Yankees June Approval Poll: GM Brian Cashman

If you’ve been following along with the results of this poll each month, you may already know where we’re heading. This season has not been what was expected of the Yankees, and Brian Cashman’s role in that has come into question with each stretch of poor play. The General Manager started the year out with a 61 percent approval rating, dipped to 51 percent in February, marginally dropped to 48 percent in March, tumbled to 38 percent in April, and nosedived to 15 percent in May. It’s been that kind of year.

The Yankees have hovered around .500 all year, and June didn’t do much to move the needle. The team started off the month by splitting a series with the Rays before meeting the Red Sox for the first time all year, and promptly got swept. A trip to Minnesota had every appearance of a jump start for the team, and for two games it was just that — until they blew the third game in dramatic fashion. That game would be an important point in Aroldis Chapman’s season, as he went from elite, untouchable closer to a guy who couldn’t get out of an inning unscathed seemingly overnight.

The rest of the month was filled with the team bouncing between solid results and dreadful ones. Uncompetitive sweep at the hands of the Phillies? Answered by sweeping Toronto, winning two of three against the first-place Athletics, and then closing out a homestand with two wins against the Royals. Win streak incoming? Not after the Red Sox swept them for the second time in two tries, this time at Fenway, and then they stumbled out of the gate against the Angels. The Yankees roared back for a moment with a blowout win and seemingly taking another blowout by hanging seven runs on Shohei Ohtani in one inning ... but they wound up blowing that game too with a disastrous ninth inning.

The team has been rudderless for most of the season, and it’s getting ever so close to the trade deadline — and the time when GMs have to figure out if their team is a competitor or not. There hasn’t been too much action on this front, from Cashman or the rest of the league, in large part thanks to the MLB Draft starting in July this year instead of June, but plenty of teams are already on track to sell hard or buy in. The first few weeks of July will be crucial for this team to decide which side they fall on, but they’ll have to get off the fence for once this deadline season — holding firm on the roster as is won’t do much to either retool the team or make a push for the postseason.

Speaking of the roster, not much was done to test out the options down in the minors. Chris Gittens got a call up and a brief stint with the team after Luke Voit had to go on the IL for the second time this season, and his promotion was warranted thanks to a blazing hot season in Scranton. Gittens couldn’t make much of the opportunity, however, and was demoted back to Triple-A two-thirds of the way into the month. Justin Wilson and Darren O’Day returned from rehab assignments, while Luis Severino started one and had to promptly delay it thanks to a groin injury. The one notable move made from the 40-man perspective was Mike Ford getting designated for assignment, and ultimately traded to the Rays.

Cashman has made it clear that although they have several players excelling with the bat in Scranton — guys like Trey Amburgey, Hoy Jun Park, and Gittens — they don’t stand much of a chance of cracking the roster currently. Whether that means some of them will be potential trade chips this month, are being held at this level to develop, or are just currently blocked by the roster management is up in the air.

So as of the end of June, do you approve of Brian Cashman? As always, there’s a lot to factor into a “yes” or a “no,” and you might feel like your answer is more of a soft “yes” or “no” than a stamp of approval or a sharp rebuke. However, the binary question is the best way to get a direct read on fans’ thoughts.

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