Even Brian Cashman thinks Yankees fans are spoiled

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman thinks fans are wrong for thinking the 2022 season was a failure.

The New York Yankees fanbase last experienced a World Series trip back in 2009, where the team defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. They have never made it back to the Fall Classic since then, as seasons of promise fell short of expectations. In fact, the Phillies made it back to the World Series before the Yankees did. Of course, the Yankees clinched the No. 2 seed in the American League last season, and made it to the Championship Series. But, they were swept by their hated rivals in the Houston Astros, who celebrated their AL pennant inside Yankee Stadium.

Let’s just say that the fanbase wasn’t pleased with the run the Yankees had, especially after they struggled in the Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians. Fans wanting organizational change didn’t exactly get that, as Brian Cashman returned as general manager on a new contract, while Aaron Boone was retained as manager. The latest comments from Cashman won’t exactly make Yankee fans happy.

During an appearance on 670 The Score on Saturday, Cashman was asked about the offseason he had, which included retaining outfielder Aaron Judge and first baseman Anthony Rizzo, and signing starting pitcher Carlos Rodon. When the topic of this past season came up, he viewed it as a success and said fans reacted like the team got eliminated in the first-round.

Audio from the interview can be found in the link above.

Brian Cashman doesn’t understand why Yankees fans were critical of 2022 season

"“It was funny, I was just talking to Omar Minaya, one of my special assistants,” Cashman said, h/t Audacy.com. “Last night, we’re having a little dinner and I was talking with him and my son, Teddy and we were talking about how the season ended.I was like, ‘Where did, how far did we get? We got knocked out in the first or second round?’ Omar was talking me about it today, he was like, ‘Man, you guys are in it so much that you can’t remember what happened?’“I’m like, ‘Well, you know, to be quite honest, Omar, the truth was in the end, we were four games short of a World Series appearance, but it felt like the way our fanbase reacted and the press that we got knocked out in the first round. So you can’t really remember sometimes reality versus the perception, and the perception was we didn’t do well. The reality was we had a hell of another run at it but, but fell short. But that’s just the New York market.”"

Cashman may as well call himself New York’s sports’ Principal Seymour Skinner.

“Am I so out of touch? No, it’s the fans who are wrong.”

The Yankees did have a red-hot start to the 2022 season, where they entered the All-Star break as arguably the best team in baseball. But once they returned, they struggled mightily, as highlighted by Boone slamming his hand on a table during a postgame press conference in the midst of a bad slump. But, they were able to break out of it just before the regular season ended.

Yet, the Yankees didn’t exactly perform up to expectations in the postseason, as they needed all five games to beat the Guardians. Then, the ALCS against the Astros happened. The team that Cashman has said stole a World Series title from them in 2017 due to the sign-stealing scandal, beat the Yankees resoundingly with most of the roster from that season gone. New York couldn’t hit at the plate, and their fans became so disinterested, that Game 4 tickets at Yankee Stadium dropped in price drastically. To make matters worse for Yankees fans, they watched the Astros celebrate with the William Harridge Trophy on the mound at Yankee Stadium. Salt in the wound.

Let’s look at New York’s hitting throughout the postseason:

• Division Series vs. Guardians: .182 batting average, .273 on-base percentage, .370 slugging percentage, .643 OPS, nine home runs, 20 RBI, 28 hits
• Championship Series vs. Astros: .162 batting average, .232 on-base percentage, .269 slugging percentage, .502 OPS, three home runs, 9 RBI, 21 hits

While Cashman viewed their postseason run as a success, their lack of hitting prevented them from reaching the Fall Classic.

This offseason, there were no major additions made to improve the hitting. They haven’t addressed left field, with the expectation being that Aaron Hicks will start at that position after a less-than-stellar 2022 season at the plate and in the outfield. As for the shortstop position, it will be a competition between veteran Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and prospects Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe. Cashman did, however, did add Rodon to their already stout starting rotation.

During his appearance on 670 The Score, Cashman said he can’t grade his offseason until he sees how the team performs after next season. For Yankees fans, they want to see the results too, given the team’s lack of championships in the past decade-plus.