New Cashman takes top billing for Yanks

What in the world is going on these days with Brian Cashman?

Let's start with the spiky brown-hair-with-blond-highlights bandanna wig. The Yankees' general manager wore it Wednesday night when he tended bar for charity in Manhattan. He wore it in December when he rappelled down a 350-foot building in a green elf costume in Stamford, Conn.

Cashman picked up the bandanna wig last September in Baltimore. In town for a Yankees-Orioles series, he bought it on the street. With a wee bit of prodding, he put it on in the Yankees' dugout before a game.

It was a side of Cashman most do not see. "I've always known that side of him," said Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers, one of Cashman's closest friends, who worked for the Yankees last season. "He's a lot of fun to be around. A great deal of fun."

Taking center stage

In addition to the rappelling and drink-slinging, Cashman lately has been out-front and outspoken. He has let his hair down, in more ways than one. At times he has been goofy and charming, at other times feisty and combative.

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At times this offseason it seems as if he has been starring in his own sitcom - "@#$% My General Manager Says."

He took shots at Derek Jeter during contract negotiations, angering the Yankees' captain. He twice made news with off-the-cuff comments at speaking engagements. He said he would not give up a draft pick for reliever Rafael Soriano, then admitted he was against the signing - with Soriano across the room at the news conference introducing him to New York. After missing out on Cliff Lee, he pursued Carl Pavano, a hush-hush fact that came out only because he revealed it.

"He's probably at a point in his career - I mean, he's been doing this a long, long time - he's probably a little more confident than he was in the early years," Towers said. "Feels it's time where maybe he should express himself a little more than he has in years past. I think I've probably noticed it. I don't know the reason why. I think only Brian would."

How about this: With Joe Torre and George Steinbrenner gone, with Joe Girardi an uncomfortable interview and with Hal and Hank Steinbrenner infrequent public speakers, Cashman is as much the voice of the Yankees as John Sterling is. He's as much the face of the franchise as Jeter is.

He's front and center in a way he never has been before. In a way, he's become a smaller, thinner, suit-and-tie or golf-shirted version of another outspoken New York sports figure, Jets coach Rex Ryan.

And it looks as though he's enjoying the heck out of it - even if this might be his last year as the Yankees' GM.

Not trying to create news

"I don't think I'm a newsworthy person," he said Wednesday between shifts at Foley's, a midtown bar where Cashman spent three hours serving drinks and raising money for prostate cancer awareness (his father-in-law died of the disease).

"It seems like if I answer a question lately, it plays a lot louder," he said. "Maybe the questions are more difficult or the people involved in the questions and answers are higher profile. But I'm a little surprised this winter that it seems louder. Maybe I'm different. Maybe it's me. Maybe it's not. I don't know. I'm doing the best I can. I'm not trying to create news."

From a baseball perspective, Cashman has had a poor offseason because the Yankees put all their eggs in the Lee basket. When the lefthander spurned the Yankees' millions to sign with the Phillies, Cashman did not have a Plan B to fortify his thin starting rotation.

Cashman, 43, has been GM since 1998 and has been with the Yankees since 1986, when he was a 19-year-old intern in the minor league and scouting department. He almost left before signing a three-year contract in 2005; he wanted more control over the baseball operations and got it from George Steinbrenner. The Yankees went on to win the World Series in 2009, Cashman's first title without Torre and without significant input from the ailing Steinbrenner.

Now it's Cashman's team. Or it least it seemed to be before the Soriano signing and the very public way the disagreement played out.

What does future hold?

Cashman's contract expires after this season. Asked to comment on his job status the other day, he said: "Absolutely. Love to."

He then gave an answer with two completely contradictory sound bites: one about how happy he is with the Yankees and another about how he'd be "cool" with leaving them.

"I'm fine," he said. "The Yankees are the best sports franchise in the world . . . I'm very happy where I'm at. I want to do what's best for the franchise at all times. As long as I feel I'm capable of doing that and they want me and I'm effective and the fans are happy, then I can stay. If not, then it's time for me to go somewhere else. I'm cool with that, too."

Maybe what's going on with Cashman is that he's crazy - like a fox. Because if you read between the lines, that answer sounds like an excellent opening line for his next contract negotiation with the Steinbrenners.

He'll probably leave the bandanna wig home for that one.