Yankees September Approval Poll: Brian Cashman

Oct 5, 2022 - 6:30 PM

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Game 162 is here, and the Yankees are gearing up to make the most important postseason run of the Baby Bomber era. Hard to believe that the regular season ends today; it feels like just yesterday that the owners were lifting the lockout and the Yankees were kicking off their campaign against the Red Sox.

It’s also the start of a new page on the calendar, which means it’s time to bring back our monthly Brian Cashman approval poll. I know, technically we’re five days late with this feature, however we felt that running it on the final day of the regular season would be a perfect bookend

In order to get a complete picture with which to judge Cashman, let’s refresh our memories of his performance on our previous approval polls. Fair to say he didn’t get off to a flying start. Rightfully underwhelmed by his winter business — specifically with the decision to forgo the historic class of free agent shortstops and instead trade for an aging and expensive Josh Donaldson and stopgap Isiah Kiner-Falefa — only 25 percent of fans offered their approval in March.

That quickly changed with the team grabbing a hold of the division lead that they would not relinquish, and that indeed would grow rapidly in the proceeding weeks. The team’s dominance caused Cashman’s approval to skyrocket to 70 percent in April. There it would plateau thanks to their almost unconscious play and historical pace in the first half, with Cashman receiving marks of 68 percent, 76 percent, and 69 percent approval in May, June, and July respectively

As quickly as Cashman’s approval rose when the team was rattling off wins, it cratered back to Earth thanks to a questionable trade deadline and the team’s abysmal start to the second half. His blockbuster addition, Frankie Montas, has struggled mightily in pinstripes and is currently on the IL likely to miss the ALDS. Meanwhile, the two marquee names available at the deadline have thrived — Luis Castillo pitching to a 3.17 ERA and 22.6 percent K-BB% in 11 starts since his trade to the Mariners while Carlos Rodón is second on the MLB pitching wins leaderboard with 6.2 fWAR. Cashman also traded away Joey Gallo and Jordan Montgomery, which seemed to cast a pallor over the team that led them to play to a sub-.500 pace for much of the second half. All of this conspired to tank Cashman’s approval rating to just ten percent in August, one of his lowest marks for a month in the last several years.

That said, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Yankees and their GM. A recent hot streak powered by Aaron Judge’s home run chase has seen the team win 20 of their last 28 including a seven game winning streak. This resurgence is thanks in part to the performances of the Yankees’ other deadline acquisitions including Harrison Bader, Lou Trivino, and Scott Effross. What’s more, the major league promotions of Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza injected a spark into the team at its most lifeless moment. All of this combined to vault the Yankees to a commanding win of the division crown and the doorstep of another 100-win season.

As we know, the success of a Yankee season boils down to their performance in the playoffs, and the Bombers look galvanized to make a deep run. Judge is the best hitter in baseball, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres appear to be heating up at the perfect time, and the three-headed monster of Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, and Luis Severino looks like the best starting rotation trio the Yankees have had entering the playoffs in years.

So that brings us to today’s task. Do you approve of the job Brian Cashman has done through the end of September? You may feel a question such as the one being posed requires more nuance, greater elaboration, or a wider selection of options than just a “yes” or a “no,” however for the sake of this exercise, a binary question works best.

Please vote in the poll below and let us know! We’ll revisit the results in a month.