Stop complaining about Girardi refusing to bench Jeter: He's saving the Yankees' future

OK, think this through with me:

If Girardi wanted to mortgage the Yankees' future for the chance of a 2014 wild card shot - a far-flung chance - he could go Dwight Shrute on the lineup, with a series of daily tweaks, and bump Jeter in the order, or even bench the Captain altogether. But why? What difference would it make?

In fact, over the long haul, it would be counter-productive.

It would be the equivalent of Brian Cashman madly trading prospects for Chase Headley and Martin Prado - churning bodies and aging the team even further - while relentlessly dragging the waiver beds for any oyster with a pulse - (or half a pulse, in the case of Chris Young.) All this Chaz Roe/ Josh Outman/Rich Hill churning has me wondering if Cash works on commission: Does he get a piece of every transaction?

Instead, Joe realizes that - barring an asteroid strike on Baltimore - nothing matters for 2014: The Yankees' post-season chances are right up there with Joan Rivers winning "Dancing With the Stars." Thus, Joe is looking to next winter, when the Yankees will be signing wildly overpriced free agents - I'd say six will do the job - and Joe wants them to know they'll always be treated with respect, no matter how horrible the team.

Lucky Lester and Big Game Shields should be looking at the Yankees and thinking, "As rotted as this franchise is, my gum, they still do right by their old stars! Let's sign with them."

Finally - as for dropping Jeter in the order... come on, ladies, let's be real. That ship sailed. That ship not only sailed, it hit a great white whale and sank. At this stage, we would not only finish out of the 2014 post-season, but we would put a brown blemish on the final days of a truly great Yankee.

Joe has claimed he's managing a pennant race, not a farewell tour. Well, that was never true. This is no time to cut the music. Break a leg, everybody. The show must go on.