Davidoff: Yankees' trades means more work for Girardi

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.

To summarize, the theme phrase of this Yankees trade deadline was, "Are you gonna finish that?"

Lance Berkman, Austin Kearns and Kerry Wood. In pinstripes because, when you turn on the sink faucets at the YES headquarters in Manhattan, hundred-dollar bills come out.

And because Roy Oswalt found his way out of Houston, prompting Astros owner Drayton McLane to bail on Berkman, too, and because the Indians logically decided to strip down their lost season for parts and sell them for pennies on the dollar.

As they checked in for work Saturday at Tropicana Field, taking on the dangerous Rays, the Yankees looked like a superior team to the one that came here Friday. Yet as you start envisioning how the new pieces will integrate into this club, you realize that Joe Girardi will have some work to do.

Not just with the pieces, but also with the players. And from everything we've seen, pieces are Girardi's strength, players his weakness.

"I'll make sure that there's constant communication, because guys are used to playing every day," Girardi said before the Yankees' exciting 5-4 win over the Rays. "But this isn't the first time that this club's been this way. You have to understand that things work out for a reason. And sometimes you have to give up a little bit to get something."

Berkman stands as one of the best switch hitters of his generation. Kearns, a righthanded hitter, actually has performed better against righties than lefties since 2008, yet he still gets to lefties (.330 on-base percentage and .390 slugging percentage this season) considerably better than Curtis Granderson (.252/.286).

Wood? He can be great, although he hasn't been since 2008. There's your upside.

Now comes the hairy part for Girardi: Navigating these waters:

1. Less playing time for Granderson, no matter how much he deserves it, with Kearns starting in leftfield and Brett Gardner shifting to centerfield against lefties.

2. Less playing time for Jorge Posada, who had become a part-time designated hitter - tallying a nifty .376/.453 - as he transitioned out of catching. At nearly 39, he can't catch as often as he did in his prime. Berkman gets most DH at-bats now.

3. Less playing time for Berkman, who has been dreadful (.278/.281) against lefthanders. You've got to start Marcus Thames (.406/.426) against lefties. Oh, and Berkman will be a full-time DH for the first time in his career.

4. As long as Girardi hits Berkman second, that means a lower spot in the order for Nick Swisher, who had excelled in the number two slot with a .366/.543.

5. The bullpen. Yeesh. This arguably has been Girardi's forte, but now he'll be expected to help Wood, whom he caught with the Cubs from 2000 through 2002.

Forget about the external factors of Wood adjusting to a new team and joining a pennant race. Is he even any good anymore? We don't know yet. Girardi will have to figure out a way to learn that while allowing David Robertson to progress and trying to get Joba Chamberlain back to optimal performance.

So by a rough count, that's nine of the 25 Yankees players, including the three newbies, who will face some sort of transition as a result of these gluttonous moves.

Some will blow over fast. Swisher, hitting sixth Saturday night, hit a tying homer off Matt Garza in the seventh. And once the playoffs begin, these issues tend to get tossed aside in the name of single-mindedness.

En route to the playoffs, however, I think the Yankees just signed themselves up for some extra turbulence.

Or, to spin it more positively, Girardi could use some work on his people skills anyway.