2008 - The Cashman Swan Song?

2008 - The Cashman Swan Song?

Brian Cashman made some interesting comments at Theo Epstein's charity round table;

On Hank and Hal
"So I’m focused fully on doing everything I possibly can to assist them in their emergence now as decision makers.”

On His future with the Yankees;
"Because of all the work that gets involved with doing the job, it kind of prevents me from really looking ahead past this year,” he said. “I’m just doing everything I possibly can to assist the transition with the new manager, the new owners, with the involvement now with the Steinbrenner sons. And then the rest will take care of itself at another time.”

Now Cashman fought hard to have the final say on all baseball decisions and that power has clearly been transferred to the Brothers. I would expect that at the end of this year we might be looking at another power struggle by Cashman and this one I think he will loose. George was aging in 2005 and clearly needed to get out of the day to day operations of the Yankees Hank and Hal are just getting their feet wet and Hank clearly loves the spotlight.

So the question is will Cashman except less control and if he doesn't do we as Yankee fans have reason to feel concerned?

I can see Cashman walking. He has spent 10 years with the Yankees and is well respected in the game. He probably will have no trouble finding another job.

So do we care? You have to give Cashman some credit for the recent success of the player development program but really the man who deserves the bulk of the credit is Damon Oppenheimer. With Hank at least publicly stating interest in the youth movement and Hal's tight purse strings you can expect Damon to continue to make a large impact without Cashman and for the Yankees to give some of these guys a shot. Cashman has not had a lot of success with his veteran player moves especially pitchers in recent years (Wright, Pavano, Randy, Vasquez, Weaver) and continues to make questionable decisions(1 year of Hawkins instead of 2 with Vizcaino) so in the end I am not sure if this would really be a lose at all.

My take - thanks for time serve Cashman turn off the lights on your way out.