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Brian Cashman would typically be on his way to the winter meetings, which had been scheduled to begin Monday.
But instead of a high point of the MLB offseason, this will be the start of the first full week since the owners locked out the players for the first work stoppage in the sport this century.
There is still work to be done, the general manager said, with minor league operations still going on.
But Cashman, like all executives, is prohibited from talking about any players on the 40-man roster, as well as anything regarding free agency or the trade market from before the lockout.
Additionally, Cashman said he expects to finalize the coaching staff this week — as early as Monday.
Sources said Friday the Yankees had settled on Dillon Lawson as the new hitting coach.
Lawson has been the organization’s minor league hitting coordinator. And Desi Druschel is expected to be named an assistant pitching coach and the team still needs a first-base coach.
With the lockout stopping all major league activity, the organization’s minor league facility in Tampa remains open for minor leaguers not on the 40-man roster, like top prospect Jasson Dominguez.
Cashman, who took part in the Heights and Lights festival in Stamford, Conn. on Sunday, said he liked what he saw from Dominguez in his first professional season.
“I don’t think we’ve had a kid his age play a full-season [minor league] year,” Cashman said of the 18-year-old Dominguez. “It was pretty impressive.”
Dominguez is still at least a few years from The Bronx, but Cashman said he was an “anomaly” and called his work ethic “exceptional.”
And Cashman got good reports about former first-round pick Austin Wells from the Arizona Fall League, as well as the undrafted Elijah Dunham.
Cashman called the outfielder Dunham a “pro’s pro.”
The Indiana University product signed as a free agent after the 2020 draft was cut to five rounds
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