Nobody ever accused Yankees GM Brian Cashman of deflecting blame; he’s always been a stand up guy. There was the time in Buster Olney’s book where it’s said Cashman wanted to sign Vlad but Steinbrenner insisted upon Sheffield, but aside from that, Cashman takes responsibility for everything. So much so, that he straight up took all the blame for the Yankees’ failures this season and protected manager Joe Girardi.
Asked how much of this is on his shoulders, Cashman said: “All of it. I’m the general manager. So if you want, we can clear this out of the way. This is not a Joe Girardi issue.”
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“I think Girardi’s done a tremendous job given what has occurred,” Cashman said. “And he continues to try to remain upbeat with this coaching staff to try to keep these players up and to try to perform up to their abilities.“That’s frustrating for all of us, but the buck stops right here with me. My job is to put it together. My job is to fix what’s broken. … I just believe we’re better than this.”
One has to wonder if Cashman’s preparing for some sort of an exodus at the end of the season. His contract is up while Girardi has another year. For the record, I think Girardi’s done a fabulous job keeping that team a winner despite all their injuries. A-Rod, Wang, Joba, Damon, Matsui, Posada, and Hughes have all been on the disabled list this year. That’s an entire All-Star team that’s been hurt yet they’re still winning. Take the Rays out of the equation as they were when Torre managed them and all of a sudden the Yanks are back in the race, right? So yeah, I agree that Girardi’s done a good job. As for Cashman, everyone knows the Yankees tacitly admitted they were rebuilding this year when they didn’t acquire Johan Santana, Sabathia, or Dick Harden. To fire him because of poor results when they were obviously rebuilding wouldn’t make much sense, but I wouldn’t expect anything less. Count me as a believer that there’s a 50/50 chance Cashman’s out at the end of the year. And his firing would be someone’s gain, that’s for sure.
