While one full calendar year separates the Yankees from a loaded free-agent class arriving in 2018, there’s no guarantee that Brian Cashman will be negotiating deals next winter.
Cashman, who’s been New York’s general manager since 1998, will see his three-year contract expire at the end of the 2017 season.
Due to the Yankees’ failure to reach the postseason in three of the last four years, Cashman’s future in the front office remains undetermined. But the franchise’s anticipated youth movement is already underway, which could be a silver lining to Cashman who needs results in his contract year.
On Saturday, Cashman spoke about the upcoming season with Sweeney Murti and Sam Ryan on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio channel, and if 2017 could be his final year at the post.
“Those are decisions that are made above me. That’s one thing that I’m real proud about, Cashman said. “We have a lot of high quality people here. And we have an excellent pro scouting team, an excellent domestic scouting team, an excellent international team and a we have an excellent development team. So there are a lot of great baseball people here. We’re all on the same page and we’re all pulling in the right direction, in the same direction, with ownership. And where we are going to be come November 1 of next year, that all remains to be seen.
“Those decisions are for another day with a lot of variables in play, so it’s hard to forecast the future on that type of stuff, especially when you don’t personally make the final call on that. The most important thing to do is to string together quality decisions that lead to a quality outcome and that’s all I could control. I think we’ve been doing that a lot over the last two or three years in terms of the ultimate effort, which is to get through some of these commitments we’ve lived with at times and the early portions of it we’ve benefited from and on the back end haven’t. So we are strategically and openly talking about how we need to get younger and get more financial flexibility, live in the new world order.
“The last number of CBA’s that have obviously slowed us down and into a position of strength where out opponents respect as well as fear us. I think we’re getting closer to that. We’re just not where we need to be just yet. But listen if you have enough talent collected that’s knocking on the door, that could happen quick. Obviously I’d like that to happen sooner or later but it will happen on its own time rather than on any forced time. So we’ll see what happens. But I’m excited to be a part of it and would certainly love to be a part of it moving forward.”
