Hal Steinbrenner did not love the language, but he did appreciate the sentiment expressed last week in Yankees GM Brian Cashman’s feisty and at times obscenity-heavy defense of the baseball operations department and how it does business.
In an email exchange, the Yankees owner wrote, “While I don’t condone the cussing, I do like the passion. There are too many false narratives out there about our organization, being pushed by uninformed and uninvolved people. It is, needless to say, frustrating.”
Steinbrenner did not want to for the record go into detail of what areas the “false narratives” cover.
But Steinbrenner, in his own press conference last week, said the perception that analytics drives every decision the Yankees make is incorrect, particularly when it comes to how Aaron Boone makes in-game decisions.
At the General Managers meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., last week, Cashman met with reporters for more than an hour in what was, at times, feisty exchanges in which – among other items – he backed his department by saying, “I think we are pretty (bleeping) good, personally.”
Within a long answer about the Yankees’ spate of injuries, in specific, and the role of Eric Cressey, the team’s director of player health and performance, Cashman said of Giancarlo Stanton, “I’m not gonna tell you he’s gonna play every game next year because he’s not. He’s going to get hurt again, more likely than not, because it seems to be part of his game. But I know that when he’s right and healthy, other than this past year, the guy’s a great hitter and has been for a long time.”
That portion of the quote took on greater significance a week later when Stanton’s agent, Joel Wolfe, responded via The Athletic, “I read the context of the entire interview. I think it’s a good reminder for all free agents considering signing in New York both foreign and domestic that to play for that team you’ve got to be made of Teflon, both mentally and physically because you can never let your guard down even in the offseason.”
When reached by The Post, Wolfe refused further comment or clarification.
Among others, Wolfe represents the top foreign free agent this offseason who also happens to be a Yankee target, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Steinbrenner also did not want to comment publicly on Cashman’s specific remarks on Stanton and the fallout.
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