Yankees re-sign GM Brian Cashman
NEW YORK -- Brian Cashman will get at least three more years to fix the floundering New York Yankees.
The club announced Friday that Cashman's tenure as the Yankees general manager -- which has outlasted two managers and one owner -- has been extended with the signing of a new three-year contract.
Terms of the deal were not announced, but Cashman's previous three-year contract was believed to pay him approximately $3 million a year.
Cashman, 47, was promoted to GM to replace Bob Watson in February 1998. His 16-year tenure is longer than any Yankees GM other than Ed Barrow, who served in the role for 25 years. Cashman has been in his job longer than every GM in baseball except San Francisco's Brian Sabean and Oakland's Billy Beane.
Barrow's Yankees teams went to the World Series 14 times and won 10 World Series titles. Under Cashman, the Yankees won four World Series and 12 AL East titles, but have missed the playoffs the past two seasons, something they had not done in more than 20 years.
Cashman committed some $438 million to sign four free agents last winter -- pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran, and catcher Brian McCann -- but a combination of injuries and underperformance caused the Yankees to win fewer games (84) in 2014 than they had in 2013, when a similarly injury-riddled roster limited them to 85 wins and third place in the AL East.
With the retirement of Derek Jeter and lingering injuries to several of the Yankees' starting pitchers, Cashman is expected to be active in the free-agent market once again this winter.
"Being in this chair for 17 years, I'd say every winter has got its challenge. I don't feel that this one is any different," Cashman said Friday. "Obviously, we know from our fan base's perspective that we need to do better than we've done for the past two years. I say that for myself as well. Being in my chair, I'm responsible for it all -- offense, defense and pitching. I've got to find a way to get our fan base back to enjoying October sooner than later.''
In other Yankees news, the team dismissed their hitting coach, Kevin Long, and their infield/first base coach, Mick Kelleher on Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
