TAMPA, Fla. _ Goose Gossage won't be flying south to help the Yankees _ he never even received a call to become a guest instructor this season. And now the Hall of Fame reliever is ripping Brian Cashman: "With power ... you turn into a (expletive) (expletive) hole. Is that it?"
Gossage has ruffled some feathers with controversial comments the past couple of years _ taking shots at former and current players and questioning the use of sabermetrics _ and now he has blasted the Yankees GM in an interview with the Daily News on Monday, saying he isn't "a big fan" of him and that George Steinbrenner is "rolling over in his grave."
"He would've been gone 10 years ago if George was still around," Gossage said of Cashman. "He'd have been gone when he jumped out of that (expletive) airplane. Do you think he's a good (expletive) baseball guy, really? He doesn't believe in (expletive) coaching."
He added: "Well, with power, is that what happens to you, you turn into a (expletive) (expletive). Is that it? I don't know."
Gossage told The News he asked Cashman last year what he had ever done to him: 'We used to get along. I used to like you. And then something changed.'
"He didn't answer," Gossage said. "He didn't say a word."
Last year during spring training, the Bombers legend once again made controversial remarks, saying he didn't want to be compared to closer Mariano Rivera, since Gossage pitched multiple innings and Rivera usually took the mound in the ninth.
"I'm not taking anything away from what Mo did, but don't compare me to him," Gossage said at the time. "It's insulting. It really is."
Then in 2016, Gossage called slugger Jose Bautista a "(expletive) disgrace to the game" for "throwing his bat and acting like a fool" during a home run in the playoffs the previous season. "(Yoenis) Cespedes, same thing."
The always opinionated nine-time All-Star also bashed sabermetrics and analytics.
"It is a joke. The game is becoming a freaking joke because of the nerds who are running it," Gossage had said. "A bunch of (expletive) nerds running the game."
Afterward, Gossage had to have a meeting with Cashman and then-manager Joe Girardi, whom Gossage called a "good manager" on Monday.
"(Cashman) had a good manager in Girardi. They wouldn't let him manage," Gossage explained to The News. "They want you to manage the way they want to manage. And he can get one of his nerds in the front office and put him into the dugout. If he had any balls, that's what he'd want to do, but he doesn't have any balls."
After these zings, Gossage may _ or may not _ hear from Cashman again.
"You'd have to ask Cash what the deal is with him. I spoke my mind. But you can't do that anymore," Gossage said.
