What Brian Cashman Told Us About Yankees Offseason Plans | Pinstripe Post

It's a drive by... Joel Sherman from the general manager's meetings in Las Vegas. Brian Cashman spoke for about 90 minutes earlier Tuesday to a large contingent of reporters. Pretty much covered every area of the team. And I thought maybe the best way to convey... The major issues that he covered is almost to go position by position and tell you what stuck out to me. Brian Cashman said he's operating his business as normal as much as possible. He's not holding back from talking to free agents and talking, making trade discussions. He would not discuss, define what the budget is, except for to say that Hal Steinbrenner gave him one and didn't give him two. In other words, one in case, like for now, and one in case... There are more punitive measures for large payrolls, including a salary cap. He says he's operating under one. While he didn't, the sense I've gotten from executives and agents I've talked to about it is the Yankees are not moving in the upper regions, but that they might have some money to spend. I think obviously more could be spent. Thank If, say, David Bednar turns down the qualifying offer or they're able to trade a player eventually, like, say, Luis Garcia or Clark Schmidt, and open up some more finances, catcher. you Cashman made clear Austin Wells is his catcher very and that the Yankees right now are looking for a right-hand-hitting complement. But... much. But he pointed out that was true last season also. They were trying to improve on Ali Sanchez, and they never could match up with someone. Obviously, they got close on Adley Rutschman at the trade deadline, but the Red Sox came in with a powerhouse offer and were able to get him away from the Orioles. So I think they're looking for a right-hand hitting catcher. I will say this, as of early Tuesday, I got a very strong feeling that the Yankees had not reached out in a couple of places I thought they definitely would for a right-hand hitting catcher. If they're moving hard on that, they must have other players or they're not seeing it as a key issue. And again, Cashman would not give a priority list of what he thought was most important. First base and DH I should probably do together because it's complicated. One thing he made clear is Ben Rice is going to play every day. He said he's comfortable. He thought Rice was a better first baseman in 2026 than he was in 2025. But he used the scouting grade, which is 20 to 70. And he said that whether Ben Rice is a 45 or a 55, he's going to play because of his bat. He said he spoke to the agent for Luis Garcia Jr. And that he said no third base, but first base and second base for sure. are in play for Garcia, and Garcia's going to play winter ball and going to play some second base to try to open up some other stuff. I do wonder what defense looks like. If your first baseman is Ben Rice and your second baseman is Luis Garcia Jr., but this gets us to DH, which is... Brian Cashman likes Giancarlo Stanton a lot. He described him as a healthy player to end the season. And for anyone who's thinking that the Yankees are going to eat the 25-ish million they owe him for 2027 and just open up the DH for Rice and put Garcia at first and move on from there and keep DH more fertile for Aaron Judge to move in, they're bringing... He said John Carlos Stanton will be in spring training for the Yankees. And so I think you have to think of the Yankees as it's an uncomfortable situation maybe. There's a lot of bats there. Maybe their offense, which was problematic too much of 2024 and certainly in getting eliminated by Tampa, he made clear that one of the ways the offense gets better is a healthy season for Judge. Is Judge going to have healthy seasons moving forward in his mid-30s, as big and strong as he is? You know, Stanton, Garcia for a full season, and Rice. It was so clear that he loved Rice. He thought Anthony Volpe would be part of a second base conversation as well. He thought he handled it well. In a year where he admitted it didn't go well, and Cashman continues to be a believer. The term he used is, I think Anthony Volpe could be at least an average and maybe a slightly above average player, and they're not ready to give up on that. Perhaps after Rice, when it came to position players, his best praise might have been for George Lombard Jr., so I think it's pretty clear George Lombard Jr. is going to be the shortstop to begin next year, and the belief that there will be steadiness and growth in a second year, we'll see. And again, understand that Brian Cashman has to play a little bit of liar's poker here. Can't tell the universe, hey, I'm not bringing... Ryan McMahon back. I'm sure they'll look for places maybe if they could offset some of McMahon's $16 million that he's owed in 2027, but he made it clear this was an area the Yankees were not as good last year and need to be better. He probably needs a right-hand caddy there, but it did not sound like definitively like they're moving on from Ryan McMahon. And by the way, to say this on the infield, He had nothing but praise for Jazz Chisholm, and I do think that that is not all bluff. I think that Brian Cashman actually likes Jazz Chisholm and thinks Jazz Chisholm was a good player for the Yankees for most of the two and a half years he was with the team and obviously didn't have as good a year in his walk year. And Cashman talked about the idea of, you know, Luis Severino, Gleyber Torres, and a few other guys who in their walk year did not perform as well with some of the pressure But, uh... Having said that, I don't see the Yankees bringing Jazz Chisholm back, but Cashman is one of those people who always tries to separate the noise. It doesn't matter if Joel Sherman thinks that Jazz Chisholm is somewhat problematic because he's in the wrong place a lot on the field, and some of the fundamental stuff goes out of the way. The Yankees look at the overall value of a player, like think of WAR, and think of Jazz Chisholm as a good player. Having said that, I don't think he'll be back. Center field, he did not give definitively to anybody. He talked up Spencer Jones. He said Cody Bellinger could cover it. He did talk about the idea that maybe an outfielder could be added, but I think that that's something they'll look at in the group. But you start to run out of position slots if Stanton is going to be on the team, if Elio Ramos is going to be on the team, if Jose Caballero, Anthony Volpe, et cetera, are going to be on the team. You're going to run out of 13 position slots pretty quickly. So either the Yankees have to move some people, be willing to move somebody to the minor leagues like Volpe or Spencer Jones or believe it, Caballero still has a minor league option that can be used. So my sense talking again to people outside the Yankees is guys like Jose Caballero, Jason Dominguez, they're more available. The Yankees would like to trade those kind of guys as part of something than say Volpe or Jones. Having said that, those guys might not be the easiest sells. And again, right now, I sense that with the lockout looming, teams are finding trade partners hard to find because we don't know what the rules are going to be for service time. You know, like what do you do with a player who's close to free agency? Is he going to get free, you know, get there a lot quicker? Are we not playing? And you acquired a guy in his walk year and he plays 50 games instead of 162. So I think trades are tough. I think free agency is the way. I think trades are much more likely whenever the lockout ends. Pitching-wise, he made clear he likes David Bednar a lot. I think the Yankees are very curious next Tuesday, by next Tuesday's deadline, will Bednar take the qualifying offer or not? I think Cashman would not say it out loud, but I think there are people in the industry who look at this. As a maybe not 50-50 thing, but that there is some chance that Bednar takes the $23.15 million. The Yankees would love that. Yes, it's a lot for one year, but they'd rather have Bednar locked up for one than locked up for, say, three to try to keep him. Um, uh... He said, insisted that the Yankees do not have a policy that they won't give a long multi-year contract to a relief pitcher, though they haven't since Aroldis Chapman and Zach Britton went badly. But, yeah, I think that they'd love for the Bednar thing to be done. He admitted that multiple relievers probably have to be acquired. If I was thinking about something the Yankees might do in free agency. Aside from perhaps getting Bednar done short term, is maybe get another reliever before the lockout deadline, again, December 1st. Starting pitching, he announced Max Fried had surgery to remove a bone chip from his left elbow. He said that he'll start throwing again in December is the plan and would be a fully functional player if spring training... Opened normally in mid-February. Again, let's all cross our fingers if you're a baseball fan that that's actually the case. And it does open in mid-February. When asked if he would use the pitching depth that the team currently has, starting pitching depth, to trade for other items that are needed. The third baseman, a center fielder, relief help, etc. Thank you very much. Cashman said it's definitely in play. He wishes he could just buy it and keep all the depth. And if there are overflow, use some of that in the bullpen. But a name I would look for. Because I have a feel for, I believe, how the Yankees think about each of their guys. Clark Schmidt would be a free agent at the end of the 2027 season. Can they match up with a team that maybe has a player also that would be in that situation and make it an easier one? Or does that have to wait again until after a lockout? I would think Schmidt is more likely than, say, a Ryan Weathers or a Will Warren, though I think the Yankees will listen on everything. Elmer Rodriguez, Carlos Lograno, he did say that he still sees Carlos Lograno as a starting pitcher and not a relief pitcher, and that's how he'll come to camp and be stretched out for that way to provide depth as the season goes along. Those were the main points. That Brian spoke about, he did mention that the hitting coach, James Rowson, is a free agent. I think there's going to be a real shakeup in their hitting group before it's all said and done. They're waiting to hear if Brad Ausmus is getting the job as Houston manager before deciding what to do with a bench coach situation. But personnel-wise, I think that's where the Yankees are as we're kind of about midway through the general manager's meetings.