It’s no secret that the New York Yankees need a first baseman, and some fans are agitated that general manager Brian Cashman hasn’t addressed the situation yet.
Cashman made it clear, however, that picking up a new first baseman is not that easy.
“It’s not unusual; the job as a general manager, no matter what sport it is, is to try to fix problems,” Cashman said, via Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. “It’s not as easy as you have a bed and you need new sheets, so you just go to Bed Bath & Beyond, go shopping and cash out. It’s not that easy in an industry where the talent pool is not easily accessible — especially when you’re looking for a plug-and-play instant upgrade.”
Cashman made clear the Yankees will try very hard to make a move, but it might be a few weeks before anything comes to fruition.
“The bulk of the activity won’t happen until the last 10 days of July,” Cashman said. “That’s the nature of the beast; you have a problem, how do you choose to fix it? There will be some extravagant prices out there, there will be some cheap additions available, or you can decide to tread water and wait for the internal options to come back, which could be what we do with Bird. We just haven’t plotted that course yet.”
The Yankees have struggled to find a steady first baseman with youngster Greg Bird sidelined due to nagging injury and his replacements not being good enough to cut it. Cashman will be a busy guy, as the Yankees have other needs as well.
