The New York Yankees find themselves in an unfamiliar situation. They trail the Baltimore Orioles by 9.5 games in the American League East, and find themselves four games out of the last wild card spot with 25 games remaining. While that is not an insurmountable deficit, the Yankees are certainly in danger of missing the playoffs for the second straight season. They have not missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since they missed the playoffs every year from 1982-1994.
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So, who is to blame for this? According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, not Brian Cashman. Heyman reports that the Yankees still want to sign their long time general manager when his contract expires at the end of this season.
The Yankees have averaged 96 wins per year, and have won four World Series titles since Cashman took over as general manager after the 1997 season. Cashman’s longevity is almost unheard of with the Yankees, particularly in the Steinbrenner era, which began in 1972.
He trails only Ed Barrow, who was GM/team president from 1921 to 1945 in career tenure in the front office of the Yankees. Only Lee MacPhail (1967-73) and Gene Michael (1991-95) have lasted more than five years in the last half century as Yankee GM. They have about as long of a shelf life as an NFL running back.
Cashman appears likely to return to his post. Though he may have lost the confidence of some of the fans, the Yankee brass were impressed with his pickups of Brandon McCarthy, Martin Prado, Chase Headley, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran. Even if they didn’t lead the Yankees to the promised land.
For now at least, the blame lies with the players who are underachieving, and not Cashman. We will see if the sky falls if they miss the playoffs again next year.