SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — In his first time speaking to reporters since the Yankees finished what he described in August as a “disaster” of a season, Brian Cashman came out firing.
A fiery Cashman held court for over an hour on Tuesday, much of it defending the Yankees’ baseball operations group that put together the roster of an 82-win team – the club’s worst record since 1992.
“I’m proud of our people and proud of our process,” Cashman said at the general manager’s meetings. “It doesn’t mean we’re firing on all cylinders, it doesn’t mean we’re the best in class.
“But I think we’re pretty f–king good, personally. I’m proud of our people and I’m also looking forward to ’24 being a better year than ’23.”
Cashman, like Hal Steinbrenner did earlier in the day, pushed back on criticisms of the Yankees’ analytics department or that the team has leaned too heavily on analytics.
He cited the Yankees as having the smallest analytics staff in the American League East and the largest pro scouting department in the majors.
Cashman said much of the Yankees’ debrief since missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016 has been separating fact from “bulls–it.”
While speaking about some of their recent trades that have backfired, Cashman also said the Yankees are “victimized” for trying to go for it.