Welcome to our final GM approval poll concerning the 2026 season, next month’s poll certain to focus on a potential flurry of activity in November before the owners lock out the players on December 2nd. I’m sure we all wish the Yankees had played more baseball in October, but unfortunately we only got three games as they were unceremoniously dumped out of the postseason getting swept by the Rays in ALDS. Given that this is somewhat functioning as an end-of-season poll as there was scarcely any activity to cover in October, we’ll focus more on the narrative of the campaign rather than zooming in on the month we just completed.
The Yankees raced out to a fast start, pulling out to an early 3.5-game lead after winning seven of their first eight games. They hit their first speed bump in mid April, going 3-8 including a five-game losing streak to temporarily fall behind in the standings. However, winning streaks of eight and five games toward the end of April and in the first week of May meant that the Yankees were back atop of the division, earning Brian Cashman a 41-percent approval rating in both April and May.
However, results had already begun to crater in the middle weeks of May as Aaron Judge attempted to play through what we later learned was a fractured rib. The captain was a shell of what we expect from the three-time MVP, and he finally landed on the IL on May 31st, where he would stay for more than three months. Understandably, the offense lost a lot of its potency, yet somehow managed to stave off the annual Boone June Swoon for half the month.
As it turns out, that was just delaying the inevitable, the downturn in form arriving swiftly thereafter as the Yankees won just four out of 18 games before a modest four-game winning streak to enter the All-Star break with a modicum of positive momentum. The nadir of their season saw them get swept in four games by the last-place Red Sox at Fenway, which to add insult to injury kickstarted the winningest 30-game stretch in Boston franchise history to rocket them back into playoff contention. Cashman’s approval rating predictably plummeted to just nine percent in June, which only improved to 11 percent for July with his team treading water in the standings while the Rays rode a scorching April and May to grab a commanding lead in the division that they would never relinquish.
With Judge and Giancarlo Stanton absent from the lineup all summer, the onus fell on Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger to shoulder the load, and that proved too heavy a burden to bear. Both hitters’ production cratered in June and August, Bellinger also missing a month from the end of July through the end of August to a left hamstring strain. It didn’t help that the pair were dragged down by all the deadwood in the lineup. Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon were two of MLB’s worst qualified hitters through the opening months of the season, though Wells’ production rebounded impressively after he recovered from the cervical headaches that had been plaguing him. Jazz Chisholm Jr. did himself no favors with the bat or glove and missed almost a month’s worth of games injured. Anthony Volpe was sent down to the minors for five weeks and Trent Grisham reverted to the pre-2025 version while suffering through persistent hamstring ailments.
Despite playing to a winning record in August and September, the damage of their summer swoon had already been done. They never looked like threatening the Rays’ lead in the division, though were able to rebuild some momentum and goodwill in the final two months. Trade deadline acquisition Luis García Jr. proved a much-needed shot in the arm (Heliot Ramos not so much), and the promotions of top prospects George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones breathed some youthful life into what had become a stale clubhouse. Lombard started hot before committing a bunch of errors in a short stretch, while Jones was the opposite, taking some time to adjust to major league pitching but looking more assured of himself with each passing week in the majors. These factors allowed Cashman’s approval rating to recover to 29 percent for August, and it jumped up even further to 34 percent in September after the Yankees posted the best record in the AL in the final month.
After he suffered a calf strain in September, the Yankees ultimately left Judge off their Wild Card and ALDS rosters. He wasn’t needed in the ALWCS as the Yankees boat-raced the Red Sox, scoring nine runs in both games to sweep and punch their ticket to the ALDS for a date with the Rays. This offensive outburst proved a mirage of hope as they got one-hit in Game 1, committed four errors in Game 2, and saw their season come to an abrupt end with a 4-3 loss in Game 3. That the Yankees lost the three games they played in October and the manner in which they did so does not bode well for Cashman’s approval rating.
Otherwise it’s been a quiet October in New York. Owner Hal Steinbrenner held a year-end press conference in which he blamed the players while absolving Cashman and Aaron Boone of any responsibility for the team’s demise. For some extra salt rubbed into the wound, Steinbrenner confirmed that Boone would be retained for the final year of his contract in 2027 while also announcing a contract extension for Cashman that will likely take him beyond 30 years at the helm of the team. It’s been crickets since then, with only vague rumors linking the Yankees to possible reinforcements at third base, center field, and the bullpen.
There are some big questions that may or may not get answered in the month before the CBA expires. The Yankees appear ready to let Jazz walk in free agency and hand the keys at second to Volpe. There is little indication that McMahon will not be the Opening Day starter in 2027. David Bednar could return on the QO after stabilizing the closer role, but there are additional departures to address. Most importantly, the Yankees have to start asking why they have collapsed in such similar fashions in the last three postseasons. Why is there a team-wide lapse in concentration in the most important games of the year and why has there been zero accountability for this three-year trend?
Having said this, all is not doom and gloom in the Bronx as there are legitimate causes for optimism. Between Rice and presumptive AL Cy Young Cam Schlittler, the Yankees have developed a pair of franchise cornerstones who should help keep the team’s window open as Judge and Gerrit Cole get deeper into the latter half of their 30s. New York boasted the best pitching staff in the league and are returning the vast majority of those arms. With a few impactful additions, this team is not far from the top of the AL, though it remains to be seen whether ownership has the appetite to increase payroll given Steinbrenner is leading the charge among the owners to institute a salary cap.
That brings us to today’s task. Do you approve of the job Brian Cashman has done through the end of October? On one hand, the player development staff that he is in charge of staffing can boast some real wins between Rice, Schlittler, Lombard, and Jones. On the other hand, there is little to suggest that any team under his direction can turn over a new leaf and play more fundamentally sound baseball in the playoffs. The polarizing GM certainly elicits stronger feelings than can be captured in a one-word response — you may feel a question such as the one being posed requires more nuance, greater elaboration, or a wider selection of options than just a “yes” or a “no,” however for the sake of this exercise, a binary question works best.
Note: This is the same poll that is currently appearing on the Feed, so if you’ve voted there, that should already be counted.
