Cashman: “I would like to always get younger and better”

Chad Jennings passed along a lengthy, but certainly interesting quote today that Brian Cashman delivered during yesterday’s conference call. I suggest clicking the link and reading the whole thing, but here’s the money line: “I would like to always get younger and better. That’s the double-edged sword. I don’t want to get younger and worse. I want to get younger, but while doing so, remain championship caliber. I think that’s what we’ve been trying to accomplish the last few years. I think we’ve done a good job. At the same time, if we have older players who can still do it for us, I don’t have any problem whatsoever in retaining older players who perform at a high level.”

The Yankees have been able to do that to a certain degree over the last three years, most notably by replacing players like Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui with Nick Swisher, Brett Gardner, and Curtis Granderson. They’ve also successfully incorporated Phil Hughes into the rotation and a host of young arms into the bullpen. It’s easy to get younger, but getting younger while remaining competitive can be tricky. The Yanks have done a nice job with that the last few years, but it’s a never-ending cycle.