THE FALSE REALITY OF WHAT MAKES CASHMAN GREAT

Something is seriously wrong with Aaron Boone.

But the Yankees don’t just have a manager problem. They have a general manager problem too. And before the Brian Cashman defense squad starts printing Hall of Fame plaques, let’s revisit a little thing called history — something Aaron Boone clearly treats like optional reading.

The Yankees dynasty wasn’t born the second Cashman sat in the GM chair. That’s revisionist history wrapped in pinstripes.

The foundation of the dynasty was built by Gene Michael — “Stick” Michael — from 1990 through 1995. He was the stubborn architect who refused to trade away the young core when everybody else wanted shiny new toys. No Derek Jeter deal. No Mariano Rivera deal. No Andy Pettitte tossed away for some fading veteran. Stick protected the future while the rest of baseball played checkers with Yankee prospects.

Then came GM Bob Watson in 1996. The pieces were already in place. The engine was built. Watson helped guide the Yankees to a championship while the Core Four era officially arrived.

By the time Brian Cashman took over in 1998, the Yankees were essentially a luxury sports car with the keys already in the ignition. From 1998 to 2000, they dominated baseball — but pretending Cashman created the dynasty from scratch is like giving the guy who watered the lawn credit for building Yankee Stadium.

That’s why many people around baseball — and many Yankees fans — view 2009 as Cashman’s one undisputed championship. Why? Because that team had George Steinbrenner and his fingerprints all over it. And how did the Yankees win that title?

By opening the vault like a casino owner on New Year’s Eve.

CC Sabathia.
A. J. Burnett.
Mark Teixeira.
Nick Swisher.

The Yankees didn’t “develop” their way to that title. They went on a shopping spree that looked like George Steinbrenner had discovered unlimited credit. And to Cashman’s credit, it worked. But since then? A whole lot of headlines, analytics buzzwords, and October disappointment.

Which brings us to the recent Brandon Tierney-Aaron Boone exchange — a conversation that accidentally exposed why Boone always sounds like the last guy in the room to realize the fire alarm is real. Brandon Tierney was wrapping up the interview and talking about the Yankees’ roster depth and urgency this season when Boone decided to launch into a full infomercial for Cashman.

Boone called Cashman a Hall of Famer.

Tierney, probably wondering if he accidentally switched studios and wandered into a Yankees PR meeting, before politely pushing back.

Because here’s the reality: Hall of Fame executive? Based on what exactly? One championship in the last 16 years? An endless parade of expensive contracts that aged like milk in July? Constant playoff exits? A roster-building philosophy that too often feels like fantasy baseball run by a hedge fund intern?

That’s not greatness. That’s surviving in New York while owning an unlimited budget. Cashman is not a hall of fame GM.

Boone, of course, doubled down.

“He’s great at it, BT. He’s really good at it,” Boone said.

And that’s when Tierney hit the brakes.

“Great’s a little bit of a stretch. 2009’s been a minute, Booney.”

Correct. Completely correct.

The Yankees haven’t been starving for resources. They haven’t been rebuilding in a small market. They haven’t been operating with limitations. This is the Yankees. The standard isn’t “pretty good.” The standard is championships. Parades. Rings. October dominance.

Instead, Yankees fans have gotten aging rosters, bloated payrolls, analytics experiments, and postseason exits that arrive faster than Boone’s postgame line about how “the guys battled.” And Boone just kept talking — which is usually where Boone gets himself into trouble. He talks like a guy trying to finish an essay five minutes before class. More words don’t make the argument smarter.

Tierney ended the segment perfectly: “Go get a win.”

Exactly. Not 700 regular-season wins. Not another Wild Card appearance. Not another analytics seminar about launch angle efficiency. Win a championship.

That’s the job. If Cashman wants Hall of Fame talk, win another title. If Boone wants praise as a Yankees manager, stop managing October games like they’re spring training experiments in Tampa.

Until then, Boone can keep defending Cashman all he wants. Maybe he’s brainwashed. Maybe he’s loyal to a fault. Maybe he genuinely believes what he’s saying.

But one thing he definitely isn’t?

Right.

DID JASSON DOMINGUEZ FALL VICTIM TO THE YANKEES OVERHYPE MACHINE?

The answer is yes, but please continue reading.

Why haven’t the New York Yankees won a World Series since 2009?

Because blaming the players alone is the laziest take in baseball—and also the wrong one.

Yes, players have to perform. If you wear a big-league uniform, excuses don’t come standard. But let’s stop pretending the Yankees’ long championship drought is just a matter of underachieving athletes. The common denominator here isn’t the clubhouse—it’s the front office. Specifically, the decision-makers who keep betting big on spreadsheets while ignoring the messy, inconvenient truth that baseball players are human beings.

We’ve seen this movie before. Bad casting, bad evaluations, and blind faith in numbers that look great in theory and crumble in reality. Joey Gallo wasn’t an accident. He was a front-office decision. And he wasn’t alone. These moves all trace back to the same source: Brian Cashman and the machine around him.

Back in 2007, Cashman famously said the Yankees had “three years” to rebuild the system and chase another title. Well, congratulations—the system got rebuilt. Multiple times. The championships? Still stuck in 2009, collecting dust next to the old DVDs.

What did thrive during that time was the hype machine.

Stephen Parello of Yanks Go Yard laid this out perfectly when he walked through the Yankees’ long history of prospect inflation. Remember when Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy were supposed to save the franchise? Or when Eric Duncan was untouchable? Then came Jesús Montero—anointed as the next superstar with mythical scouting grades and zero follow-through. Parello forgot to mention the killer B's in Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman, but he didn't really need to, it's more of the same.

But then the Yankees did finally win in 2009—and notice how that happened: by opening the vault for CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett. Not hype. Not hope. Proven stars.

Fast-forward to now, and the pattern hasn’t changed—only the branding has. Today’s names are Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, and Jasson Domínguez. The jerseys sell. The slogans hit. The expectations explode.

Domínguez is the clearest example. A talented kid, no doubt—but the Yankees slapped “The Martian” on him and let the marketing department turn him into something he never asked to be. Even Joel Sherman called it out, noting that the nickname alone created absurd comparisons to Mickey Mantle—comparisons no other organization actually believed. That wasn’t scouting hype. That was New York hype.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: hype is profitable in the Bronx and you are all being fooled. If 100 fans buy a jersey, the team wins financially before the player ever takes a swing. If the kid struggles? He’s the problem. If he succeeds? The front office pats itself on the back and pretends it was genius all along.

Volpe might be the most glaring dilemma yet. Three years in, tons of merchandise sold, and very little return on the field. Internally, the Yankees know it. Publicly, they’re crossing their fingers and hoping surgery magically turns projections into production. But spreadsheets don’t heal players. And humans don’t reboot like software.

This isn’t “self-hating fandom.” This is realism—the same realism Bleeding Yankee Blue has preached for years. The Yankees’ definition of success has shifted. Second place is acceptable. “Almost” is good enough. As long as the money flows, urgency doesn’t exist.

That’s the real rot. So yes, players deserve blame when they fail. But who puts them there? Who overhypes them? Who markets dreams instead of building winners?

The front office.

And until that changes—until the GM is gone, Boone is shown the door, and the organization remembers that banners matter more than branding—the Yankees will keep selling hope instead of championships.

Don’t fall for it. This isn’t a dynasty in waiting.

It’s a business model built on “close enough.”

CASHMAN HAS NO CHOICE, HE HAS TO DO BETTER

Frankie Montas. Joey Gallo. Carlos Rodon. Just 3 names that make you want to pull your hair out.  Cashman made those moves, and those players did nothing for us.  The worst in my estimation has to be Montas who went through a physical and was still hurt because he was apparently hiding and injury. But that comes down to his integrity and the medical staff's lack of awareness when it comes to the human body.  But all of them were greenlit by Cashman who is walking around high and mighty over his Yankee career with literally nothing to show for it. In fact 4 guys he gave up were champs with the Rangers.  4 guys... Chapman, Montgomery, Heaney and Eovaldi.  How in the world is this guy wrong all the time?

The Yanks needs to do something bigly for the 2024 season.  Something that would resemble the 2009 season when George made him go out and get Swisher, Teixeira, Sabathia and Burnett.  But what? Is it Juan Soto and Cody Bellinger?  No one really knows. But Clutchpoints has this:

"Cashman asserted the Yankees would be in the conversation to pursue a host of players:

“We’re knocking on those doors, we’re having those conservations. Hal Steinbrenner and his family have always run it the way that if there’s some opportunity worth pushing on, they’re always there to allow that to happen,” the Yankees GM said, per Bryan Hoch."

Well... that sounds like more of the same to me. The only difference is George is dead, and if he were alive Cashman would be out of a job and George would personally invite these guys up to his box and get a handshake agreement quickly.

Look, the state of the Yankees is in shambles. I don't really think they plan on improving this team, their front office or even take a "deep dive" into fixing anything. I absolutely believe they want us all to forget about it.  

But we're fans... we don't forget.  We need to bring a championship back to the Bronx.  That's the bottom line.

BREAKING: DODGERS ARE "TEAM GLUTTON" NABBING SCHERZER & TURNER

Don't come crying to me telling me the Yankees spend for every top free agent or heavy hitter. The Yankees haven't made those kind of signficant moves since Sabathia, Burnett, Swisher and Teixeira came over in 2009. I mean sure... back then we won it all, but that was the last time we grabbed everything out there.  

Yes, as we ease up to the trade deadline we were able to snag Rizzo and Joey Gallo, but it was done smartly and surgerically as not to go over the luxury tax. Now I'm hearing alot of rumblings that the Yankees aren't finished, but I seem to think they're close to done. I mean sure, I want Trevor Story, but I don't know how the hell they can pull that off at this point. We will have to see. 

Meanwhile the big fat freaking Dodgers just snagged 2 more all-stars like they are pulling money and the Yankees old playbook out of Magic Johnson's ass. It's pretty incredible. Here's the latest... 

Max Scherzer and Trea Turner are gonna be Dodgers... and here it is:

BREAKING: MAX IS GOING TO LA

Dodgers are ‘finalizing’ a deal for Max Scherzer AND Trea Turner in exchange for four prospects, per @JeffPassan pic.twitter.com/Jsvp1xjm0Y

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 30, 2021

Now, just a short time ago there was a rumor that Trevor Bauer and Corey Seager were traded in this deal, but that appears to be false. 

And that goes back to my point. The Dodgers are "Team Glutton"... grabbing evrything in their sight, monopolizing the league for their own... and it annoys the shit out of me.

Hey... they're doing what takes. You have to admire that I guess... I just hate it.

CC SABATHIA IS A MONSTER, BRO!

Quick note...

Have you seen this picture of CC Sabathia?  I mean dude... he's jacked!

So what's up? Less cereal, new lease on life. When you're a leader, you gotta walk to walk and that's what CC is doing .Think about it, he's got a lovely family, his kids are growing up, he's retired and look bro, he's got some time now so let it happen!

I love CC. Always have, and seeing this just gives me a thrill.

By the way, if you haven't heard it yet, be sure to listen to CC and Ryan Ruocco as they interview AJ Burnett on R2C2, and they're talking about the first time AJ and CC were at their press conference heading into the 2009 season. It's awesome. Check this out:

New episode of @R2C2 out now with my guy @wudeydo34!! We got some Yankee memories you don’t want to miss. S/o @RyanRuocco🎙

Watch 📺: https://t.co/shTblJsd8B
Listen 🎧: https://t.co/CfQ0lzW37B pic.twitter.com/kjkerhikuS

— CC Sabathia (@CC_Sabathia) April 17, 2020

Love it!

By the way, I just interviewed Pete Caldera from the Bergen Record and we spoke about CC and his incredible leadership with the Yankees. You need to check it out.

And P.S., we'll always love CC because of this incredible shout out!

Nice!

CAN GERRIT COLE BREAK THE YANKEE UNLUCKY STREAK?

Source: CBS Sports

Fans and the media swarm on Gerrit Cole, who arrived in New York on Monday to face the media officially as a Yankee.  The crowning is today at the House that Ruth Built and the fanfare will be infinite.  But Cole follows a line of Bronx baptisms, that didn't exactly go as planned.  Can Cole break the Yankee unlucky streak?

"Cole will only be the seventh player feted at Yankee Stadium III, which opened for the 2009 season. The three big signings (A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira) who came aboard prior to the ’09 championship campaign ironically held their initial events at the old Stadium across the street while work continued at the new place," reported the NY Post.

Giancarlo Stanton, our last big seven-figure signing, came to us via the Winter Meetings in Orlando, where he was decorated a Yankee back in 2017.  He didn't make an early appearance at the Stadium. Stanton hasn't exactly been what the Yankees expected, but perhaps Cole will be different.

Source: Anthony J. Causi, NY Post

"Cole joins, in chronological order, Curtis Granderson, Rafael Soriano, Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Masahiro Tanaka, plus Boone. Of those six players, only Tanaka remains a Yankee, or even a currently employed player. None has played in a World Series as a Yankee," reminded the NY Post yesterday.

Cole appeared happy to be in New York, but not as excited as I had anticipated.  His one-word answers during a short TMZ appearance in front of the Mandarin Hotel were frankly lackluster and perhaps slightly aloof.  "Let's save the questions for the press conference," he bellowed as he signed autographs.  Slightly contradictory behavior if you asked me.  He followed with a slew of short answers, like "Of course" to a question about whether he was happy to be a Yankee.  What about being a Yankee is exciting?  "What doesn't excite me."  Interesting disposition from such a celebrity pitcher.  But it is early, and maybe he was told not to say much by his agent Scott Boras.

Let's see how Cole does today at his first official unveiling to the New York media and fans.  As a former fan himself, he knows what it is like to watch iconic players battle for wins in a city that is full of critics. Can he be one of those iconic players himself, who lives up to the expectations placed on him and the Yankees?  Time will tell, but God I hope so!

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof

STARTING PITCHING: A HISTORICAL YANKEE BLUNDER

Photo: New York Daily News

Okay, maybe not a blunder but it certainly hasn't been a "win" for the Yankees when it comes to recent free agent signings. It's certainly not exciting but it is accurate. Think about it...

The last time the Yankees decided to spend big money on starting pitching was the year we last won the World Series. Not to say that we need to spend big again on a starter or two to win, but we haven't made a big splash on a starter since.

Now do you miss the days of not only CC Sabathia but AJ Burnett? Yeah, there is a name you haven't heard in a while.

The Yankees haven't signed any big name starters since and have since signed one or two guys that they expected to make significant contributions to the rotation. Going back this far is going to sound like a history lesson but maybe it's an important one. Maybe the Yankees are about to do it again?

2009-10: Yankees acquire Javier Vazquez (again)
The Yankees reunited with Vazquez for a second time with Boone Logan after trading with the Braves. The Yankees were getting him back when his stock was high. Some baseball experts considered him to be one of the best starters in the game and was coming off one of his best seasons. It didn't continue with the Yankees though. I still remember the bad appearances, the 10-10 record with the bullpen demotion and the eventual release after the season ended.

2010-11: Yankees lose out on Cliff Lee
And now it doesn't seem so bad. At the time it sucked but the Yankees signed veteran pitchers Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia to minor league contracts but it paid off big. At the time Ivan Nova was a rookie and had an impressive year. The Yankees got results out of three unexpected arms that helped them win the division.

Photo: New York Daily News

2012-13: Aces and failures
Yankee fans were happy to have Andy Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda return but even back then the Yankees were trying to get under the luxury tax so their pitching additions stopped there and so did their postseason success. The lack of depth with CC's struggles and Phil Hughes failures ultimately made the miss the postseason for the first time in five years. Pitching wins (or looses) ballgames. You can never have enough pitching.....

Photo: NJ.com

2015-16: A risky move
With no rotation improvements the Yankees try to bolster the bullpen to make up for their starting weakness. The idea of a super bullpen of Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller didn't work as hoped though. The lackluster performances of Nathan Eovaldi, Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda and Luis Severino's sophomore slump doomed the Yankees. The offense didn't score enough runs so the super bullpen fell flat and Chapman was traded. The Yankees also sat home in October for the third time in four years.

Photo: Getty Images

2016-17: Saving it for the end
Chapman came back to the Yankees as a free agent but once again the Yankees made improvements to the bullpen while the starting rotation was still in need of help. Finally in July they traded for Sonny Gray and Jaime Garcia which helped the Yankees get within one game of a World Series berth.

(Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire)

Garcia will be long gone, but Gray is back to see what this season will bring. If history teaches us anything it's that if we don't land a starter before spring training kicks off it's "normal" for the Yankees and it's not time to panic. There's still time though. Just like Cashman says the market could change and a deal can still be done.

Anything is possible, but if a deal doesn't happen the Yankees still have a long season and a lot of pieces to pull off a successful season. History doesn't scare me. We've still got this.

--Jeana Bellezza
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj

NO AVERAGE JOE

Photo: NJ.com

Twitter is chocked FULL of moronic, sad, angry, "Baseball Experts".  The type that knew the better move for the club, or SWEAR to the 48 followers (they'll never know or speak to) that their baseball IQ is light years ahead of the manager, GM or player on the field.  It is laughable...sometimes.  Other times it's WAY out of line.  The attacks are bloated with piss and vinegar.  It makes you wonder, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?"

I wanted so much to list the twitter handles of the worst of the worst on the offenders roster.  People I follow on "ANTI-social media" because they claim to be, like me, New York Yankee fans...they aren't. 

They may claim the Bombers as their favorite team, but baseball seems to be masking deeper issue...I mean some of these characters have issues like TIME magazine.  They need a timeout, or long vacation to an island resort with no Internet, TV, radio...hell, take the paper, pencils and bottles away too!  These twisted tweeters would be scribbling there angry 140 characters, rolling them up, stuffing them in the bottle and tossing them in the ocean with hopes of someone reading them. OH!  The message in the bottle would almost certainly be amount Joe Girardi.  Bank on it.

I've never understood how the Yankee fan base can be so bratty.  Like spoiled 5 year olds.  They fuss and whine like a kid who didn't get a toy on a trip through the store.  It is a big reason why the rest of the Baseball world "dislikes" us.  We have more than anyone and still find ways to piss and moan.

I am a HUGE Joe Girardi fan.  HE IS THE ONE OF THE BEST MANAGERS IN THE GAME. PERIOD.  You can disagree.  That's your right.  Opinions vary.  You know, like people who still think the earth is flat.  Joe is better than Mr. Torre was.  He is better than Buck was.  He is the best Yankee Manager since the Old Professor.  No?  Okay, let's run down what he has dealt with and see....cool? Super.

Joe came in to replace a man, born in New York and BELOVED by the city.  Joe went to work and righted the ship.  The Yankees hit a bump in the road in 2008, but Girardi didn't blame the circumstances in Yankeeland, he took the heat and went back to work. 

GI JOE also was given the job over a former Pinstriped Captain.  The fan base hated the decision...even thought it was the RIGHT one.  Donnie is one of my favorites, but c'mon.  He isn't a manager like Girardi.  Did Joe pout that Everyone Loves Donnie like he was Brad Garrett?  Nope, he went to work.

Joe was handed some HUGE free agents in 2009.  Sure, it was a big help, but as we saw in the past it didn't guarantee a Championship...but Girardi helped deliver one all the same.  Those free agents came over with looming expiration date (TEX being the sourest of milk).  He had to then manage injury, ego and the fan's expectation...he did.  And he did better than the couch potato twitter BY A LONG SHOT!

Oh, and then there were the FAREWELL TOURS.  A tour manager has the hardest job in Rock n Roll.  Girardi had to be both a press agent and skipper to the greatest Franchise in sports....all the while wondering which AJ Burnett was going to show up that night.  Still not convinced?  Okay....moving on.

Girardi can't manage a bullpen!  Yeah, you're right, knucklehead.  What would a former big league catcher who apprenticed under Torre and Zim know about the pitching staff.  Do me a favor, take your 140 characters, swap them out for 140 bucks and donate them to St. Jude.  NO!  You wouldn't have made a better choice by going to Betances rather than Mitchell on May 18th in Detroit.  Please sit on your hands.  Leave the phone alone for a minute.  Go play the White Album or get a coloring book out. 

Photo: Getty Images

WAIT!  We forgot AROD!  The big stars aging, The Red Sox throwing at our guys (Standing up was something Torre NEVER did when that happened).  Girardi's fire for his guys was unbelievable...even the ones that would second guess him openly.

You know what?  There is simply no convincing some...I am exhausted and just hoped Joe would have stayed with this amazing new group of young talent...SOMETHING HE DOES BETTER THAN ALMOST ANY MANGER IN THE GAME!!!  Yep, he is better than Tito and kooky Joe Maddon...and Roberts and Hinch...and Farrell...

Photo: Getty Images

It's time to move on, and Joe...thank you.  Thank you from sane Yankee fans who respect the manager you've been, but more importantly the man you are.  You are accountable.  You care about the game and the big kids who are lucky enough to play it.  You've dealt with the Steinbrenners (Not always easy).  You got booed at a home playoff game (By perfect baseball minds that never make mistakes).  You are a great father, husband and son.  You've played the game of life the right way.  And, like the old Irish saying goes, "NEVER LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN!"

I don't blame you for walking away, and telling sad, angry "Yankee fans" to...




PS.  IT WAS A 'REBUILDING YEAR!!! WE RACKED UP 91 WINS!!! TOOK OUT THE TRIBE!  AND TOOK THE ASTROS TO GAME 7 OF THE ALCS!!

 
  --Mike O'Hara
BYB Contributor
Follow me on Twitter: @mikeyoh21

THE WHEELS ARE COMING OFF THE YANKEE ROTATION

Source: Elsa/Getty Images North America

"Michael Pineda has Cy Young-caliber stuff.

"His fastball. His slider. His changeup. All potentially dominant pitches.

"CC Sabathia knows it. Pineda knows it, too.

“I always come in and say this is the year he’s going to win the Cy Young,” Sabathia said Tuesday. “He’s got so much talent, and he just needs to put it all together but he’s right there.”

"Told of Sabathia’s praise a day later, Pineda laughed and smiled. “Yeah, I know I have that ability,” he said."

Those were the days, huh? That was the Daily News, folks.

(June 6, 2017 - Source: Elsa/Getty Images North America)     

Those days were only four months ago, to be exact, and if you were buying it then congratulations. Your official pinstripe rose-colored glasses should be in the mail to you right about now.

That was pretty bold talk from both CC and Big Mike after three seasons that saw the latter go 23-27 with a 4.10 ERA and coming off a year he went 6-12 with a 4.82 ERA while coughing up 27 dingers.

Source: New York Daily News

Of course, there were those 207 strikeouts over 175 innings to dream on. Like AJ Burnett before him, the stuff to make bats miss has always been part of Mike's resume. And also like Burnett, there's always been a scary instability  to blow up like a vial of fulminated mercury at a moment's notice in his makeup as well.

In this, his walk year, though, he's proving to be who he always was: Burnett.

Burnett's Yankee years: 34-35  4.79 ERA  99 starts

Pineda's Yankee years: 30-30 4.01 ERA 86 starts

(May 21, 2017 - Source: Elsa/Getty Images North America)     

Following Sunday's four-inning, seven-run stink bomb that once again saw the Yankees' bullpen burned up in a losing effort, per the Post's Joel Sherman: "Girardi said he “didn’t want to make a bigger deal than it is” about Pineda’s poor pitching because the manager described it as “the first time” that the righty did not do well in minimizing damage this year. But after the first two months, when he was 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA, Pineda went 1-2 in June with a 5.85 ERA and .316 average against."

"This dichotomy played to who Pineda has been as a Yankee — the stuff is there to tease that consistent excellence is possible. But the track record is pretty well established that Pineda will not sustain that level. His constant is inconsistency.

"And these Yankees really do need the best version of Pineda for 2017 to be more than just seeing silver linings.

"Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery actually have been the Yankees’ best starters. But it should be remembered that they have never pitched a full major league season in a rotation, and that both probably have innings caps to which the Yankees will adhere.

"That duo won the Nos. 4 and 5 jobs in spring with the Yanks hoping Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Pineda could form a sturdy top 3. Sabathia is on the DL, though getting closer to a return. Tanaka had a terrific start Friday, and the Yankees want to believe again that is a trigger — with him working up in the zone a little more with his fastball — that top-of-the-rotation results will regularly follow.

"And then there is Pineda, who Sunday became the first Yankees starter in 2017 not named Tanaka to allow three homers in a game. The skill is in there, but his June of bad start, good start, bad start, good start, bad start felt like a familiar one-step-forward, one-back pattern for him while in pinstripes.

"The Yankees could conceivably try to upgrade the rotation by promoting Chance Adams or finding a trade. But that would mean counting on another youngster and/or unearthing an available quality rotation arm and being able to complete a trade for it when other contenders, notably the Astros, will be hunting the same species.

"For now, the rotation you see is the rotation you get. Which means the Yankees remain in that most uncomfortable of positions — needing to depend on the undependable Michael Pineda."

In other words, this team needs more than a trade and a Chance to fix what ails its rotation if it hopes to lock up the division and make a deep, meaningful run at a ring.

It needs to be rebuilt from the top down.

That'll be costly and not likely compatible with the season's primary objective of constructing a self-sustaining  winning franchise for the future.

Quality pitching is never more expensive than it is at the trade deadline. And as much as I've been a believer in going all in this year when there was still a chance to bury the competition, some poor luck combined with some poor arms management in the dugout have combined to allow too many wounded rivals to recover from early knockout blows and get back into the postseason race.

Now with injuries piling up for the Yankees, their flawed rotation exposed and burning up their bullpen and blunting their momentum, and innings limits looming for their only two remaining "dependable" starters (an ironic and bittersweet label for the back end of the Opening Day rotation), I'm just hoping  Brian and Hal aren't persuaded by public pressure to deviate from their original blueprint and will only make deadline moves that make sense for the future.

If that means Brian dusting off his for-sale sign again and collecting more trade chips by dealing short-timers like Pineda and others instead of renting some for a playoff run, so be it.

I'll still enjoy the stretch run just as much as I did last year's after everyone wrote this team off. That's because the more invested in the future this team gets, the more they refuse to give up, entertain and surprise. That's why this team has been so much fun to watch this season.

They're already winners. We want a winner that lasts though, not another one-and-done batch of band-aids.

--Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore