Yankees fans watched the Blue Jays trade for Jordan Hicks and turned their ire on Brian Cashman. Are they right to blast the GM for missing on the reliever?
The MLB trade deadline is now just days away and the big-time moves by World Series-contenders and rebuilders are coming fast.
Sunday brought the news of Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks being shipped to the Toronto Blue Jays. Yankees fans, who wanted to see the flamethrowing pitcher in pinstripes, were not happy with general manager Brian Cashman after that.
Fans on Twitter accused Cashman of sleeping on the job, letting a division rival strengthen their bullpen instead of bringing him to New York.
Cashman has been a target of plenty of criticism this year with the Yankees regularly sitting at the bottom of the AL East. But is failing to land Hicks the kind of mistake that should cost the GM his job?
Brian Cashman missing on Jordan Hicks isn't a disaster for the Yankees
There are really valid reasons to call for Cashman's job. Losing the Jordan Hicks Derby isn't one of them.
Hicks will be a free agent at the end of the year so trading for him would have meant giving up a couple of prospects for a rental reliever who probably wouldn't make the difference in a World Series chase anyways.
The Yankees have Jonathan Loaisiga coming back from injury soon. While it would have been nice to add Hicks, the bullpen is not New York's biggest need. Better to save dipping into the farm system for a bat or two capable of supplying some offense beyond Aaron Judge.
The biggest issue with the Yankees not getting Hicks is him landing with Toronto, a direct rival. Sweeping him out from under them might have been tempting, but not without cost.
So Yankees fans, don't be too hard on Cashman on this one. Instead, call for his firing because last year he traded Jordan Montgomery, who just landed with the Rangers as one of the top starters on the market, for Harrison Bader.
