It’s not always easy to evaluate decision makers in one-season samples. Often, it takes years for strategies to play out, for key choices to be proven poor or prescient. Just look at the Cubs, playing in their first World Series in a lifetime. It took four or five years for the fruits of Theo Epstein’s labor to truly be borne out.
In this case, however, it’s not too difficult to come to a conclusion based on one season. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman had a strong year no matter how you slice it. He wasn’t given money to spend in free agency last offseason.