First things first: Find a general manager

The Yankees usually hold organizational meetings almost immediately after the season ends, but as general manager Brian Cashman stood in front of the Yankees dugout on Saturday, his immediate schedule was a little unclear.

“We’ve got (Sunday) to play and after that, we’ll go from there,” Cashman said. “I have no meetings scheduled currently.”

No meetings because Cashman has no contract beyond the month of October. Before the Yankees can truly move forward with offseason plans — and there’s clearly work to be done — they’re going to have to officially put someone in charge of rebuilding this team.

“My stuff’s not really resolved, so there have been no discussions just yet,” Cashman said. “That will all wait for another day. I don’t want to talk about game-planning or focus, what should or shouldn’t be looked at. I’ll wait until we all sit down with ownership, they can map out their strategy and who’s going to be a part of that, and we can go from there.”

Right now, there’s really little reason to think Cashman won’t be back. The Yankees front office has generally shown nothing but support for their long-time GM, and Cashman has not indicated that he wants to move on. Should the Yankees make a change? I’m sure there are plenty of strong opinions in favor, and that’s understandable given three hard facts.

1. Back-to-back seasons missing the playoffs.

2. Lack of offensive production from the farm system.

3. Spending nearly a half billion dollars this winter and not getting so much as a wild card.

Those are pretty glaring negatives. I would argue that last season really did feel fluky given all of the long-term injuries to the lineup (the easy counter argument is that this is what you get with an aging roster, which goes back to the lack of production from within the system). I would also argue that the farm system is coming off a strong season and that the Yankees have produced quite a bit of quality pitching (again, easy counter argument is that the team’s expected-to-be-high-end talent has failed to reach a high-end ceiling, and every team stumbles into a productive role player now and then). I would also argue that Cashman did have some real wins this season from taking a shot on Masahiro Tanaka’s talent, to getting some surprising production out of Yangervis Solarte and Chris Capuano, to trading for Brandon McCarthy, Chase Headley and Martin Prado (counter argument: finding bit parts and one injured starter wasn’t nearly enough to make the playoffs).

With serious holes to fill, the Yankees first order of business is determining whether Cashman is still the man to run the show.

“I don’t anticipate anything,” Cashman said. “My contract runs through October 31 and I can’t tell you anything past that. When and if decisions get made, you guys will be brought in the loop.”

I have never been a Cashman basher and think he actually did a great job filling holes this season.  That being said, I believe the Yankees should find someone to take the reins from Cashman.  I'm not quite sure who that is, and I wouldn't be too upset if they decide that there is no one out there who would be an upgrade and stand pat.

Sep 30, 2014 -- 12:18PM, BigGuy wrote:

I have no problem dumping Cashman. The problem as I see it is finding a better replacement. In reality I think Levine and Hal make the big decisions anyway, and that's a major problem. Neither are baseball men. If they can Cashman I'm going to guess they give the job to Billy Eppler who they're comfortable with and he'll serve as another yes man. 

Another yes man can't get the job done ... we have to hope that Hal realizes that he needs a GM that can call the shots.

   I still have problems with the way Cashman dealt with Jorge, Bernie and Torre...and even with the Steinbrenners and A Rod. IMO he is prone to using the press in ways that I think are not appropriate. In addition, he is just not all that good at negotiating cost effective contracts. It always seems that the Yankees outbid themselves by 10 ot 15%. Maybe this year is a good time for some new leadership, but I would be shocked if a change were made.