Yankees, Brian Cashman reach contract; owner blames players for playoff exit
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NEW YORK -- Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has reached a new deal to continue in the post he's held since 1998, while owner Hal Steinbrenner blamed the players -- specifically the offense -- for the team's playoff exit.
"We just have to bang out some minor stuff on the back end of it," the 59-year-old Cashman, the longest-serving general manager in franchise history, said Wednesday on a video call with reporters from the Yankees' spring training facility in Tampa, Florida. "But, yeah, we're locked and loaded."
The Yankees have won four World Series championships and 15 American League East titles under Cashman's watch, but they have reached the World Series just once since winning their 27th title in 2009.
That 17-year drought is the second-longest in franchise history, and the team's 13 consecutive playoff appearances without a World Series title is tied for the fourth-longest streak in MLB postseason history.
The Yankees went 93-68 this season -- the team's third straight 90-win season -- and finished second in the AL East behind the Tampa Bay Rays , who swept New York in the ALDS en route to reaching their third World Series since 2008.
New York was without three-time MVP Aaron Judge and slugger Giancarlo Stanton for most of the season -- Judge was not available in the postseason and Stanton was used just as a pinch-hitter -- but Steinbrenner repeatedly insisted Wednesday that the offense should have performed better.
"The bottom line is, the players didn't live up to their end of the bargain in the playoffs," Steinbrenner said on the video call.
Steinbrenner said he and team officials had a week-long conversation about manager Aaron Boone, weighing whether he was part of the problem this season. Ultimately, they decided he wasn't.
"In the end, the majority of the responsibility -- I'll say it for the fifth time -- in my mind, my opinion, lies with the position players and the inability to score on a consistent basis throughout the course of the entire season for the most part," Steinbrenner said. "Not on the shoulders of Aaron Boone does the blame lie."
Steinbrenner said he has not talked about a contract extension to Boone, who is entering the final year of an extension signed in February 2025.
"That's something I would certainly consider," Steinbrenner said. "I would consider anything."
Speaking to reporters later from Yankee Stadium, Boone brushed off any concerns about his lame duck status.
"Doesn't bother me at all," Boone said. "Again, we'll have guys, you know, players that are free agents to be at the end of the season. We'll have coaches potentially on expiring contracts, front office, all those things. That's life. That's part of it."
Boone has led the Yankees to the postseason in eight of his nine seasons. They've reached the World Series once, in 2024, and the AL Championship Series three times. His .583 winning percentage is tied for 17th in major league history. The Yankees, however, haven't won a championship since defeating the Philadelphia Phillies under manager Joe Girardi in 2009.
Steinbrenner, when asked if hitting coach James Rowson will return next season, said the team hasn't begun discussions about the coaching staff.
"I'm definitely focused on the offense and on the hitting," Steinbrenner said. "Because, again, I'll say it again for the last time, I think it was a big part of, certainly a significant, part of why we didn't achieve what we wanted to achieve."