On Thursday night, Yankees’ senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman was still working the phones, but rather than doing so from a cushy office at Yankee Stadium, he spent part of his night in a sleeping bag.
Speaking from the Covenant House in Hell’s Kitchen, an organization that helps youth and young families facing homelessness and trafficking, Cashman chatted about his coaching staff, players who could soon be heading to the Bronx, and his reason for attending the charity function.
At shortstop, the team is leaving no stone unturned, at least according to Cashman. Even with that declaration, he also said that their search goes beyond the top dogs.
“There’s an urgency,” he said of acquiring a shortstop. “It’s an area that we feel we need to address, whether in a big way, a small way, an acceptable way, we’ll see. Will it be obvious? Will it be subtle? Time will tell. I am casting a wide net, talking to every level of the food chain, the biggest and the baddest as well as the teeny weeny ones.”
The Yankees’ two most highly-rated prospects are both shortstops. Anthony Volpe is the 20-year-old first-round pick from 2019 who needs a little more minor league seasoning, while Oswald Peraza is a year older and has already reached Triple-A. The consensus is that Peraza is a better runner and fielder, with some scouts even thinking he’s ready for The Show right now. Asked if their trajectory will factor into his hunt for a shortstop, Cashman was forthright.
“They have to. We have some guys who are on the come who we think highly of, so you make plans for them to eventually arrive and impact you. You always like to hold on to the best of the best if you can.”
There’s also current holes in the coaching staff that need to be filled. He said that offers have been placed for prospective coaches, and that the team is hoping to go into next season with three hitting coaches and three pitching coaches, which has become a trendy movement across the industry.
“We’re definitely looking at doing three hitting coaches and three pitching coaches. I do have offers out, and in some cases I feel kind of settled in on certain people, but not ready to announce anything yet. We certainly have taken notice, some teams have had a lot of success by adding a third specialty coach. The Yankees should be using every tool in the toolbox.”
Cashman was participating in Covenant House’s “Sleep Out”, an annual event where he sleeps outside in support of those who have to do it every night. The event on Thursday marked the 11th year that Cashman has bundled up in a sleeping bag.
“I keep coming back because I’ve seen the impact they have on the kids,” Cashman said of the organization, whose president is a former college associate of his. “I’ve heard the stories these kids have shared. A lot of them are just as capable as any of us, if not more capable, they just didn’t have the opportunities that came our way.”
While acknowledging that people are making an effort to combat homelessness, Cashman says he hopes one day the issue can be dramatically fixed and places like Covenant House, which houses around 120 kids, won’t have to exist.
“We were all born into better situations than these kids were,” Cashman pointed out. “We can count on having a roof over our heads, automatically. We can count on three square meals a day, automatically. You walk around the city, which is the greatest city in the country and maybe the world, and there are way too many people living on the streets. It’s a problem that needs to be dealt with somehow, someway.”
As rain began to fall and the wind howled through the building’s outdoor area, Cashman moved inside and fielded several incoming phone calls.
QUICK THOUGHTS
Aaron Hicks is going to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic. His 2021 season was lost to a wrist injury, but Cashman said that an assistant strength coach saw Hicks doing baseball activity recently and came back with glowing reviews.
“He’s in tremendous shape,” Cashman reported. “All the reports that came back from his on-site visit were really positive. We’re looking forward to him knocking some rust off and being ready to go come spring training.”
That doesn’t mean that he’s not kicking the tires on some other center fielders, though.
“I need to explore center field as a possibility as well if there’s things that make sense there for us,” Cashman shared. “I know the type of player Aaron is capable of being when he’s healthy and on the field, he just hasn’t been able to stay on the field for us. I’m talking to catchers, first base, center field, and listening to trade talks at the same time. I’ve also had conversations with starting pitchers and will continue to do so. Ultimately my job is to come in with a roster that we feel a lot better about. We liked that roster that we finished the season with, we just didn’t like how it played.”
Cashman called starting pitching a strength of the team and displayed excitement about getting Luis Severino back. Another of the team’s outfielders from last season, Brett Gardner, has conveyed that he wants to play in 2022. Per Cashman, the two have not spoken at all, which he says isn’t unusual as he mostly deals with Gardner’s agency. Gardner is a free agent after 14 years with the Yankees.
JUDGE EXTENSION?
The news on a possible Aaron Judge extension is that there is no news. All Cashman would say is that he likes Judge as a player and wants to keep him around. Judge is arbitration eligible this winter and is estimated to receive about $17 million in salary. As of now, without a long-term deal in place, he’d be a free agent after the 2022 season.
“We’ll have to have conversations about a one- or a multi-year deal,” Cashman said. “We’re a season away from free agency. He’s been a great Yankee and he’s impacted us in such a positive way for such a long time. It’d be nice to keep it going. Those conversations haven’t happened but they will be happening at some point.”
