Cash: Manny belongs in S.D.
TAMPA — Around the same time that Manny Machado was in Arizona putting on his new uniform and saying he was “finally a Padre,” Brian Cashman was here doubling down on the decision to pass. The Yankees GM said the Bombers will be just fine without the superstar infielder.
And, Cashman hinted, they will be a pretty good team without Bryce Harper too.
“Regardless of who the next big free agent is and where they ultimately sign, the message from my perspective as general manager of this club for a long time is: we like our club,” Cashman said, speaking for the first time since Machado signed the $300 million deal with San Diego. “We have a special group of people. We are one of the teams that has a legitimate shot to do something like being the last team standing and celebrating.
“Ultimately, we’ll be judged on all that different stuff,” Cashman added, “but I do like our team a lot and I like what we have going on here.“
Cashman will definitely be judged on his decision to gamble after working to reset the luxury tax penalty the last few years, only to pass on Machado and most likely Harper.
The Yankees go into 2019 gambling on the idea that a 34-year-old Troy Tulowitzki will remain healthy and can contribute after not playing for almost two seasons. Cashman, who put his money down on Giancarlo Stanton’s $325 million contract last season, continues to gamble on young players like Luis Severino, Miguel Andujar, Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez can lead this team to its first World Series title in a decade.
“I wouldn’t say closing the door, but when you reinforce and accept certain amounts in one area, it’s going to take away from other areas of flexibility,” Cashman said of making the trade with the Marlins for Stanton’s monster contract before last season. “I remember many a conversation with The Boss – not my current boss, which is Hal Steinbrenner – but my prior boss George Steinbrenner. He had trouble with that 25man roster being limited to 25 and I always would (say) in our knock-down dragouts, ‘You can’t have them all!’”
While the Yankees met with Machado on his tour of potential landing spots last December - which ironically did not include San Diego the Yankees never seriously engaged in negotiations. The team never made an offer to Machado’s representative. According to Cashman the timing and fit with this team wasn’t right.
“The bottom line is the free agency process leads people to where they belong, and Manny belongs in San Diego at this point in his career,” Cashman said. “I wish him the best of luck. He won’t be wreaking havoc on us other than if we play him in (an interleague) series.
“But the great thing about this game is there’s always new and young talent coming along the way and we want it to be happening in the Bronx more than elsewhere. They pop up everywhere just like we’ve seen (Gary) Sanchez and (Luis Severino) and (Aaron) Judge amongst others pop up here.”
So, even though Andujar has struggled defensively at third, the Yankees are committed to him playing there.
“Let’s not forget we have a controllable third baseman who finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting and is a big reason that we won 100 games last year,” Cashman said referring to Andujar. “That gave up the ability to have a lot of different choices and not be forced, like we were in 2009, to go to free agency to fix a lot of different problems because our system didn’t provide the answers.”
Cashman spent heavily before that 2009 season adding CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira. This winter, Cashman did spend, but he did it with the intention of “diversifying,” not racking up big-name, big-ticket items.