A Long, Cold Winter

So far, this off-season has been fairly unexciting, but in an odd way encouraging. Brian Cashman, never a dope, is making his usual, methodical, reasonable, calculated moves. The question remains: Is that going to be enough?

The 2014 Yankees MUST look a great deal different than the 2013 Yankees. Holes in the outfield (currently manned by the best outfielders 2004 has to offer and Brett Gardner) must be filled with someone who can hit a few home runs and perhaps do so while not yet being eligible for an AARP membership.

On the infield, four out of four positions are being filled by question marks. Will Robinson Cano be back? It's rumored the Mariners (!) are offering $200 million, a number the Yankees are swearing they won't match. Mark Teixeira is coming off the worst injury of his career and wasn't exactly playing at his optimum level BEFORE that happened. Derek Jeter is coming off a truly devastating injury and is going to be 40. He's Derek Jeter, of course, but even Mariano Rivera proved that time doesn't wait for any athlete.

Who's on Third? I dunno. THIRD BASE!

We won't know the results of the Mr. Rod psychodrama before January at the earliest, and probably not for quite some time after that, as the inevitable federal case--literally--is brought, and most likely dismissed. So who's playing third for the Yankees next year? Your guess is probably as good as mine, and if Cashman has a plan, he ain't saying. He can't. He has $30-million worth of third baseman on the cover of New York Magazine this week, hating the team he plays for and the sport that has made him insanely wealthy. Sorry, Mr. Rod, my heart does not bleed for thee.

At least the catching position--one we would have sworn a few years ago would surely be manned by one of the many sterling prospects in the farm system by now--has been filled, with an expensive free agent eating up some of the $189-million "bargain" version of a Yankee payroll. And McCann does seem like a good pick-up, even if the five-to-six year term of his deal is going to be yet another in a series of albatrosses by 2017. He appears to be a Posada-esque good-hit-adequate-defense-tough-guy-in-your-face kind of player, and that can't hurt.

There's also talk Curtis Granderson will be going to Boston. Without the comfy right field porch, he probably won't do the same kind of damage. But that's not the least bit definite yet.

Yankee fans, being the impatient types we are, want action. But too many dominoes have to fall before we can see what Mr. Cashman has in mind. I trust him, but wonder if his hands aren't tied a little too snugly this time, by budgetary and time constraints, and circumstances beyond his control.

Either way, it'll be a long, cold winter.