I’m still working on putting together a post about the final game. I took a lot of pictures, and the whole evening was very emotional. Plus, there’s this Civil Procedure reading too. I’ll have the photo post ready to go in the morning for you. In the meantime…
In the clearest indication of where the Yanks’ organization may be headed this off-season, Hal Steinbrenner unequivocally said that the team wants Brian Cashman back as the General Manager. Kat O’Brien has the story:
The Yankees want Brian Cashman back as their general manager next year, and have told him so, Yankees co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner told Newsday in a phone interview Monday.
“He knows that we’re with him, that we want him back,” Steinbrenner said.
Cashman confirmed that to Newsday in a phone interview, saying: “Yes, we’ve talked. They’ve mentioned that during the season.”
Steinbrenner said conversations took place among himself, brother and co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner, father and principal owner George Steinbrenner and Cashman when the Yankees played in Tampa earlier this month. Hal Steinbrenner said: “We did talk in Tampa. We didn’t talk about dollars, but we talked about time frame, length.
Interestingly, O’Brien’s sources hedge their bets when it comes to Cashman’s ultimate decision. While the Yanks want him back, it’s no sure thing that he wants to come back. “I think obviously, it’s quickly approaching that type of decision,” Cashman said to O’Brien. “There’s no doubt about it. I’ll sit down with my family — with the Yankee family and my family. We’ll do what’s best for everyone involved. I love what I do. We’ll just have to see what happens.”
In the end, I think Cashman will come back. I think the Yanks will offer him a very lucrative deal, and I don’t think Cashman can just give up 22 years of organizational ties. I think this story lays out what we’ve all thought for a long time: Hal is more in charge than the backpage editors of The Daily News and The New York Post would have you believe, and if that is indeed the case, I think we’ll see Brian Cashman return.
We’re Cashman supporters here. But we know he has his detractors. Those opponents, though, appear to come largely from outside the organization, and the people making the decisions for the Yankees recognize what they have in Brian Cashman. To give up on him now, in the middle of his restocking plan, would be folly.