Yankees July Approval Poll: Brian Cashman

As little as two months ago, it would’ve been inconceivable that the Yankees would be in last place on the eve of the trade deadline. Wouldn’t you know it, that’s right where they sit, the latest into a season to be in last place since 1966, three years before owner Hal Steinbrenner was born and a year before general manager Brian Cashman. It is the latter man with whom we shall concern ourselves today — the start of a new month means the return of our GM approval poll.

Before we get into our current evaluation of the Yankees’ GM, let’s recap the path that’s taken him and the team to this unimaginable position. Optimism over decisions made during the winter and spring — including those involving Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo, Carlos Rodón, and Anthony Volpe — bumped his approval rating to to forty-seven percent on Opening Day. That cratered to just six percent with a disappointing April that saw the team play .500 ball as the injury bug bit early. The team turned things around in May closing the gap in the division, raising Cashman’s approval to 29 percent.

Then disaster struck, with Aaron Judge missing all but two games in June and most of July after tearing a toe ligament crashing into the bullpen fence at Dodger Stadium. He returned this week, but in his absence the team managed to lose their way to last in the AL East, plummeting Cashman’s approval to ten percent in the process. The losing didn’t stop there, as they dropped 15 games in July for the first time since 1992.

The bats are chief to blame, and regardless of Judge’s greatness, the absence of one player shouldn’t turn a team with championship aspirations into a bottom-three offense. Perhaps this is down to the cast Cashman chose to surround his MVP and captain. First, you have the quartet of Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, and Josh Donaldson — all in their mid-to-late thirties and all having missed time in recent years to injury, yet still expected to form the core of the Yankees offense as if somehow immune from the downslope of the aging curve. Behind them has been a light-hitting hodgepodge cast that includes rookie Anthony Volpe, perhaps the victim of having too much asked of him in his debut season. That career minor leaguers Billy McKinney and Jake Bauers have been the team’s second- and third-best offensive producers speaks volumes about the impotency of the roster.

That being said, the offense is far from the only culprit in the team’s current fate. The starting rotation has not been the force it was expected to be, with all starters not named Gerrit Cole combining for an ERA in excess of 5.00. The bullpen too hasn’t quite matched the pristine standard set last season, blowing several leads in the few games when the offense actually does score. The unit is already starting to looked gassed, Aaron Boone leaning heavily on his relievers while many of the starters were struggling.

All of this has conspired to place the Yankees in a purgatory of mediocrity — 8-1 against the fellow last-place Royals and Athletics but 47-50 against everyone else. They are in serious trouble of missing the postseason for the first time since 2016 but with too many immovable veterans and too barren a farm to sell and retool like they did during that season’s deadline. Thus, they appear paralyzed in stasis with hours until the trade window slams shut, unable to make additions that would move the needle on a final playoff push and without players with whom they’re willing to part. The stagnation is almost worse than waving the white flag on the season, decision makers seemingly content to ride out this year and roll it back next.

So that brings us to today’s task. Do you approve of the job Brian Cashman has done through the end of July, his team sitting last in the division with several games and two opponents between them and the final Wild Card? The polarizing GM certainly elicits stronger feelings than can be captured in a one-word response — 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.