Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees are getting shredded for their strange offseason.
We have grown accustomed to seeing the New York Yankees dominate the hot stove headlines, but this winter, we have barely even seen the Yankees at all.
Yes, New York swung a trade for Ryan Weathers, but outside of re-signing Amed Rosario, Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn, that's all the Yankees have done.
Times are becoming frustrating in the Bronx, especially after watching Kyle Tucker head to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Bo Bichette sign with the New York Mets.
And now, the Yanks may locked in a battle with the Mets to land Cody Bellinger, whose asking price is evidently beyond what the Yankees are willing to offer.
Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner are facing staunch criticism from the fan base, and Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer doesn't quite understand what New York is doing, either.
In a piece where Rymer listed the top five best and worst offseasons this year, he had the Yankees tabbed as the absolute worst.
New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images."The Yankees went to the World Series in 2024. They won as many games as the AL East winner last year. Aaron Judge's prime is still going…for now. All these things should have them determined to go all-in for 2026, but they instead seem to be treating their offseason shopping as an optional exercise," Rymer wrote.
New York regularly has one of the top payrolls in baseball, but you would never know it based on the way the ballclub has operated over the last couple of months.
The Yankees haven't even really been in on any of the premier free agents, and they might not even be able to re-sign Bellinger.
To be fair to the Bronx Bombers, some of these prices are crazy, and Bellinger doesn't seem like he is worth $36-37 million annually over five years. But if New York wants to contend for a World Series next season, that's the price it may have to pay.
The Yankees could always swing another trade somewhere, but that isn't exactly an easy task. That's especially considering that Cashman has historically been very stingy with his prospects (which is another issue).
New York is actually starting to fall behind when it comes to offseason spending, which is not something any of us ever thought we would see.