Report: Yankees, Cashman Agree To New 5-Year Contract
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Brian Cashman is getting his.
The veteran general manager, who has transformed the Yankees from a team of aging players and bloated contracts into one of the most dynamic young clubs in Major League Baseball, is set to get rewarded with a new five-year, $25 million contract, WFAN baseball inside Jon Heyman reported on Monday.
The sides are just ironing out the final details.
Cashman, 50, who has been with the Yankees since 1986 and succeeded Bob Watson as GM in 1998, has played an integral role in four World Series championship teams. But perhaps his best work has been done in recent years. He engineered several stellar trades that not only put the Yankees in position to add to their record 27 world championships, but also replenished a farm system that had become barren in recent years.
The 2017 season, for example, was supposed to be the first full year of a rebuild, yet the Yankees rode young, homegrown players and those acquired through trades to 91 wins before upsetting the Cleveland Indians in the Division Series and taking the eventual world champion Houston Astros to seven games in the AL Championship Series.
Armed with young stars like AL Rookie of the Year Aaron Judge, slugging catcher Gary Sanchez, ace right-hander Luis Severino, and several others, the Yankees didn't appear to need any major upgrades this offseason, save for perhaps adding another starting pitcher.
Then Cashman went out and got one of the best players on the planet.
Saturday's shocking trade that landed reigning NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton in pinstripes likely went a very long way toward securing the Yankees' position as a World Series contender for years to come.
MORE: Sweeny: Stanton-Judge Possibilities Are Endless -- Just Ask Maris, Mantle Families
Cashman was also very aggressive in his pursuit of Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani, before the 23-year-old pitcher/outfielder decided to sign with the Los Angeles Angels.
A native of Rockville Centre, New York, Cashman has also managed to appease his owner on the financial front. Hal Steinbrenner has long wanted the Yankees to get under the luxury tax threshold, and thus prove that a team with a less-than-$200 million payroll could be a championship contender. Well, it appears the Yankees will do just that. In the trade for Stanton, the Miami Marlins agreed to send the New York $30 million to help pay down the remaining $295 million Stanton has left on the final 10 years of his contract.
As a result, the Yankees, even after adding perhaps a few more pieces, should be under the $197 million threshold in 2018, thus resetting their tax rate from 50 to 20 percent just in time for what is expected to be a loaded free agent class after next season.
