Blue Jays fans will love latest tea leaves on Brian Cashman's Yankees plans

It took a few years longer than it was expected to, but the Toronto Blue Jays finally seem to be in a position where they are going to be a contender year in and year out. After the heatbreak of missing out on the playoffs, despite a really good year in 2021, as well as the early exits in 2022 and 2023, it felt like getting to the playoffs wasn't good enough.

Then along came the sub .500, 2024 season where it felt like all the rebuild plans from 2018 onwards were going to be thrown into the trash. But in 2025, the Blue Jays finally corrected the course, got to the World Series, almost won the whole thing, and had an aggressive offseason to set themselves up to continue that success for the foreseeable future.

The goal has always been to stay competitive with the big market teams in the AL East and after some recent news about one of those team's front office staff, the Blue Jays could have an opening where they even surpass the competitive level of that team - the New York Yankees. All of that comes courtesy of the fact that their GM seems to be sticking around for the long haul.

Yankees fans split on Brian Cashman's future with the club

58-year-old Brain Cashman has been the Yankees general manager and vice president since 1998, starting with the team as an intern in 1986. They've had a lot of success under his guidance since that time, including seven AL pennants and four World Series championships. But they also haven't won it all since 2009, and they've played in one World Series in that time, losing in 2024 to the LA Dodgers.

The Yankees fanbase is seemingly starting to get tired of how Cashman is running the team, but a recent article in the New York Post won't do anything to satisfy that population. Reporter Mark Sanchez wrote that Cashman really has no plans on going anywhere, anytime soon. And that should be great news for Blue Jays fans as Cashman has struggled to put together consistently good teams over the last few seasons.

Sure, the Yankees are just two years removed from a World Series appearance, and they finished with an identical record as the Blue Jays in 2025 (losing the division title due to a tiebreaker), but they are always a team that seems overpriced, and over the hill. The Blue Jays exposed that in their four-game ALDS win over the Bronx Bombers in last year's postseason.

When you have a generational talent like Aaron Judge leading the charge and Gerrit Cole and Max Fried are in your rotation, you should be doing much better than that. But they didn't improve from their 94-68 record in 2024, and they spent most of the 2025-26 offseason spinning their tires.

They made no significant additions, while their biggest signings revolved around bringing the same cast of characters back for another go-around. They also lost two big pieces of their bullpen in Luke Weaver and Devin Williams to their cross-state rivals, the New York Mets.

The Blue Jays went 8-5 against the Yankees in 2025 and it feels like the gap between the two teams is starting to grow. Cashman, who seemingly had no motivation to improve the team via free agency or trade is hoping that the plan of 'running it back' prevails in 2026, otherwise...who knows, he's been around so long already that he might be stuck there until a new new Yankee Stadium is built.