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TAMPA — Don’t tell Brian Cashman the Yankees haven’t been to a World Series since 2009.
The general manager has spoken out about his criticism of the 2017 Astros that knocked off the Yankees in the ALCS on their way to a title before Houston was found to have engaged in an illegal sign-stealing scheme in their championship run.
Cashman said the scandal not only makes Houston’s title illegitimate, but also was the lone reason the Yankees didn’t at least reach the World Series that season.
“The only thing that stopped [us in 2017] was something that was so illegal and horrific,” Cashman told The Athletic. “So I get offended when I start hearing we haven’t been to the World Series since ‘09. Because I’m like, ‘Well, I think we actually did it the right way.’ [We] pulled it down, brought it back up. Drafted well, traded well, developed well, signed well. The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off.”
It’s not the first time Cashman has called out the Astros’ scandal from stopping the Yankees from winning their 28th title by knocking them off in seven games.
When Masahiro Tanaka left the Yankees and signed to pitch back in Japan, Cashman said Houston’s “shenanigans” prevented Tanaka and the Yankees from getting into the Series.
“I feel like he did everything he could to get us where we wanted to go,” Cashman said at the time. “And in that small window we probably don’t want to talk about, he probably would have gotten us to a World Series if we didn’t run into some shenanigans.”
Cashman added then: “That’s one thing I thought of when he went back to Japan. It’s kind of sad. You check a lot of those boxes when you have those dreams. He came over to the United States to play and compete and to perform at the major league level and ultimately by doing so, getting a chance to compete in a World Series and that was potentially stolen from him, that opportunity.”
Cashman’s feelings didn’t stop him from signing Marwin Gonzalez to a minor-league deal this spring. Gonzalez had a career year in 2017, but Cashman said his history with that Houston team did not enter his mind when he decided to bring him in to compete for a utility role that he appears set to win.
“I just looked to see what was available [on the market] that makes sense in my world and if it has a chance to make us better, I’ll take a look at it,’’ Cashman said of signing Gonzalez.
The Yankees are also fighting to keep a letter from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to Cashman in 2017 regarding the team’s alleged involvement in sign-stealing from being made public.
Multiple sources said the Yankees’ attempt at keeping the letter — which stemmed from the investigation into the Red Sox “AppleWatchGate” scandal — private is that the team doesn’t believe its reputation should be harmed due to a lawsuit that didn’t involve the Yankees.
The letter is said to deal with a pair of sign-stealing-related transgressions committed by the Yankees, including improperly using a dugout phone in a season before 2017, as well as referencing the fact some Yankees players stationed themselves in the team’s replay room in an attempt to steal opponents’ signs, then relayed that information to runners on second base so they could try to tell the hitter what was coming.
MLB previously released information about the use of the dugout phone and absolved the Yankees of any penalty for these actions, saying in a statement “we clarified the rules going forward to expressly prohibit such conduct.”
As for the Astros’ scandal, Cashman clearly hasn’t put it behind him.
“People are like, ‘Oh, we haven’t been to a World Series… and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I don’t think that’s as true a statement as it could be,’’ Cashman told The Athletic. “We had a World Series team. And either you get there or you don’t.’’
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