It's Gonna Be a Long Year

This is what it's come to: After four games of the 2013 season, the Yankees' offense took a major hit when Eduardo Nunez was hit with a pitch and might not be available for a few days.

Eduardo Nunez.

These aren't the Yankees. I've been watching the Yankees for close to 50 years now, and I can tell you; these aren't the Yankees. I don't recognize the team that's out there on the field. They're somebody, for sure, but they're not the Yankees.

Now, this is not second-guessing the performance of the Yankees' front office. It's not like I saw some amazing opportunities Brian Cashman could have, you should pardon the expression, cashed in on and didn't. There wasn't some incredible player out there that should have been plying his trade in the Bronx this year. I do not think Josh Hamilton would have been a good fit. I'm not sorry Zach Greinke got away.

Injuries are, as the players always say, part of the game. You can't avoid them; you can't foresee them. If the Yankees had been given a note from Nostradamus at the end of last season that said: "Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Phil Hughes and Curtis Granderson aren't going to be on your opening day roster," maybe they would have put more thought into letting Nick Swisher go.

They DID know that the only backups they had to Russell Martin were Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart. And look who's the starting catcher for the Yankees this year.

Surprise! That was a trick question--there IS no starting catcher for the Yankees this year!

This is a Yankee team whose biggest offensive threat through four games (admittedly, such a small sample that it doesn't really qualify as a sample at all) is Kevin Youkilis. I'll let that sink in.

On the days when the Yankee pitching is questionable (for the moment, whenever Andy Pettitte isn't starting), the team has told us that they will not be as reliant on the home run as in the past, mostly because they can't hit many. They will have to "manufacture" runs.

Well, I'm not a genius of any sort, but I do know that in order to "manufacture" something, you need raw materials and a factory. What the Yankees seem to have so far is a bunch of rusting spare parts and a fuel shortage.

Oh, and by the way--of the seven runs the Yankees have scored in the past two games, four have come via the home run. The night before, in a loss, four runs came via the home run. Uh-oh.

This is a lineup that includes castoffs from competing teams. There's a first baseman who got cut by the Red Sox. There's a left fielder whose contract has been considered one of the worst in major league history (although Mr. Rod's is coming up fast on the outside) and admits he was intimidated by the expectations from that contract (Trouble under pressure? THAT bodes well for play in Yankee Stadium!). The designated hitter hasn't really hit in a few years, and doesn't own a glove.

Yes, all of the walking wounded (except probably Mr. Rod) are scheduled to come back relatively soon. Except we don't know when. Jeter, the iron man who never isn't on the field, isn't on the field. And the Yankees have been really cagey about when he might return. That's never good.

Plus, even if the whole ward at Mercy General comes back at the same time, we have no idea how they'll perform with their new arms, legs, and wrists (and, in Hughes's case, back). So far, with the team on his shoulders, Robinson Cano hasn't even shrugged so much as he's fallen down and taken a nap.

And this is with a $220-million payroll. Imagine how things will be under the "austerity" program that's scheduled for next season, when they can't afford Youkilis or Granderson anymore, assuming Cano gets an extension. When Derek Jeter is 40. When Andy Pettitte is likely in Texas watching his kids play (and go to college). When Mr. Rod and his latest in a series of new hips tries to play presumably without any pharmaceutical enhancement in his late 30s.

When there ain't no Mo.

It's not a pretty picture, friends. I'm hoping there's a plan we haven't heard about. Because when Bubba Crosby was going to be the opening day center fielder, we knew there was a plan.

This time, it turned out, there wasn't.