The 2023 New York Yankees are in danger of finishing under .500 for the first time since 1992.  Since the Yankees have one of the highest payrolls in the league, fans are understandably disappointed with this result.

As of late August, the Rays and Orioles have a double-digit lead on the Yankees in the American League standings, and the Red Sox are ahead of New York in the AL East and Wild Card standings.

Yankee fans are resigned to the fact that the team is not making the 2023 Postseason. Fans are rightly focusing on the front office’s failure to construct a contending roster, and are calling for the firing of the Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman.

Cashman was hired in 1998 and he is the longest-tenured GM in the MLB. During his tenure, the Yankees won four World Series championships and six AL pennants. Although Cashman has the most championships out of every current GM in the MLB, the Yankees’ last appearance in the Fall Classic was in 2009. A World Series drought of 14 years isn’t long for most MLB franchises, but for the Yankees, it’s the second longest in the team’s history, only beaten by the drought from 1903 to 1920.

Cashman was an above-average general manager in the 2000s and 2010s. However, baseball is an ever-changing sport, and building a roster in 2009 is very different from building one in 2023, especially when teams are constantly evolving strategies and players are continuously improving their performance on the field. The main reason why the Yankees are underperforming this season is because of poor roster construction. In an August 23 press conference, Cashman called this season a “disaster” and stated that the Yankees roster is “depleted in some areas”.

The Yankees rank 25th out of 30 in On-Base Percentage, and former All-Star players like Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo are batting career-worst numbers. The Yankees are the seventh-oldest roster in the MLB, and they lack young talent that other contenders like the Braves and Orioles have.

It takes time to develop prospects, and the Yankees haven’t excelled at this process during Cashman’s tenure. Since 2010, there have only been three players that the Yankees have drafted or acquired as an International FA in the decade that made an All-Star team: Aaron Judge and Luis Severino. Championship teams in the MLB have depth, and that’s acquired through the draft.

Fans call for coaches’ and executives’ jobs too often, especially in a passionate sports city like New York, but those who think that Cashman should be fired have legitimate concern given the Yankees’ current standing. A fan doesn’t have to be an MLB executive to know that sometimes change is needed in a Front Office after a period of mediocrity. Brian Cashman has had a successful tenure as GM in New York, but that tenure should come to an end in the offseason.