Time to Move On

I am a Yankee fan, which, I’m sure to the majority of the baseball world, seems like a pretty cushy gig. The Yanks are always in contention to win the division and reach the post season, something they have failed to do only four times since 2000. Ask any casual fan and they will tell you, the Yankees are the strongest franchise in the sport. The problem is, they arent. The team is severley flawed, but its not till they are put under a microscope that the weaknesses are exposed, in their case, the microscope being the post season.

The team is led by the General Manager Brian Cashman, who has held the position since 1998 and is the longest tenured GM in the MLB. Cashman has been lauded as a visionary who has kept the storied franchise in its rightful place since starting at the young age of 31. The problem is, he hasnt. Poor choices, both fiscally and personal wise, are the main reason that the team has not won a World Series since 2009, despite having one of, if not the highest, payroll in the big leagues. The question is, how does he keep his job if the Yankees mission statement is to win the championship every year, and they havent for the past 16?

I think about the parrells between the Yankees and US Squash. US Squash has been lauded as the strongest governing body in the sport. Where other squash entities were failing , with the sport losing ground to pickleball and padel, US Squash, with press releases about participation and growth, their “always on the podium” mission statement, hirings for new program initiatives, and most notably, splashy headlines about a brand new state of the art national center, were thriving. The problem is, they weren’t. With questionble fiscal and personal decisions, the Association, with its storied history, has lost nearly all the capital, both political and fiscal, that it had gained in the first two decades of this century. Unlike the Yankees, who for some reason refuse to part with their long time leader, USQ has made the decision to move on from the longest tenured NGB head in the country, and turn the page. With the Olympics three years down the road, they will try to reigniite the passion of its membership and repair their relationships with other squash entities, both domestic and international.

I do know that if the Yankee brass ever do step outside their bubble and move on from Brian Cashman, they most likely will not keep him on staff “to support onboarding and transition efforts to ensure a seamless handoff, building on the strong foundation that he shaped over the past two and a half decades”. It’s unclear what purpose that would serve.

BB