Cashman reiterated. “It’s been a disaster this season. We’re embarrassed about it. But there’s still time on the clock for us to find a way to change that while we’re still active, and then learn as much as we can about the players out there and use that in our forward-thinking decision-making process. “