Depleted Yankees are hardly in crisis mode

Ken Davidoff

May 2, 2008

It's become our default position in Yankee Land, after all of these years: As the season progresses, and the American League East penthouse remains occupied by a club other than one owned by the Steinbrenner family, we make our declaration:

Crisis!

And the Yankees certainly are playing along, dropping their third bombshell injury announcement in this three-day homestand. Phil Hughes, who is now officially injury-prone, has a stress fracture of a rib on his right side and might not return until after the All-Star break.

To honor that news, Ian Kennedy pitched his way to Scranton, Bobby Abreu showed off his profound fear of walls and the Yankees dropped a lackluster, 8-4 decision on a rainy Bronx night, suffering a three-game sweep at the hands of the resurgent Tigers.

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But the truth is that this 2008 season lacks the tension of its recent predecessors. This is not crisis mode, and it won't be, even if the Yankees follow through on their early, rancid play and miss the playoffs.

For a crisis to exist, something must be at stake. In four of the previous five seasons - you can discount 2004, because Joe Torre had just re-upped through 2007 at that juncture - there existed at least the perception that Torre was fighting to keep his job.

Even if Torre yearned at times for the sweet release of unemployment, the players were invested in his job status. The bulk of the Yankees enjoyed working for Torre and living by his laissez-faire approach to the job. Remember Derek Jeter's passionate defense of Torre in April of 2007, and Roger Clemens' "recommendation" that the club retain Torre if it wanted The Rocket back?

This year, however? As long as Joe Girardi doesn't treat his co-workers as poorly as he did in Florida, then he'll be back in the manager's office next year, playoffs or no playoffs. You can bank on that.

Brian Cashman's job security is tenuous. But it's apparent that neither he nor his players will lose any sleep over that. Cashman might walk by his own accord at the end of this season, anyway, if Hank Steinbrenner maintains his verbosity.

So whose crisis is this, anyway?

The Steinbrenner boys? Of course they want to win it all. But Hal Steinbrenner understands Cashman's big-picture idea. And Hank, for all his tough talk, has yet to show that he'll actually blow up that plan.

The YES Network? If there are actually meaningless September games - and I'd bet against that - then perhaps they'll print a few less millions in the YES basement. Boo-hoo.

The fans? Oh, please. With all due respect, if any of you cancel your tickets for the new ballpark next season, there will be a line from Yankee Stadium to Albany to pick them up.

As you know, when Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner convinced Hank Steinbrenner to pass on the deal that would have sent Hughes to Minnesota in a Johan Santana trade, the Yankees made it clear that they were thinking about a longer-term project than 2008. Many of the fans, based on my conversations with you, bought into that.

Of course, none of us thought that Hughes and Kennedy would fall apart as they have. Nevertheless, the two pitchers' combined 0-6 record and 8.67 ERA don't mean the plan has failed. That means, simply, that Hughes and Kennedy need more time to cook. Now Darrell Rasner will get a chance on Sunday, and perhaps Kei Igawa will be up next. Igawa deserves another opportunity. His minor-league numbers say so.

This is how a team with long-term ambition operates. It doesn't make panic trades in early May. It nudges aside injuries and distractions.

"I say no on crisis mode," Cashman said yesterday afternoon. "I say this is what every team that wants to get to the Promised Land has to deal with at one point or another, and you deal with it. And if you can't, you're not championship-worthy."

You can call this a crisis, if you want, and you can shake your fists and call for Cashman's dismissal.

Yet the safe bet is, even if Cashman walks, Hal Steinbrenner ensures that the Yankees stay on the course with the new GM. And that C.C. Sabathia will get his nine figures elsewhere.

The more accurate term than crisis, here, is probably a more boring one: transition.