2 weeks Ago
The New York Yankees have been the gold standard of success since Brian Cashman took over the front office as general manager. Hired Feb. 3, 1998, the team has been consistently good under his watch, perennial contenders in the American League.
Entering Year 28 at the helm, the Yankees once again look like legitimate contenders despite the mounting injuries they are dealing with. Credit needs to be given to the front office and coaching staff for navigating things as well as they have. Not many teams would be able to overcome the loss of an ace, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year and their No.
3 starter like New York did with Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt all sidelined to begin the year. On top of that, the team lost superstar right fielder Juan Soto in free agency and ALCS MVP, designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, is dealing with painful injuries in both elbows that have him sidelined, as well. Despite being without all of that talent and production, the team is in first place in the AL East with a 14-8 record, which is the most wins in the American League at the moment.
Year in and year out, New York gets the job done on the field. Cashman deserves a lot of credit for handling the scrutiny in the fashion he has, overseeing a playoff team in 22 out of 27 seasons he has been on the job . The Yankees have reached the World Series seven times, winning four.
He has been lauded by his peers for the work he has done, and rightfully so. While he is the figurehead of the front office, he isn’t doing all of the work on his own. Another reason the team has found so much success is that they went all-in on analytics, helping them get the most out of the players on the Major League roster and when evaluating young players.
“They do front office analytics stuff really well. The player development department has consistently turned out interesting players they can use in trades to go get real dudes. They take guys in the middle rounds of the draft, they optimize the hell out of them, and then they spin a couple of them for guys like Devin Williams or Alex Verdugo.
So they consistently have enough talent in the system to go fill their major-league needs every year,” said one AL general manager, as shared by Tyler Kepner of The Athletic (subscription required). Consistently being in the playoff picture means not selecting very high in the MLB draft. That hasn’t deterred New York from adding talent to their organization, as they consistently have one of the stronger farm systems.
As the AL GM noted, their cupboard never seems to be bare. Players are being called up and graduating from prospect status every year, but there is always something left to continue upgrading the roster with. Trading those mid-tier prospects for Major League talent is always a good investment.
As perennial contenders, more often than not, the Yankees need help now more so than hoping a younger player develops in the future. That isn’t to say they just give away all of their prospects; just look at their Major League roster right now. Ben Rice, Aaron Judge, Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza and Jasson Dominguez are all homegrown players on the active roster.
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