Former MLB star Kipnis slams Cashman: ‘I didn’t need a graph to know It’s BS’

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In a dramatic turn of events during the recent GM Meeting in Arizona, New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman faced intense scrutiny and skepticism from both the media and former players regarding his assertions, with one ex-All-Star boldly stating that Cashman was “full of it.”

Yankees GM’s analytics claim challenged

During an extended and heated session with reporters, Cashman made a contentious claim that the Yankees possessed the “smallest analytics department in the American League East.” This statement, in particular, has sparked disbelief, and a notable former player, Jason Kipnis, has publicly expressed his disagreement.

Kipnis, a seasoned veteran with a decade of MLB experience, dismissed the need for visual proof, referring to a graph shared by Newsday reporter Erik Boland from Four Rings Sports. The graph, dated August 27, contradicted Cashman’s assertion, revealing that the Yankees actually employed the second-highest number of analytics staffers in the entire MLB.

“Well, I didn’t need to see this graph to know that the statement was full of s—-,” Kipnis said. “I’m strictly going off of conversations with former teammates that have played for the Yankees or have gone through that place. And one of the main things they rave about is the analytical side of that organization — just how much information hitters have to their advantage. And so there’s just no chance that they were near the bottom.

Speaking on the “Foul Territory” podcast on Friday, Kipnis asserted that he was well aware of the inaccuracy of Cashman’s claim based on conversations with former teammates who had either played for the Yankees or been associated with the organization. According to Kipnis, these sources consistently praised the Yankees for their robust analytical approach, emphasizing the wealth of information provided to hitters for a competitive edge.

Kipnis went on to challenge Cashman’s perspective, suggesting that the GM may perceive the analytics department as the smallest due to delegating responsibilities to a select few individuals and subsequently shifting his focus to other matters. From Kipnis’s viewpoint, while Cashman might perceive the department as small on a personal level, the broader league context contradicts this assessment. He argued that the Yankees, with their historical advantages and access to extensive data and statistics, could not realistically be considered among the bottom tier in terms of analytics resources.

This public dispute adds another layer to the ongoing scrutiny of Cashman’s managerial decisions and statements, raising questions about the transparency and accuracy of information provided by the Yankees’ front office. As the debate unfolds, it remains to be seen how Cashman and the Yankees organization will respond to these challenges to their credibility and claims about the size and effectiveness of their analytics department.

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