Yankees GM BRIAN CASHMAN "has never been easily categorized," and if baseball execs these days "seem to be either bland ex-scouts or bland metrics-mad wonderboys, Cashman occupies the slot for underestimated, L.L. Bean-style grinds who delight in mixing the message," according to a profile by S.L. Price of SI. At least a half dozen "far more proud and pedigreed baseball minds came through" late Yankees Owner GEORGE STEINBRENNER's "revolving door in Cashman’s time, and only he held on." Around the office, they "called him -- hell, he called himself -- George Costanza, because his ascension to assistant GM in the early 1990s so neatly coincided with the bumblings of a short, bald Yankees exec on SEINFELD." Cashman in recent years has had an "increasing bent for blunt talk and risk-taking behavior." Former Reds and Nationals GM JIM BOWDEN said, "The great part about watching Brian’s career is that whether it be off-the-field personal issues or Yankees issues or George Steinbrenner issues, he was always able to rope-a-dope in the corner and figure out when to make the next punch, the next move. He knows when to lay low and when to step up, when you say something and when you don’t.” A's GM BILLY BEANE: "If anybody had done what Brian's been doing, you know what'd be in front of his name? Future Hall of Famer." But Price writes Cooperstown "is no lock," as the Yankees' "massive financial edge makes him easy to dismiss." Cashman is now "operating in a space beyond legacy," but whatever "happens from here on out, it can't really alter Cashman's reputation." Cashman: "I don't have to prove myself anywhere" (SI, 8/24 issue).
