With Cashman's 2000th win, how much influence do you guys think Gene Michael has had on Cashman's GM style
As most Yankees fans probably know, Gene Michael was the GM who basically set the foundation for the Yankees dynasty in the 1990's, drafting the core four and trading for key players like O'Neill. The most important thing he might've done was vetoing a number of trades of the younger players that the Boss pushed.
The most notable of these trades would probably have been Bernie for Darren Lewis, or the Mo for Felix Fermin in the spring of 1996 (Fermin retired after that year and if this trade had gone through, Jeter most likely would not have started at shortstop that year). This "protect the top prospects" mindset is analogous to the situation in the Yankees organization today with the rise of Judge, Sanchez, Torres, etc.
Since Cashman was assistant GM to Michael for a couple years and was by all reports close to him until his death, is Gene Michael's influence underrated when considering the Cashman's success as a GM and maybe the Yankees' success as a whole? New York media has always held Stick to high regard but I almost never hear about him in national media.
Posted Apr 8, 2019, 4:08 AM UTC
Gene Michael was basically what every GM should be. He embraced analytics and numbers but also understood that the game has a heartbeat. He felt that ignoring the numbers and going solely on gut is stupid but understood analytics didn’t tell the whole story.
Not a knock on Cashman, I think he’s a great GM and we are in a good spot to do special things thanks to him. Though I think he and the rest of the front office are getting a little overboard with the analytics approach and are letting advanced stats do all the decision making.
I love how Cashman would point out that Michael stuck with Williams because he loved his dedication and mental traits, but that he also would often ask for insight from the analytics department and ask for clarifications on any calculations he didn't fully understand. His open mindedness was definitely part of what made him such a great executive.