Baseball in the Bronx has 1 problem

Incredibly for the Yankees, capitalism is giving the team fits in a manner quite similar to today’s basket-of-roses world economy.

Instead of a bunch of wine-swilling Wall Street execs pushing their fortunes on a bank of unethical business moves, the problem with baseball in the Bronx lies solely with one misguided individual: Brian Cashman.

Cashman, the team’s senior vice president and general manager, has done nothing but push the baseball equivalent of “America’s Team” into mediocrity, since a 2005 contract dispute with the team earned him more stake in the on-field product.

And while the Yankees have managed to win since their record-setting 22-4 drubbing on Saturday by the Cleveland Indians, that nasty scar of allowing 14 runs in the second inning won’t heal soon.

Cashman truly has it all when it comes to making personnel moves with the team. We saw it with his $341 million offseason shopping spree for pitcher CC Sabathia and infielder Mark Teixeira. He also dedicated $82.5 million to pitcher AJ Burnett.

Just a year ago, he pointed $270 million in the direction of baseball’s, uh, cleanest player Alex Rodriguez.

Toss in the opening of the new $1.5 billion new Yankee Stadium, and you’re looking at a team that should be winning a World Series without batting an eyelash.

Instead, the Yankees sit behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East despite a 2009 payroll that’s two and a half times bigger.

What’s Cashman got to do with that, you ask?

Simple – he’s a master at landing high-profile players to fit in the cosmopolitan world that is the New York Yankee clubhouse. But when it comes time to fill the gaps, he’s clueless.

Baseball teams that succeed need three things to find the playoffs and be a winner in the postseason: steady offense, solid relief pitching and a camaraderie that puts no player above the rest.

The offense has been decent in 2009, ranking seventh overall in the MLB. Outfielder Nick Swisher, however, doesn’t count as solid relief pitching despite his scoreless eighth inning of an April 13 outing in Tampa.

The camaraderie? Well, how would you feel if nine of your co-workers would make $13 million or more in 2009, while you and seven others failed to crack $500,000 for playing the same game?

Talk about a social divide.

Thanks to what are seemingly never-ending rolls of cash from the Steinbrenner family, the Yankees have the best ability to buy championship rings in the current baseball culture of limitless spending.

But just as those folks racing some sort of “Grand Prix” this weekend in West Lafayette will find, new facilities and higher costs don’t make your product more enviable than what is already the best tried and true tradition.

It’s the little things – the nuances, if you will – that make things great.  
That’s no different in baseball.

Money doesn’t win World Series crowns; the chemistry of a whole team’s personnel does that.

Unfortunately, Cashman got rid of former manager Joe Torre – the one piece of the puzzle with championship experience – and now he’s going to be left scrambling for corks to stop the barrel from leaking too many losses.

It’s sure nice to have a roster of big names, but 162 games require the small names, too.

Here’s to hoping someone at the Yankee organization will soon realize that.