Brian Cashman fires back at ‘sad’ Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter accusations

After getting “slaughtered” by Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter on Fox, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman vehemently pushed back on their criticisms.

For the 16th straight year, the Yankees season ended in disappointment and short of their championship aspirations. This time, it ended with a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 4 of the ALDS. Following the loss, A-Rod and Jeter went on the Fox postgame show and blamed the front office. A-Rod called the 2025 Yankees “one of the worst constructions of a roster I’ve ever seen,” while Jeter defended manager Aaron Boone by implying he isn’t the one making managerial decisions.

“Look, I’m not saying it from any inside knowledge, but I’m pretty sure Aaron’s not the one that’s calling every move that they make throughout the game,” Jeter said.

Thursday afternoon, Cashman went on WFAN’s afternoon show hosted by Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber, where he was asked to address Jeter implying the front office is making managerial decisions for Boone.

“It’s not true, clearly,” Cashman said. “They don’t know. Clearly, they don’t know. I know DJ said that, I don’t know what he meant by it, he did say he doesn’t have inside knowledge when he said it, but he did say it, for whatever reason. And I think that’s the bugaboo that people get to throw out there when they got nothing else to throw.”

“There’s always the boogeyman of ‘other people are making the calls, analytics, analytics, analytics.’ People like to throw that too,” Cashman continued on WFAN. “And none of that’s accurate.”

Cashman has been pushing back on claims the Yankees front office was making lineup and pitching decisions ever since Boone was hired.  When the Yankees moved on from Joe Girardi after the 2017 season, the belief was that they were going to hire a manager who aligned better with the front office’s analytical approach and vision.

But according to Cashman, you can put Joe Torre, Joe Girardi and Aaron Boone on the stand, and they’ll all confirm the Yankees front office never picked the lineup or made any pitching decisions. They have conversations with the manager, but Cashman insists the manager decides who to play where and when.

“It’s just a sad throwaway comment for people to make that don’t really know,” Cashman said, noting he did call Jeter to ask if he really believes the front office meddles with Boone’s ability to make managerial decisions.

“He said, ‘No, no, no, if you watched, I said, I have no internal knowledge of this.’ I was like, ‘I know, but you said what you said and that’s how it played.’ He said, ‘I feel Boone gets too much blame.’ So from his perspective, he was trying to blend it without putting meaning to what he meant.”

Cashman added Jeter never really explained what he meant and just leaned on the footnote that he had no inside knowledge.

“A lot of times when stuff happens, it just plays out inaccurately,” Cashman continued. “You get paid to have an opinion, but you don’t have access to all the information. And sometimes you give a good opinion and sometimes you give a really lousy one.”

And similarly, Cashman believed Rodriguez’s opinion that the 2025 Yankees were “one of the worst roster constructions” ever, was a lousy one. Or at least a hypocritical one.

“They both picked us to win the World Series 48 hours before we got eliminated,” Cashman said. “You get picked to win the World Series on Fox and then you get slaughtered 48 hours later by Fox by the same people, that yeah, they played here…they’re obviously respected people but it doesn’t mean they’re always correct.”

It should be noted, A-Rod and Jeter don’t have the best relationship with Cashman. Rodriguez’s relationship with Cashman deteriorated in 2013, after the then-Yankees third baseman received a 211-game PED suspension. And Jeter’s relationship with Cashman was fractured following the 2010 season, when the Yankees were reluctant to give the aging shortstop a long-term contract. Although Cashman’s relationship with Jeter is at least strong enough for them to have a phone conversation after the polarizing Fox segment.