‘Proud’ Cashman pushes back at Yanks’ critics
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spent much of his hourlong media availability on Tuesday vehemently pushing back against some of the backlash directed toward the organization in the wake of an 82-win season, frequently defending the team’s decision-making process and the various people involved with it.
“I’m proud of our people, and I’m proud of our process,” Cashman said from the site of the General Managers’ Meetings on Tuesday afternoon. “Doesn’t mean we’re firing on all cylinders, doesn’t mean we’re the best in class, but I think we’re pretty f—ing good, personally. I’m proud of our people, and I’m also looking forward to ’24 being a better year than ’23.”
The Yankees made the playoffs each of the previous six years but haven’t advanced into the World Series since winning it all in 2009. In 2023, they finished 19 games out of first place and needed a 17-10 September to avoid their first losing season since 1992, prompting widespread calls for Cashman and sixth-year manager Aaron Boone to get fired.
The Yankees’ offense was exposed while without Aaron Judge for most of June and July, ultimately finishing 24th in the majors in OPS. Outside of Gerrit Cole, their starting pitchers combined to post a 4.49 ERA. In hopes of breaking through an American League East that has become appreciably more difficult with the Baltimore Orioles emerging as contenders, Cashman said the Yankees need to “reinforce our pitching” while adding two outfielders — preferably left-handed hitters — and addressing what he called an “infield surplus.”
Day 1 of the GM meetings, taking place at the Omni Scottsdale Resort, marked Cashman’s first public comments since August, when he called the Yankees’ season a “disaster.”
“We got sand being kicked in our face, understandably so,” Cashman, the Yankees’ GM since 1998, said. “We only won 82 games, we didn’t make the playoffs. I called it a disaster because it was unexpected, and it was a disaster. That roster on paper was a hell of a lot better than it played out. But I gotta live with that. I gotta own that. I’m responsible for that. And I’m certainly hearing it loud and clear from all aspects, whether it’s media, whether it’s fans, all this stuff. Hey, if you’re gonna play in this market, you gotta be tough, and you gotta fight through it, and we’re gonna fight through it and have ’24 be a better outcome than ’23. But I did not see ’23 coming. I don’t think anybody here saw ’23 coming with the roster we had.”
Cashman added: “At this point last year, closer to the end of the winter, it was, ‘This is a playoff team. This is a World Series-contending team. In fact, maybe the best roster they’ve had to give them a chance to get to the World Series.’ And the same people now are talking about roster construction, too much analytics and all this other stuff, which I get a kick watching that back and forth where, ‘Geez, those are the same kind of people that actually liked what we did six months ago, and they’re killing us for it now.’ I get it. It’s part of being part of this process. That’s what makes sports so amazing. But we’ve got good baseball people. We’ve made good decisions over the course of time. More recently, some of these things haven’t been as good. I’m responsible for that. That’s my call. And hopefully we’ll be in a better position with some of the decisions we’ll hopefully run into to improve the roster and improve where we’re sitting at the end of ’24.”
Cashman at various points defended the Yankees’ due diligence leading up to some of the trades that famously flopped, particularly the midseason acquisitions of outfielder Joey Gallo in 2021 and starting pitcher Frankie Montas in 2022. Cashman noted that the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins acquired Gallo after he struggled in New York and that none of the medicals indicated that Montas would eventually need shoulder surgery. He believes most of the criticism directed at the Yankees is a reaction to the on-field results and not rooted in the processes that led up to them.
“I get a kick out of how it’s decisions about players that are really good Major League Baseball players or potentially helpful Major League Baseball players, and that we’re dumb for getting them, and other people, obviously, they’re not dumb,” Cashman said at one point. “Bottom line, it just comes down to winning and losing. And that’s what this is all about. We lost way too many games than we should’ve lost last year. That’s my fault. I’m responsible as the baseball-operations GM. If the owner wants to tag me out at any time, he clearly can do that.”
Cashman also pushed back on the notion that the Yankees are too analytically driven, claiming the organization has “the smallest analytics department” in the AL East but also “the largest pro-scouting department in all of baseball.”
“No one’s doing their deep dives,” Cashman said. “They’re just throwing ammunition and bulls–t and accusing us of being run analytically. Analytics is an important spoke in our wheel. It should be in everybody’s wheel, and it really is an important spoke in every operation that’s having success. There’s not one team that’s not using it; we’re no different. But to be said we’re guided by analytics as a driver — it’s a lie. But that’s what people wanna say. I know I can’t change that narrative. All I can continue to do is say ‘bulls–t, not true.’ But I will guarantee it’s important to utilize it, along with our pro-scouting opinions, along with our amateur-scouting opinions, and yeah, sometimes we do better and sometimes we do worse with our decisions. Sometimes they don’t work out, but that’s also part of the process.”
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava officially announced his transfer to UCLA via a social media post Sunday.
“My journey at UT has come to an end,” he wrote on Instagram. “This decision was incredibly difficult, and truthfully, not something I expected to make this soon. But I trust God’s timing, and I believe He’s leading me where I need to be.
“Even though this chapter is ending, a new chapter has begun and I am committed to UCLA!”
Iamaleava was a highly regarded recruit who led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season. He was No. 1 in ESPN’s transfer portal rankings and immediately gives UCLA one of the best-known players in the sport upon his arrival. The Bruins are coming off a 5-7 debut season by coach DeShaun Foster.
Iamaleava, a five-star prospect from Long Beach, California, was recruited by UCLA out of high school. His younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, committed to UCLA out of high school but changed his commitment on the morning of signing day and signed with Arkansas.
Those recruitments gave both sides plenty of familiarity and the ability to potentially move quickly.
Iamaleava passed for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in his first season as a starter, but in nine games against SEC opponents and Ohio State in the playoff, he threw for more than 200 yards only twice.
Tennessee’s offense finished No. 9 in the conference in scoring with 25.0 points per game in SEC play. The Volunteers’ offense was No. 1 in rushing and No. 11 in passing in league play.
UCLA is coming off a season in which it finished No. 14 in scoring offense and No. 12 in total offense in Big Ten play.
Iamaleava was earning $2.4 million at Tennessee under the contract he signed with Spyre Sports Group, the Tennessee-based collective, when he was still in high school. The deal would have paid him in the $10 million range altogether had he stayed four years at Tennessee.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel announced last week after the Volunteers’ spring game that the program was moving forward without Iamaleava after he missed practice and meetings April 11. He hadn’t alerted anyone on the team and was unresponsive afterward.
Heupel thanked Iamaleava and called the situation unfortunate, but added, “There’s no one bigger than the Power T, and that includes me.”
Iamaleava, a rising redshirt sophomore, officially entered the transfer portal Wednesday with a do-not-contact tag.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this report.
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Kristen Shilton
The New Jersey Devils‘ injury woes may have reached alarming new heights.
Defenseman Brenden Dillon and forward Cody Glass exited during the second and third periods, respectively, in Game 1 of the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, a 4-1 loss for New Jersey. The Devils were also briefly without defenseman Luke Hughes, who left in the third period but was able to return.
New Jersey entered the postseason already undermanned. Top forward Jack Hughes, Luke’s brother, had season-ending shoulder surgery in March, and defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler is also not expected to be available in the first round.
Coach Sheldon Keefe remained optimistic though about one of the team’s latest injured bodies.
“(Dillon) was eager to get back out there,” Keefe said by way of an update. Doctors ultimately held Dillon out for “precautionary reasons.”
The veteran blueliner was taken to the ice by Carolina forward William Carrier battling in front of the Devils’ net. He remained down for several minutes before being helped off by New Jersey’s training staff.
It was a disastrous third period sequence that shortened New Jersey’s bench further. Hughes went flying into the Devils’ net after tripping over Hurricanes’ forward Andrei Svechnikov, and ran off the ice cradling his right arm. Then, Devils’ goaltender Jacob Markstrom accidentally clipped Glass with his stick while appearing to aim for Svechnikov. Glass left and did not return while Hughes finished the game.
New Jersey will have to wait and see who is available when they take on Carolina in Game 2 on Tuesday. For now, Keefe won’t let the Devils dwell on what they can’t control.
“To a man, myself included,” he said, “we’re all going to have to be better.”
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