In this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, S.L. Price profiled longtime Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who has been at the helm for almost two decades now. Cashman joined the Yankees as an intern in 1986 and eventually worked his way up to GM in 1998.
The profile is not online yet, however Ryan Hatch of NJ.com got his hands on a copy and shared some notable items. It includes both personal and baseball anecdotes, including this blurb about the team's contract talks with Derek Jeter during the 2010-11 offseason:
But there are some new stories, like when (Derek Jeter) asked Cashman, in 2010, during tense contract extension negotiations, who he'd rather have at shortstop and Cashman responded quickly with at least one name: Colorado Rockies' SS Troy Tulowitzki. He and Jeter's relationship never really recovered, it seems.
Ouch! The truth does hurt, though. Jeter was 36 years old at the time and coming off what was then his worst season, in which he hit .270/.340/.270 (90 OPS+) and played poorly in the field. The end result was a then-career worst 2.6 WAR. Tulo over a Jeter was a no-brainer at the time.
The Sports Illustrated profile indicates Cashman had no trouble playing the bad guy when it came to Jeter. Here's some more from Hatch:
Said Jeter's agent, Casey Close in the profile: "For certain players and people, it's too much candor. (Cashman) feels the easiest way to deal with something is to punch it right between the eyes. For some that's the right mode. For players who need a softer approach, it's like, Wow, that guy just hit me between the eyes."
Wrote Price: "Cashman calls Jeter "the greatest player I will have ever had," but often admitted impatience with Jeter's divalike tendencies. He likes being one of the few to tell the Captain no."
The Yankees eventually re-signed Jeter to a three-year contract worth $51 million that included an option for a fourth year, though Price said "wiser heads stepped in," referring to ownership. Cashman reportedly drew a hard line during negotiations because, well, who else was going to pay Jeter that sort of money?
Cashman will never win a popularity contest over Jeter, but sometimes someone has to call a spade a spade, and the GM was the one to do it in contract talks with the team's captain a few years ago.
