SAN ANTONIO – Brian Cashman continued to default to the big picture. Yes, there was problems in fundamental areas of defense and especially baserunning, but that, in the general manager’s opinion, did not stop the Yankees from being a formidable team that reached the World Series.

But it certainly did a lot to stop them from winning the championship. The Yankees coughed up Games 1 and 5 to the Dodgers with unhealthy play, which Cashman recognized Tuesday during CEO meetings saying: “Our game didn’t come when it mattered most. »

Except there are times when your game doesn’t show up because baseball is fickle, and in a short time the best teams can look terrible and vice versa. But what the Yankees suffered in blowing Games 1 and 5 to the Dodgers was not mercurial. It was predictable. They I never cleaned up the intricacies of the game. If anything, they got worse as the season progressed. This wasn’t an October problem or a World Series problem. This increase could be observed from the month of April.

“I said we struggled with our baserunning this year,” Cashman said. “We were a bad defensive team, no doubt at times this year, but we also, when you take it all together, we were a very good baseball team that earned the right to win the American League and get everything . the path to the World Series, and we are really very proud of it.

He is the architect and so I understand his pride – and his defensive attitude. Cashman was feisty in these same meetings last year after an 82-80 non-playoff season that he himself called a “disaster.” Cashman defended his lieutenants and the organization’s processes, insisting that the Yankees were an elite operation and that it would be proven. And he used the word “justified” a year later.

But emphasizing the fundamental flaws made Cashman feisty again. Still, they were worth talking about. First, because the Yankees are good enough to win it all and declare every year that they are champions or they fail. So the standard they should be held to is the highest and not, say, the average improvement we might see next year from the White Sox. Second, while Cashman is of course correct that all players have strengths and weaknesses and no team is without a flaw, for over $300 million the Yankees should not have had a flaw so blatantly fundamental. The Dodgers play in the same stratosphere and go talent for talent with the Yankees, but they also played a cleaner game.

Joe Kelly, a Dodgers reliever who was inactive in the postseason, hit the Yankees on a podcast as the eighth or ninth best team in the playoffs due to their fundamental deficiencies. Cashman dismissed it, saying the criticism seemed “personal.” Cashman said he contacted Dodger officials who did not corroborate that view. But I can guarantee that the Dodgers’ assessment before the World Series was that the Yankees had talent rather than fundamentals and that pressuring the Yankees would lead to mistakes.

Which brings us to the third reason I make this point: what happened ALL YEAR and in the World Series cannot be changed retroactively. But we can learn lessons from it. Cashman has made it clear that he is an admirer and supporter of Aaron Boone and clearly wants him to at least honor his 2025 option, if not more, pending approval of the ownership (and the ownership does not never deviated from Boone’s assessment).

Historically, there is a tolerance for physical errors, like Aaron Judge dropping a ball, regardless of his routine. But mental errors are something else. And mental errors reflect on a manager and his coaching staff. And it was a Yankee season of distraction, lack of detail and near-indifference to routine too often.

Cashman said the Yankees will “target any areas of weakness” to try to improve next year. It can’t just be lip service about better, tighter play. Yes, Job 1 tries to keep Juan Sotoand the bullpen needs to be remodeled and the infield corner repaired. But again, the Yankees should think about having it all.

And Cashman once again got defensive about it all as questions mounted on the fundamental issues. He highlighted participation in the World Series. He noted that many of those asking questions had picked the Yankees to win the title (I didn’t, if that matters), as if those asking questions were somehow preventing them other to look at the Yankees’ shortcomings. He called the Yankees’ 7-0 playoff record against the AL Central since 2017 and 1-7 against everyone else “dumb” rather than exemplifying the type of teams the Yankees can and will not can’t beat October. He said the Yankees’ “grassroots program” was “considered one of the best in the business” despite horrible results in the majors and backed it up by saying the organization’s head of grassroots, Matt Talarico , was interviewed by three other teams.

Once again, I feel defensive. Cashman is very successful in his job. His employees admire him for the way he protects them.

But this has to be a moment of deep breathing for him and for the organization. We shouldn’t downplay the elements that are more helpful to winning, such as talent accumulation, home runs on offense, and missing bats from the mound. Instead, the problem has existed all year. This didn’t get enough attention and certainly not enough corrections and it ended up being another sort of “disaster”.

The Yankees don’t have to decide Soto or the sound game. They should do everything possible to ensure both progress.