Cashman defends the Yankees WS by sayinig that statistics prove the Yankees fiwelded better than the Dodgers over the season.
But it wasn’t just Game 5. In Game 1, a series of misplays — small yet critical — could have altered the outcome in the Yankees’ favor had they executed more efficiently. Throughout the World Series, they also committed several base-running blunders. The Yankees were roundly criticized for their lack of fundamentals, and Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly didn’t mince words, mocking the Yankees by suggesting their sloppy play was a known weakness. He even quipped that the Yankees were the eighth- or ninth-best team in the postseason and claimed Dodgers’ scouting reports indicated that putting the ball in play would force mistakes from New York’s defense.
“I acknowledge that we played poorly in the World Series,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said at MLB’s general managers’ meetings Tuesday. “We all saw that. Unfortunately, our A-game didn’t show up when it mattered most.”
Cashman said Kelly’s comments were overblown and he felt the reliever was making a personal attack against the Yankees. When he was with the Boston Red Sox, Kelly was involved in a brawl with the Yankees after plunking Tyler Austin with a pitch in 2018. Cashman said he had conversations with members of the Dodgers organization who said Kelly’s comments were more indicative of how a small segment of their club felt rather than the organization at large.
So Kelly spoke from a grudge that goes back to 2018??
Still, the Yankees’ sloppiness was a consistent issue throughout the year. Privately, as the postseason approached, several high-ranking executives expressed concerns about the team’s defensive lapses and base-running mistakes, particularly in the second half of the season.
Hmm. Fangraphs metrics supposedly prove that the Yankees were respectable fielders?
Despite these shortcomings, the Yankees’ overall defensive metrics were still respectable. They finished 10th in outs above average, ahead of the Dodgers, who ranked 18th. The Yankees also placed 12th in defensive runs saved and 10th in FanGraphs’ defensive runs above average. Though the critical mistakes are the ones that will be remembered the most, this wasn’t a team that regularly kicked the ball around the field, as some have suggested in the aftermath of the World Series.
Says Cashman:
“The question posed is if the Dodgers are exceptionally excelling in all categories at every position. They’re the world champs and get all the credit, but I don’t think it’s a fair representation at the same time,” Cashman said. “I think it’s more fair to say that we just played poorly in that series and underperformed. I think we underperformed more so than ‘(we were) lucky to get into the World Series, and how did we even get there?’ We had a good team. Unfortunately, we just didn’t play our best when it counted the most.”
The rest of the article is at:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5901598/2024/11/06/yankees-brian-cashman-sloppiness-world-series/
