The baseball world’s decision-makers descended upon the Las Vegas Strip this week, filling the hallways of the Cosmopolitan, but Brian Cashman was more than a thousand miles from the casino action.
A last-minute personal issue kept the Yankees general manager in New York, but with several lieutenants on the ground in Nevada, Cashman said his club is well-positioned to lay its groundwork for the winter ahead.
“I’m staying connected via phone with other clubs and agents,” Cashman said via Zoom. “You gather as much early information [as possible], but it seems like what usually plays out is, it’s going to take some time. Once we start heading to the Winter Meetings in Orlando, hopefully we’ll have a pretty clear definition of what’s going on.”
Assistant GM Michael Fishman, vice president of player development Kevin Reese and director of baseball operations Matt Ferry are among the Yankees executives in Las Vegas. Here are five topics Cashman addressed on Wednesday:
‘Very interested’ in re-signing Cody Bellinger
Cashman re-stated his interest in Bellinger, who declined a $25 million option in favor of a $5 million buyout. Cashman said he anticipates Bellinger “is going to have a lot of choices” on the open market, which agent Scott Boras also indicated during a session with reporters on Wednesday.
“He was a terrific addition for us last year,” Cashman said. “He played a big role in the amount of success we wound up having. Certainly, we’d love to have him come back to us. We’d be better served if we can retain him, but if not, then we’ll have to look at alternative ways to fill it and see where that takes us.
“It’s pretty early in the process, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Of course we’d like to have him back.”
Tom Cruise would appreciate this: Boras leaned hard on Top Gun references to describe Bellinger, calling him “a versatile Viper in the outfield,” “a middle-of-the-lineup Merlin,” “an urban Maverick” and “a true Iceman,” saying interested teams “have a need, the need to Belli proceed.”
Waiting on Trent Grisham’s decision
The Yankees were “comfortable” in extending Grisham a qualifying offer, valued at $22.025 million for one year, based on his performance this past season as well as what Cashman described as “a very thin outfield market.”
“If he turns it down, that means the market is flush with teams that have a need in the outfield, especially center field,” Cashman said. “He had a hell of a year for us, and one of the big reasons why we had the level of success we did. We’d be happy if he accepted and came back.”
Cashman said if Grisham accepts, it would not hinder their pursuit of Bellinger. Despite reports that managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner would prefer to reduce payroll below $300 million, Cashman said he has not been given an ultimate number from ownership.
“We’re always fluid with our payroll situation,” Cashman said.
No Jazz Chisholm Jr. extension talks yet
Coming off a year in which he belted 31 homers and stole 31 bases – just the third 30/30 showing in franchise history – and earning a Silver Slugger Award, Chisholm has expressed interest in a long-term contract extension.
While Cashman said he spoke Wednesday with Chisholm’s representative, Brodie Van Wagenen, talk of a new deal hasn’t yet been covered.
“We haven’t had any conversations outside of, he’s looking forward to playing next year. He loves playing here in that group,” Cashman said. “If you want to have a legitimate conversation about value, I’m open to a longer-term conversation as well. But that’s the extent of it.”
Could Tatsuya Imai land in the Bronx?
Cashman will look to bolster the starting rotation, given that Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt are all set to begin the upcoming season on the injured list. Asked specifically about Imai, a standout Japanese right-hander, Cashman said the Yankees would love an opportunity to be in the mix.
“We’ve played in the Japanese market certainly in years gone by, and had success with [Hideki] Matsui, [Hiroki] Kuroda and [Masahiro] Tanaka,” Cashman said. “But those are too long gone. We have been very aggressive in the more recent market, but fell short.”
The most recent example is right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto; the Yankees reportedly offered 10 years and $300 million for Yamamoto, who signed instead with the Dodgers for 12 years and $325 million.
“I’m interested in gravitating to any player anywhere in the world, including Japan, if it’s a fit for us,” Cashman said.
Changes in international scouting
Donny Rowland is out after a 15-year run as the Yankees’ director of international scouting, Cashman confirmed, as first reported Wednesday by The Athletic.
The team is gathering names and will schedule interviews to determine a successor for Rowland, who oversaw the signings of players like Jasson Domínguez, Luis Severino and Miguel Andújar.
“His contract had expired, so just like everything else, you’ve got to make some very difficult decisions,” Cashman said. “I’ve been involved with Donny Rowland for a long time. But fork in the road, [his] contract had expired and so I made the difficult decision to look for a different lead voice in that chair.”
