SportsNet N.Y.’s Jonas Schwartz asked whether this is the “year we will really find out what” Yankees GM Brian Cashman is “made of” because the payroll restrictions the Yankees are operating under. Schwartz said Cashman now is “in a position where there are actually some real budget restrictions.” The N.Y. Daily News’ Bob Raissman said it “certainly matters what he does, but I don't think the organization, the way it's structured now, he's going to be under that much pressure because I don't think they like change.” He added, “I think he knows he could be around," but he has “always had that monkey on his back of living off the big check.” The N.Y. Daily News’ Bill Madden said, “I think he's proving that he can’t do it with a limited payroll and even though you're right in the past that they have not wanted to have change and they don’t seem to hold people accountable, I think this is the time that they're going to hold Brian Cashman accountable because he's been saying all along, ‘What, me worry? This team is going to be alright.’ All these garbage players he's picking up off the scrap heap, he's insisting that he's smarter than everybody else.” Raissman asked who is “going to hold him accountable? Where are the politics inside that Yankee organization now?” Raissman: “I'm not so sure that they have the heart or guts to pull the plug on any of these guys.” Madden said Yankees Managing General Partner & co-Chair Hal Steinbrenner is “hearing it from other people in the organization” about the day-to-day of the Yankees. Madden: “He's really going to hear it when the turnstiles aren't clicking the way they normally have been clicking over there and the TV ratings take a plummet when this team becomes unwatchable. If that happens, Hal Steinbrenner’s attention is going to be gotten and I can see him finally getting the message that he needs to clean house” (“Daily News Live,” SNY, 3/26).
ON THE HOT SEAT: SNY's Marc Malusis said Cashman is “between a rock and a hard place” with expensive contracts for 3B Alex Rodriguez, SS Derek Jeter, OF Curtis Granderson and 1B Mark Teixeira, who are all hurt. Malusis said, “You can’t go out there and replace” players like Granderson and Teixeira and “balloon your payroll to $250 million, that’s unrealistic.” SNY’s Eamon McAnaney said Cashman will “take a hit” this season. But he added, “I don’t think he gets fired if they struggle and don’t make the playoffs. I think he has enough collateral built up and he’s been around long enough that they’re not going to have a knee-jerk reaction and can him.” McAnaney said it does “put a bigger bullseye on his (back) for the next year” (“The Wheelhouse,” SNY, 3/25).
