NEW YORK – In times of crisis, Brian Cashman tends to refer to rough waters and boaters tackling the situation. The Yankees general manager did it again on Monday, expressing disappointment at the team’s slow start to 2021 and assuring himself of better days.
Despite the Yankees’ worst start since 1997, Cashman said he continues to believe his squad is too good to play that poorly in a 162-game campaign. The GG also issued a vote of confidence to manager Aaron Boone and his coaching staff, noting that they are the right people to get New York out of the rut.
“We’ve had a lot of storms along the way and changes don’t happen without much thought and reason,” Cashman said. ‘We don’t have any reagents. I don’t see us making roster changes too quickly and I don’t see us believing in the coaching staff we have, or the players. That’s the message for the players: “We still believe in you. We know what they can do. This is a bad piece and we’ll get through it together ”.
It is said that Hal Steinbrenner, the main owner of the Yankees, is unhappy with the start of the team, in which his offense did not deliver as expected. His average of 3.67 points scored per game is second only in the American League, just ahead of the Tigers (3.44). The collective OPS of .642 in New York is tied with the Rangers for the lowest on the Young Circuit. Yankees-pitchers lead the league with 171 strikeouts executed – with Cole leading the way with 39 – and his 3.60 ERA is fourth best on the circuit.
“He’s disappointed,” Cashman said of Steinbrenner. “He has invested a lot in this, but he is also a fan, as we all are. Our expectation is to provide great Yankee baseball to those who come to the stadium or those who watch the games (on television or streaming). We did not. We have to correct ourselves over time. We expect to do that already and make those who predict otherwise look bad ”.
Cashman confirms that he sees the violation as “a target for criticism of what we lack.” In a run of three games against the Rays this weekend, the Yankees were limited to a total of 11 hits and were swept. New York has already lost five of its six meetings with Tapa Bay this season, coming from a 2020 record of 4-11 vs. the Rays – including the American League Division Series.
“(The offense) will be a strong point for us, but it’s not a strength for us right now,” Cashman said. “That will be magnified if we don’t score points as we can. We believe that the individual performance listed below will be corrected over time. We trust our players and our process. We are better than our record. We just have to correct that. “
Cashman reiterated that he has no plans to make any major changes to the squad in the near future, but is confident that the return of injured players such as Zack Britton (late May / early June), Luis Severino (mid summer) and Luke Voit (mid-May) will join the club. The executive also envisions the Yankees playing baseball more efficiently during that time.
“I have a lot of faith in the people we already have,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve had many different managers, many different coaches. Everyone had to deal with the same situation at one point or another. It’s a matter of putting your players in the best possible position to succeed, giving them the best information possible and then getting out of the way and letting them play. “