Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has pushed back on the criticisms voiced by Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez in the wake of New York’s season-ending loss to Toronto in American League Division Series Game 4 on Oct. 8.
During the MLB on FS1 postgame show that night, A-Rod said the Yankees had “one of the worst constructions of a roster I’ve ever seen.” Jeter followed by saying, “I’m pretty sure [manager Aaron Boone is] not the one that’s calling every move that they make throughout the game,” although Jeter also said he had no inside knowledge of such.
On Thursday, Cashman went on WFAN radio to respond to the pointed words from the two franchise legends, especially those from Jeter about the source of the Yankees’ in-game decisions. The club’s longtime GM was adamant that he has never had direct influence on starting lineups or in-game choices, no matter who has been the Yankees’ manager.
“It’s not true, clearly,” Cashman said of Jeter’s words. “… And they don’t know. Clearly, they don’t know. I know that [Jeter] said that. I don’t know what he meant by it. He did say he doesn’t have inside knowledge when he said it, but he did say it, for whatever reason. I think that’s the bugaboo that people get to throw out there when they’ve got nothing else to throw.
“There’s always the boogeyman of, ‘Other people are making the calls.’ ‘Analytics, analytics, analytics’ — people like to throw that, too. And none of that’s accurate. At the end of the day, you put Joe Torre under a deposition, you put Joe Girardi under a deposition or you put Aaron Boone under a deposition — I’ve never picked the lineup. We’ve never picked a lineup. We don’t tell them who to play. We don’t tell them who to pitch, whether it’s the ‘pen or the rotation.
“It’s just a sad, sad throwaway comment for people to make [who] don’t really know.”
Cashman did say that he called Jeter as soon as he heard the comments to clarify whether the Hall of Famer truly believed what he said on TV. According to Cashman, Jeter repeated that he has no inside knowledge about the opinion he expressed, although he did tell Cashman that he feels like Boone gets too much of the blame for the Yankees’ shortcomings.
Cashman then stressed to Jeter that no one other than the Yankees’ manager dictates who is going to play in any game.
“Those are the facts,” Cashman said. “Those are the truths.”
He then turned his attention to Rodriguez’s comment about roster construction, saying it “doesn’t make any sense, because, first of all, they both picked us to win the World Series 48 hours before we got eliminated.
“A-Rod had a great career. He punched through with one championship. Derek has a lot more than that. They’re, obviously, respected people. But that doesn’t mean their opinions are always correct every time they throw them.”
This wasn’t the first time that Jeter and Rodriguez publicly expressed displeasure with the 2025 Yankees. Following a loss to the Marlins on Aug. 2, Jeter said the team makes too many mistakes on the field, and A-Rod said there is a lack of “accountability” within the Yanks’ current culture.
Boone responded the following day, saying he disagreed with Rodriguez’s accountability comment but understood that such words come with the territory when you are leading a team that is falling short of high expectations.
With their elimination in the ALDS, the Yankees’ World Series championship drought extended to 16 seasons. It’s the franchise’s second-longest span without a title since it was rebranded as the Yankees in 1913. Its longest stretch without a title is 17 seasons (1979-95).
