Fire Brian Cashman
- E.J. Fagan
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
By EJ Fagan
July 7, 2026
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The following post comes from EJ Fagan's Substack, Baseball Is Life. It is shared with permission.
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Brian Cashman is the problem.
I’ve written this post before, including almost exactly one year ago today. The story is the same: the Yankees depth gets tested by a few routine injuries, their young hitters flop, and all of the sudden the team can’t score runs or play defense.
The core Yankees problem is that, with a single exception, the team has been completely unable to develop major league hitters. And it’s Brian Cashman’s fault, as it has been for decades.
Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Spencer Jones and Jasson Dominguez were all first round draft picks. We can add Trey Sweeney, Anthony Seigler, Blake Rutherford and Kyle Holder to the list as well. They all had success in the minor leagues. And to a man they have all completely flopped at the plate in the major leagues.
The last above replacement level hitter the Yankees picked in the first round was Aaron Judge in 2013. Before Judge, it was Derek Jeter in 1992 (!). Their failure is not for want of trying either. They have only taken two pitchers over the last decade: Clark Schmidt in 2017 and Ben Hess in 2024.
The lower rounds are almost as bad. Since 2010, the Yankees have drafted or signed and then graduated the following above average major league hitters: Ben Rice, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez.
You can’t make a full MLB roster without a bunch of decent enough hitters who came up through your farm system. You certainly can’t play through a few injuries.
The team has been propped up by Aaron Judge for the last four years. Without him, you’re looking at a bunch of 78-win, $300 million train wrecks like the 2026 Mets. With Judge out, you’re seeing the seams on full display. They don’t have the budget to pay for more than one or two big money free agent hitters, so they are left to run out five or six awful hitters for an extended period every season, hoping for another miracle season from Judge.
I don’t know what the cause of the hitting development problem is. It could be major league coaching. It could be minor league development philosophy. It could be amateur scouting. I’m just a dude with a blog. None of us have the answers.
But I don’t care. The buck has to stop with the person on top. Results are eventually all that matters. Brian Cashman’s baseball operations departments are completely built from Yankees lifers.
The front office is entirely his creation. It needs to be burned down and rebuilt from the ground up.
My friend Anthony, who is a Mets fan thinks I'm crazy for wanting Cashman gone. Well I tell him, I'm tired of winning 93 games a tear and nakingvthe playoffs. I want a legit shot at the pennant every year. This June/Boone swoon every year is just as much on Cashman as anyone else. Why does he purposely leave a couple of holes to be filled by some scrap heap guy, surprise, or trade deadline acquisition?
Also, if the Ya keep now have an 8 man pan since at least 2020, and they trade for at least one arm every year, over pay too, but we have ZERO relievers from the system.
I keep saying this, and suspect that some folks are getting tired of hearing it. Folks are calling for Cash and Boone to be fired. Yes, that would help, BUT, the Yanks will not win a championship with Hal Steinbrenner as the owner. For them to win, they need a new owner, who really wants to win, instead of counting the attendance, and just be "good enough."
this essay makes a bit more sense than do the claims about Boone having lost control of the team
Cashman has a far greater amount of authority and far, far responsibility.
but there's a slight problem with the essay....
The core Yankees problem is that, with a single exception, the team has been completely unable to develop major league hitters.
that particular statement is untrue,