George Flips His Lid


This doesn't qualify as news, but it is still fun to read, over and over again.

The NY Post's Joel Sherman has the following comments on Brian Cashman's relationship with The Boss :

After all these years of wondering when George Steinbrenner would fire Brian Cashman, Cashman is readying to fire The Boss from his life.

Several of his industry friends say Cashman has told them he has had enough of Steinbrenner, and that when this season and his contract ends, he is going to leave the only organization for which he has worked. One NL executive summed up the sentiment by saying, "He's done there."

Steinbrenner barred Cashman or any Yankee official from attending these meetings, which is viewed as another slap at his GM. When reached yesterday at his Connecticut home, Cashman refused comment on his long-range plans.

"I have no idea what my future entails. I will do the best I can to give advice to ownership while I am here. I will not predict the future. I'm fully committed to the job at hand and going forward day-to-day."

Steinbrenner began to ignore more and more of Cashman's plans to the point where this offseason, one AL GM said, "There are things going on there he's not even aware of. Most of the stuff happening, he doesn't want to do."

An AL assistant GM said: "Steinbrenner does the player acquisitions, [team president] Randy Levine does the contracts, Damon Oppenheimer is doing playing development, other guys in Tampa run the minor league system and [Cashman] isn't even allowed to talk to the media."

This offseason, for example, Cashman has not been in favor of obtaining Kenny Lofton or Gary Sheffield, and wanted to pursue Kaz Matsui. Cashman said of his lack of power: "I'm informed what is going on. Some of the stuff I recommend gets done, some doesn't. But that is the way it has always been here and the way it always will be here."

Cashman's friends, though, say it is more than just not listening to his counsel. They say Cashman feels The Boss' belligerence has gone to a higher, more unacceptable level. They say Cashman was particularly annoyed that Steinbrenner constantly tells him he is overpaid, but then refused permission to let him interview for the Seattle GM job this offseason when he was believed to be the front-runner. They say Cashman, 36, also was sensitive to having The Boss publicly proclaim Boston's Theo Epstein the majors' best young GM, when the Yanks have won the AL East all six years Cashman has been the GM.

Friends say Cashman accepted a three-year, $3.3 million extension previously because his wife is from the area, and he did not want to uproot his family. But now, one of those friends says, "This is his last year in the circus. I wouldn't even be surprised if he got out of baseball and went into another business. He's tired of the screaming matches with George, not being listened to and just the general disrespect."

Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe writes :

While the Sox have been following their offseason plans with military-like precision, the Yankees have been displaying an institutional dysfunction in which owner George Steinbrenner is operating at his megalomaniacal worst.

Gene Michael, one of the shrewdest baseball minds in the Yankee organization, told Jack Curry of the New York Times that no one even asked him his opinion on a trade for pitcher Kevin Brown, a deal that was finalized yesterday, the signing of Sheffield, or a proposed deal for center fielder Kenny Lofton.

"If you ask me if they've contacted me about anything, I'll say they haven't," Michael told Curry. "That's all I can say."

Steinbrenner forbade general manager Brian Cashman from attending the winter meetings in New Orleans, and also canceled the trip of another key adviser, vice president Damon Oppenheimer. The Sheffield deal was placed in jeopardy by some bungling by the Boss that Sheffield detailed in a published report, which reportedly so annoyed Steinbrenner he was ready to call off the whole deal.

Posted: Sun - December 14, 2003 at 08:20 AM      

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