The 2012 Baltimore Orioles were a very special team. Brian Cashman would apparently disagree with that statement. In an interview with Ken Davidoff, Brian Cashman talked about how the 2013 Yankees were an “anomaly”, or something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected.
“I’d say Joe, our coaches, our players worked their tail off and fought every step of the way, and they earned that record,” Cashman said. “But if we repeated last year’s season 100 times, that [85-77 record] would’ve been the low end of probability.”
The run differential, Cashman added, is “more reflective of the talent on the field. When you over-perform, like the Orioles did [in 2012], you realize that’s more of an anomaly. And last year was a market correction.”
I agree that the 2013 Yankees were an anomaly. But declaring the 2012 Orioles to be an anomaly is a bit silly. Yes, they exceeded pre-season expectations. What I have a problem with is that he compared the 2013 Yankees to the 2012 Orioles. One team made the playoffs, the other did not. Keep in mind that the Yankees needed to have an aging hitter hit two home runs against the Orioles in one game just to beat that “anomaly”.
I appreciate that Davidoff brings up a very good point about the 2013 Yankees- their record in one run games. That actually might be the one comparison between the 2012 Orioles and 2013 Yankees that makes sense. The 2012 Orioles had a 29-9 record in one run games, and that fell to a 20-31 record in 2013. The 2013 Yankees had a 30-16 record in one run games. I give Davidoff credit for bringing that up because it’s something that was beaten to death in the 2012 off-season with the Orioles, but I have not heard many talking about the 2013 Yankees and their record in one run games.
I’m curious to hear what Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter have to say about Brian Cashman’s comments. I’m guessing his comments will speed up the inevitable: A Buck Showalter vs Joe Girardi fist fight. I’ve got 50 bucks on Buck in that fight.
Brian Cashman is the biggest a$$hole in sports. He has an unlimited payroll, signs every top free agent out there and his team wins 85 freaking games last year. Let’s see what he can do with a $90M payroll versus $189M. He would win 75 games. He is nothing special. Go GM for the Houston Astros and see how successful he is. He like all of the rest of the Yankees fans can kiss my a$$!.