Yankees GM not compelled to make changes after World Series loss

SAN ANTONIO – Brian Cashman readily acknowledges that his New York Yankees had a World Series performance that bordered on abysmal.

The Yankees had fielding woes, baserunning miscues and failed to hit in the clutch during their five-game loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Manager Aaron Boone made enough questionable decisions to be second-guessed until spring training.

However, don’t expect Cashman, the Yankees’ veteran general manager, to make any sweeping changes.

Cashman is not going to overhaul the roster of a team that had an American League-best 94 wins. He has no plans to tear apart the coaching staff or change organizational philosophies. Though it’s not official, Cashman sounds as though he is going to exercise the option clause in Boone’s contract for 2025.

“They’re the world champs, they get all of the credit,” Cashman said of the Dodgers on Tuesday during the MLB General Managers Meetings. “But I think it’s fair to say we just played poorly in that series and underperformed in that series, more so than this team was lucky to get into the World Series and how did we even get there? We had a good team, unfortunately we just didn’t play our best when it counted the most, and we played a good team.”

The galling part of the Yankees’ performance was the sloppiness, which isn’t expected from a team whose $311-million payroll was the second highest in the major leagues after the New York Mets at $332 million. However, Cashman says perfect teams do not exist in Major League Baseball regardless of payroll size.

“We have some players who are better defensively than they are offensively, and we have some players who are better offensively than they are defensively,” Cashman said. “You find very few players who are above average in every facet of the game. At some point, you manage the people you have.”

“This wasn’t of our best defensive teams, but I also know we’re a better defensive team that we showed in the World Series.”

The Yankees ranked 13th among the 30 major-league teams in defensive efficiency with a .703 mark during the regular season but their .984 fielding percentage was 24th and their 93 errors were seventh-most in MLB.

The defensive shortcomings came at the very worst time, though. The Yankees held a 5-0 lead in the decisive Game 5 when fielding blunders allowed the Dodgers to score five runs in the fifth inning to the game. Los Angeles eventually won 7-6 as the Yankees fell short in their first World Series appearance since 2009.

Center fielder Aaron Judge dropped a soft line drive for his first error of the year, 2023 AL Gold Glove shortstop Anthony Volpe made a wild throw and pitcher Gerrit Cole forgot to cover first base.

That led to harsh criticism from Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly on his Baseball Isn’t Boring Podcast.

“We had seen it every single game, just let them throw the ball to the infield,” Kelly said. “They can’t make a play. It was a mismatch from the get-go. If we had a playoff re-ranking, they might be ranked the eighth- or ninth-best playoff team. You’re putting the Padres ahead of them, you’re putting the Phillies ahead of them, you’re putting the Mets ahead of them, you’re putting the Braves ahead of them. I mean, the Guardians played like crap, but the Guardians played better baseball all around.

“It was just a complete mismatch. All we knew is that we had to just play regular Dodger baseball. We didn’t have to do anything crazy, and we were going to win the World Series. It’s facts. Just look at the team, look at the talent.

“We go through numerous scouting reports,” Kelly continued. “We pay attention to every single detail. We have a lot of big superstars in our clubhouse, but our superstars also care and aren’t lazy and play hard. So that’s the difference and the biggest separator.”

Cashman bristled as Kelly’s comment.

“We just didn’t bring our A game to the World Series and the Dodgers beat us,” Cashman said. “We just didn’t play well for a few days in what was a pretty magical season for us.”

Cashman’s primary offseason focus is re-signing right fielder Juan Soto, who filed for free agency after the World Series. Acquired from the San Diego Padres last December, Soto was outstanding in what might be his lone season in pinstripes as the 26-year-old hit .288/.419/.569 with 41 home runs and an AL-leading 128 RBIs in 157 games.

While time will tell if Soto returns, it seems certain that Boone will be back in 2025 for a seventh season.

“I’m a big Aaron Boone fan,” Cashman said. “The manager’s job is so impossible, so you can play the game of second-guessing because you’re either going to make a move and it’ll be right, you make a move and it’ll be wrong and then have at it, right? So, I think he’s a really, really good manager. I think that we’re lucky to have him. He’s done a great job.”