Cashman Wants To Change The Story

From Bryan Hoch:

In the end, a key component of what pushed Brian Cashman to return as the general manager of the Yankees turned out to be what would have been written had he not finished the job.

Recalling Reggie Jackson's oft-repeated comment: "When you have a bat in your hands, you can always change the story," Cashman insists that he will not see his legacy in pinstripes cemented with 2008, a year that saw the third-place Yankees miss the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons.

"I'm staying to change the story, that's the fact," Cashman said. "I'm not telling you that it's going to change overnight, but I am telling you that it's not going to be written inaccurately."

"When you decide to do another round, you've got to be up for it," Cashman said. "They need you to be up for it. The entire fan base needs you to be up for it, the people that are working for me or with me. You need to basically be all-in."

Cashman admitted that he had not enjoyed reading criticism about himself in newspapers while the Yankees struggled. A member of the organization since 1986, Cashman reminded reporters that he served as assistant general manager under both Gene Michael and Bob Watson for six years.

He was also the club's assistant farm director when a core of young players like Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera were cultivated under similar circumstances to what the Yankees are attempting to deal with now.

"It just seems like some people forget that," Cashman said. "And the storyline that was going to be written if I left, I didn't agree with. I'm not going to let that story be written.

"If I left, I wasn't going to like the story that was going to be written, because it wasn't going to be an accurate depiction of my time here. I've given my heart and I've given my soul to this franchise and they've given their heart and soul back to me."

Hank Steinbrenner had spoken recently about the implementation of an advisory board to assist in baseball decisions, but Cashman said that the so-called advisory board would remain as it was in 2008. That arrangement consists of the GM, manager, coaching staff, the farm director, amateur scouting director and professional scouting director.

"That's all Hank is talking about, to get as many people as possible involved," Cashman said. "It's nothing we haven't done in the past, I promise you that."

"At the end of the day, there's a story that I want to have written here and I want to have it written in a certain way," Cashman said. "The only way to do that is to suck it up and win."

Cashman was also on the Mike Francessa show earlier in the day and said that the plan is to have Joba in the rotation for all of 2009, and that the Yankees need to add to the rotation and add a first baseman. He said that center field is also an issue, but that may be dealt with from within, with either Damon, Melky or Gardner, but the team is open to making a trade for a center fielder too as long as the deal makes sense. That interview can be found here. (Hat tip to River Ave. Blues for the link.)

Also, according to Peter Abraham, Cashman was "feisty" and "defiant" at the press conference today at Yankee Stadium, and said that “We have to win, and we will.”

Here's another quote from today's press conference from Peter Abraham:

“For a long time, we’ve been old and everybody knows it, right?” Cashman said. “For a long time people have pointed it out. So now when you start to fix it, people are ‘Oh my God, you missed the playoffs.’ Off with his head, right? That’s fair, that’s fine, that’s part of this town. I accept it. I’m not running from it.

“I care about my name and I care about how I’m perceived and I care about this franchise. I need everybody that works for me who feels the same way to pull in the same direction. If I wanted something easy, I could do a hell of a lot of other things than run the Yankees.”