Via Tyler Kepner -
Hank Steinbrenner, who is co-chairman of the Yankees with his brother, Hal, praised Manager Joe Girardi in a wide-ranging telephone interview on Monday. But with the last-place Yankees sputtering along at 20-24, the architect of the team, General Manager Brian Cashman, received only measured support.
Speaking of Girardi, Steinbrenner said: “I think he’s doing fine. It’s pretty simple — he’s playing the hand that he was dealt, just like I am. He’s doing the best job he can. I have complete confidence in Joe.”
The way the season plays out from here could determine Cashman’s future.
“If Brian wants to be the G.M. next year, there’s a chance he will be,” Steinbrenner said. “If he doesn’t want to, he won’t be. At this point, do I still want him to be the G.M.? Yeah, I do.”
[Hank] made several references on Monday to the next off-season, stressing that he was determined to make any moves necessary.
“My job is to win, and I’m going to do everything I can to win,” Steinbrenner said. “It’s not like I just came in off the farm, like some people claim. I’ve been around the game for 35 years, but this is my first year, along with my brother, in running the team, and I have to play with the cards I was dealt, just like Joe does.
“Whether those cards work or not will determine what happens in the off-season, and I’m going to do whatever I have to do to win,” he continued. “There’s been a lot of mistakes the last five to seven years that I had nothing to do with and Joe had nothing to do with — and quite a few things Brian had nothing to do with.”
That last part is interesting. “Quite a few” implies that there are, still, some things that Hank views as being Cashman’s fault. I’m growing more and more convinced that, if the Yankees don’t make the post-season this year, Cashman will not be back in 2009.
6 Responses to “Hank: Joe & I Making The Best Of Our Cards”
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May 20th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Cashman shouldn’t even want to come back if he’s going to have to put up with this crap on a daily basis.
For the 1,523,492,980,940,222,586th time, NO ONE HAS SAID THAT CASHMAN HASN’T MADE MISTAKES. NO ONE CLAIMS THAT HE’S PERFECT. NOT A SINGLE GM IN BASEBALL HISTORY HAS EVER BEEN PERFECT.
Hank should do a daily non-affirmation class with the anti-Stuart Smalley, repeating the same mantra over and over: “I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough, by golly no one likes me.”
May 20th, 2008 at 10:23 am
I’m growing more and more convinced that, if the Yankees don’t make the post-season this year, Cashman will not be back in 2009.
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I think so too.
“I think he’s doing fine. It’s pretty simple — he’s playing the hand that he was dealt, just like I am. He’s doing the best job he can. I have complete confidence in Joe.”
Sounds like Girardi’s on the hot seat too, if Hank’s anything like his old man…
Wonder if Hank realizes that the guy he let go was able to make the playoffs with the same team?
May 20th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I don’t think there can be any doubt that Cash is gone if the Yankees playoff streak ends. And they won’t give Cashman even a fraction of the respect he deserves with a contract offer like the one they gave Torre. I think Cash will be FIRED, all-caps, with some sort of declaration that he was handed a championship roster but messed it up afterwards, and now its time to get back to Yankee baseball. New stadium=new GM, and I really have to wonder if they can get Stick to come back.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
We need to know what Hal thinks to get a true read on the situation.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Cash has made mistakes ,but I’m afraid that Hank might make a big mistake.Sabremetrics and computers are not the wave of the future,but rather the current flavor.Very successful teams are using them including the Yankees.If he is really smart,he will get Stick back and that is a good direction because they weren’t spending 209 mill back then and were getting anywhere(and Cashman wants to go in that cheaper direction).But the Jays ,Sox and Rays(I know that the Rsy are newbies,but they will be a force in the AL east) are better now,so that job is that much harder.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
If Cashman leaves, it will be because he wants to leave. I think there’s a 50/50 chance he just walks away. The thing people should fear the most — even anti-Cashman folks like Steve — is if Hank goes nuts, puts some GM in there that he rules over, and makes a bunch of crazy decisions himself. He fancies himself a baseball man, which could lead to some insane shit — like trading the kids, overspending on free agents, etc., etc. And that’s probably partially going to happen anyway, even with Cashman in charge.