Yankees general manager Brian Cashman received a stern rebuke from WFAN’s Brandon Tierney on Wednesday over the team’s quiet Tuesday MLB trade deadline.
During his exchange with Sal Licata and Tierney, Cashman was asked about the team’s sense of urgency compared to the past.
“If there was always an urgency, why [Joey] Why was Gallo subject to such restrictions? [Aaron] “Did Hicks protect him in every way he could?,” Tierney said of the former Yankees who struggled for a long time before the team gave up on them.
“I know that [team owner] “Hal Steinbrenner wants to win. I know you want to win too. But the sense of urgency to win hasn’t been there the last few years in the way that we once saw it. I don’t feel that way. And I don’t think I’m the only one who feels that way. So I ask: Does anything feel different at all with Hal this year?”
Cashman appeared shaken before answering the question.
“To test the sample, they’d have to call in a narcotics technician and have you pee in a bottle,” Cashman said sarcastically.
He then pivoted to highlight his roster, notably acquiring Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge to huge contracts and acquiring Juan Soto in a blockbuster trade with the Padres before the start of the 2024 season.
“We kept Aaron Judge. We got an MVP. We got a Cy Young Award winner. We got an MVP candidate that we got for a lot of money. We kept an MVP candidate that we got a few years ago. [D.J.] “When LeMahieu was a free agent,” Cashman said.
“Those are just examples. As your salary goes up, it’s designed to increase your opportunities, to try to stay there, to fight for it. So I disagree with what you say. It makes absolutely no sense.”
The Yankees are hungry for their first championship since 2009, and Cashman knows questions of urgency will come into play if the team again fails to meet expectations.
“When the dust settles, the only question is, did we win the World Series? And if we don’t win the World Series, obviously all of these things come into play and it calls into question the hunger of this team,” Cashman said.
“If you ask why Gallo took that chain or why Hicks took that chain, it depends on what other options were available at the time and the ability to import those options.”
The Yankees have won five of their last six games, including three straight wins over the Phillies, and acquired infielder Jazz Chisholm from the Marlins on Saturday, and the new addition has already bolstered their lineup.
But Tuesday was a more sedate day as the team settled on a pair of trades for relief pitchers Mark Leiter Jr. and Eniel de los Santos.
