Marty Appel Sheds New Light on Brian Cashman Bashing Joe Torre

Marty Appel, the former Public Relations Director of the New York Yankees, has confirmed what many fans have suspected.

In his new book, Pinstripe Empire, Appel relates how general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Torre disagreed on the best way the Yankees could win.

Forget that Torre managed the Yankees to world championships in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2001. Cashman's father, John Cashman, managed Kentucky’s Castleton Farms. The senior Cashman became friendly with George Steinbrenner, and his son Brian started working for the Yankees.

Cashman and Torre increasingly disagreed with each other after the last world championship. With his 2005 contract, Cashman gained complete control of player decisions. He started to depend on computer statistics, sabermetrics and trying to emulate the Boston Red Sox approach to winning.

Torre, who had been in the game almost 50 years, depended on scouts, experience and more traditional approaches.

Cashman explained in Appel's book why his approach was needed. “People used to think it was okay to smoke, or okay to drink during pregnancy. We learn as we go forward.”

Hey, how many pregnant Yankees have you seen lately, Mr. Cashman?

Torre listened, but wasn’t convinced. An example was the time that Cashman approached Torre as he was making out his lineup.

“We have a better chance against this pitcher with Betemit in the lineup instead of Phillips,” Cashman said. Torre played Andy Phillips and kept Wilson Betemit on the bench.

In 2011, Cashman revealed a lot about himself when he criticized the New York Mets for using Pedro Feliciano too much. The media shot back at “Cash,” calling him hypocritical because he had been in charge when Torre overused Scott Proctor and other relief pitchers.

Cashman defended himself by going after Torre.

“If you want to get Joe Torre on the phone, you’ll know that I’m not a hypocrite,” Cashman told the media. “I dealt with our pitching coach, I dealt with our manager, and we have new people here that utilize people a certain way now.”

Yes—the way they traded for and are utilizing Michael Pineda, or the way they dealt with Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes.

Reference:

Appel, Marty. Pinstripe Empire. New York: Bloomsbury USA. May, 2012.