The New York Yankees went into the 2023 season with legitimate World Series aspirations. This was a ball club that had won 99 games in 2022, re-signed AL MVP Aaron Judge to a monster deal and boasted MLB’s second-largest payroll. At least that was how the Yankees front office saw it.
Fast forward to now, and we’re nearing August with the Yankees at the bottom of the AL East standings, losers of nine straight and essentially out of the wild-card race. You can’t blame Yankees fans for wanting to see consequences at the top as longtime general manager Brian Cashman put together this roster.
Well, they’re not going to enjoy hearing what Cashman had to say on Wednesday.
"It's been a disaster, this season. It's definitely a shock. Certainly, I don't think anybody on our side of the fence, from our player group, from our coaches, our manager, or even outside the organization, would've predicted this."
Brian Cashman on the Yankees' losing streak: pic.twitter.com/Wgl5noTY4p
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 23, 2023
Cashman spoke to the media ahead of the Yankees’ game against the Nationals, and the overall message was that he’s been shocked to see this season play out as it has, calling it a “disaster.”
That’s where the lack of accountability angered Yankees fans. Cashman essentially described the dreadful season as a fluke that happened at no fault of his own, adding that the roster he constructed looked like a playoff team in spring training.
"I don't think there's anybody in this planet that felt that the New York Yankees as constructed, entering Spring Training or leaving Spring Training, wasn't a playoff-contending team."
– Brian Cashman pic.twitter.com/PsaoJyA8AC
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 23, 2023
Job performances — particularly for front offices — aren’t judged in spring training. He has to know that. No wonder Yankees fans weren’t pleased with Cashman’s comments.