Yankees GM aggressively pushes back on narrative that team is driven by analytics

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is tired of hearing about how his team is driven by analytics, and aggressively pushed back on that notion Tuesday when meeting with the media. 

While acknowledging that every team in the league uses analytics in some form or fashion, Cashman, somewhat proudly and defiantly, made sure to point out that the Yankees have the smallest analytics department in the American League East and are not driven by those numbers in making their decisions. 

He also pointed out that the Yankees have the largest pro scouting department in Major League Baseball.

It was all part of a larger defense of the organization and its process, despite the fact it missed the playoffs and won just 82 games this past season.

Here is the problem for Cashman and the Yankees — why are you bragging about having the smallest anything in the American League East?

You are the New York Yankees.

You have a bottomless pit of money to pull from. 

You have resources and finances that are the envy of every team in the league. 

There is nothing that should be short-changed in your organization. The scouting department should be the biggest in baseball. But so should the analytics department. 

It is also a weird position for Cashman to take given how disappointing the Yankees were this past season, and how bad their lineup has been the past two years whenever Aaron Judge has been out of the lineup. 

They have not done a particularly good job getting results from their Major League signings or trades, and the team results are simply not what the Yankees have come to expect. Maybe they should re-examine their method. Perhaps their analytics department should be expanded and have a bigger say in what they are doing.