Jim Palmer has seen a lot of bad teams in his six-decade career in professional baseball, and the 2025 New York Yankees are certainly not one of them.
The legendary former Baltimore Orioles pitcher turned TV broadcaster had high praise for general manager Brian Cashman and the Yankees amid criticism from around Major League Baseball.
The Yankees (88-68) are likely bound for their eighth postseason appearance in the past nine season — and the seventh in manager Aaron Boone’s eight-season tenure.
Yet, because they are in second place in the AL East — they do have the second-best record in the American League — and have had some inconsistent stretches, they have been the subject of barbs.
Jim Palmer ‘thinks Cashman should be GM of the Year’
Yankees fans have been critical of Boone and Cashman, but so too have rival clubs and broadcasters like Toronto Blue Jays analyst Buck Martinez, who recently said “they’re not a good team … If they don’t hit home runs, they don’t have a chance to win.”
Yet, Palmer, who started his career with the Orioles in 1965 and has called their games for years, disagrees.
“Buck Martinez saying, ‘I don’t care what the Yankees’ record is, they’re not a good team,’ I disagree,” Palmer told NJ.com. “The Yankees have Aaron Judge, and they have really good starting pitching, which is important because they can match up with anybody in the playoffs, especially if they’re in that wild card series.”
The Yankees are basically locked into the No. 1 wild card, since they trail the Blue Jays by two games yet Toronto has the tiebreaker. Still, that the Yanks have weathered injuries to starters Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt, plus the free-agent loss of outfielder Juan Soto, is proof of Cashman’s prowess to Palmer.
“I think Cashman should be GM of the year,” Palmer said. “He gave the Yankees everything they need. He got them position players, pitchers. They have the starters.”
‘Can They Win’ in Toronto?
The Yankees may be the reigning AL champs, but Palmer held off at calling them the favorites to get back to the World Series.
“We still need to see who gets home-field advantage,” Palmer said. “I think that’ll be huge because there’s only one team in baseball that plays really well on the road and that’s the [Milwaukee] Brewers, who obviously are in the other league.”
The Yankees may be built to win at Yankee Stadium, but their prowess away from the Bronx is a bit unheralded. The Yankees have the same number of home wins as road wins this season (44) and finished their full slate of road games tied with the Brewers with 44 road wins.
Yet, according to Palmer, the question is whether the Yankees can win in Toronto, where they went 1-6 in the regular season — including a four-game sweep from June 30-July 3 that put Toronto in first for good.
“[Playing well at home] should get [the Yankees] through that round, but then they might have to have to play Toronto not having home field,” Palmer said. “Can they win there?”
MLB Hall of Famer Praises Brian Cashman, Yankees Amid Criticism