Brian Cashman’s fiery attack of the Yankees’ critics – and there are many – included a shot at a former prospect.
Cashman called ex-Yankees minor leaguer Ben Ruta “Bitter boy” after Ruta criticized the franchise’s approach at the minor league level during the summer.
“You guys gave him a platform, this organizational player ripping away on what’s wrong with our player development department as he flushed out with us and ended up in another organization,” Cashman said during the GM meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., according to The Athletic.
“He wasn’t even as good there as he was with us. Citing (HITf/x) as our important numbers and saying it doesn’t include strikeouts — he doesn’t even know that it does include strikeouts. But he’s getting a platform and everybody sings about what ails the Yankees, and it’s like, how is this even happening? It’s embarrassing to have stuff like that play out. But, hey, when you’re losing, you guys are going to gravitate to whatever you want to say, ‘See, I got you.’”
Ruta responded on X to a tweet referencing Cashman’s remarks.
“Headline: ‘Bitter Boy’ Brian Cashman doesn’t know how many current players in his own org (and former Yankees players now in other orgs) reached out in support of Ben Ruta following his @FoulTerritoryTV clips. Embarrassing that he doesn’t have a pulse on his own organization 😂,” Ruta tweeted.
Cashman clearly had some bones to pick during his hour-long session Tuesday and Ruta’s comments this summer must have irked him.
Ruta, who played in the Yankees’ system from 2016-21, criticized the franchise’s minor league processes. He first appeared in a chat during an episode of the “Foul Territory” podcast to shed some light on what the Yankees are teaching their minor leaguers.
“Here’s all you need to know,” Ruta said. “In 2020, before COVID hit spring training we played a game called ‘pitchers vs hitters,’ the only way to score a point was to walk or hit a ball 95 mph-plus. There’s no baseball being taught there anymore. No base running, moving runners, fundamentals, etc.”
Ruta later appeared on the podcast and said the Yankees focus too much on HITf/x, which Cashman rebuked Tuesday, and the franchise tries to make every player the same.
“The problem I have with this metric is strikeouts do not dock you and you see that because they use this in the minors and they use this to make free agent decisions,” Ruta said in mid-August. “So they’re signing guys and they’re making trades based off this.”
Ruta started with the Yankees in 2016 and worked his way up to Triple-A in 2019, hitting .260 with eight homers, 55 RBIs and a .726 OPS.
He landed with the Padres organization in 2021, but hit .178 spanning Triple-A and Double-A before moving to the Atlantic League last year.
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