Brian Cashman On WFAN: 'We Just Didn't Look Like The Same Team In The End'
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Yankees general manager Brian Cashman on Wednesday blamed his team's late-season slide and early postseason exit on a rash of injuries and slumping bats.
In an interview with WFAN's Mike Francesa, Cashman cited injuries to first baseman Mark Teixeira and pitchers Nathan Eovaldi, CC Sabathia and Adam Warren as well as "downward trending offensive performances" as reasons the Yankees blew a seven-game lead in the American League East over the season's final two months.
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"We just did not look like the same team in the end that we had for most of the season," Cashman said.
Brian Cashman
The Bronx Bombers were eliminated from contention Tuesday night when they lost to the Astros 3-0 in the AL wild-card game at Yankee Stadium.
When asked if he regretted not being more active at the trade deadline, Cashman said he believed the team was "on alignment" based on how it was performing at the time and that he did explore trades -- including for Ben Zobrist, Aroldis Chapman and Craig Kimbrel -- but the asking prices were too steep.
"It just wasn't a marketplace full of choice," he said.
He added that he wanted to protect the team's young talent.
Looking ahead to 2016, Cashman indicated that rookie first baseman Greg Bird, who hit 11 homers in just 46 games, could begin the season in Scranton when Teixeira returns.
Bird's "performance was tremendous, but obviously what Tex was doing was superior, from the defensive and offensive sides," Cashman said.
Cashman largely seemed content with the players returning, but said the organization must get to the bottom of why the team faded down the stretch. He mentioned Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner in particular.
"We need to figure out what happened to their second halves," the GM said. " ... We might have to play around with trying to figure out ways to spell them a little bit more because they both ran out of gas at the end of the year."
