Cashman saw the empire crumble, saw George Steinbrenner serve a ban of nearly three years as the Yankees rebuilt and saw a dynasty grow from the wreckage. He knows what an organizational reset, even a less drastic one, can do.

“I had a front-row seat for all of that stuff,” Cashman said. “That gives me at least a platform to have dialogue with ownership as well as combat the media narrative, which can be false or forgotten. I’m like: ‘We’ve done it. I was there for it; I lived through it. Yes, you can.’ As long as you honestly articulate with the fan base what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, then yes — it’s been done, can be done and will be done again.”

A dynasty, Cashman acknowledged, is always an outlier, a rare confluence of so many factors, especially luck. This is now the longest period in major league history without a repeat champion, a stretch that began in 2001, when the Arizona Diamondbacks ended the Yankees’ three-year reign.

Cashman does not wear his rings and has never lifted a World Series trophy. In 2009, when the players and several executives gathered on a podium behind second base to celebrate the Yankees’ return to glory, he watched from the field with his daughter, just another face in a happy crowd.

For those who know Cashman, it was no surprise. Raised in the game under George Steinbrenner’s glare, he has always known better than to revel in accomplishment.

“What I really admired about Brian was the fact that it was never about him,” said John Coppolella, the Atlanta Braves’ general manager, who worked for the Yankees from 2000 to 2006. “He just seemed to care a great deal about the Yankees and getting things right for them.”

Things are not right at the moment. For all the encouraging signs around the Yankees, this team still seems destined to not be remembered, at least by their standards. At least a dozen teams, realistically, have a much better chance to win the next World Series.