Stuck in the Middle With You: The NY Yankees

Remember when Brian Cashman was a sort of onomatopoeia? He was named for the main power source of baseball's Evil Empire.

That would make him Brian Conflictedman now. The Yankees are mired in Middle Earth, an elevator stuck between floors, an oxymoron in pinstripes -- whatever metaphor you prefer.

They're Old, Expensive and Mediocre
Their average age is as low as 32 only because of a handful of babes dragging down the mean. Their average performance is average, as befits a 24-25 record. Their upside is down; their downside is up; they are upside down.

Underdog is not coming to save the day. The farm system is, say it with me now, middling. (You were going with average. Tomato tomahto.) As incumbent teams ink their top hurlers to deals, there isn't any pitching on the free agent horizon. Scott Kazmir and James Shields are shaping up as the top names in free agency after this season. In any case, the Yankees are more than a player or two away.

The youngsters on the roster have mostly fizzled: Nova, Severino, Gregorious, Castro -- building on that base gives you the face pictured above.

Rebuilding? Fuggetabouit!
A selloff is untenable, which is just as well, because it's unthinkable. These are the Yankees after all. For once, their legend is a hindrance. What would they trade anyway? If you stuffed Sabathia, ARod, Texeira, Headley, Beltran and Ellsbury in a bag and threw them over the railing of the Circle Line cruise ship, no other team would fish them out, even if Cashman ate the contracts. Gardner, McCann and the relievers would fetch some second rate prospects, but the immediate results would be really ugly and the farm would still need a couple of years of seeding.


The Yankees are stuck in the middle. They have to cash in all their chips this year knowing they likely don't have a winning hand. Baseball Prospectus has their odds of making the playoffs -- including the play-in game -- at roughly one in six, last in the division. 

If they can pick up a starter and a reliable first or third baseman without crippling the future, they should and will. Otherwise they are stuck in the unenviable role of also-rans in both the present and the immediate future. How's it feel to be the Padres, New York?