"We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Apologies to the great Walt Kelly for stealing that Pogo line, but it seemed the best way to describe the crack Billywitz analysis of the Yankees in yesterday's Times.

The trouble, it seems, is that just too much is being expected of all our young players.  As the headlines on the piece reads, "Young Talent Finds the Yanks Have No Room for Error," and "On a World Series Contender, Patience Is Hard to Come By."

Well, fair enough, I guess, in as much as this approaches what I've been saying for most of two seasons now, which is:  stop competing, keep rebuilding.

The Yankees did not have a World Series winner ready last year, and they didn't have one this year, and the two seasons would have been better spent assessing our young talent and giving it a real chance, particularly on the pitching mound.

But that's not exactly what Billwitz is driving at.  Just what he IS saying is hard to discern, as it so often is with the Times sports staff.

Exactly who is being impatient with whom?  It's never really said—though it is noted that Bird was finally sat for Voit...after about 300 plate appearances, and a .196 batting average.  Would that we could all be treated with such impatience.

Then he cites Judge's injury—which has to do with what, exactly?—and tells us that Bird was "arguably the Yankees' best hitter in the playoffs" last year (dubious), and that for all his hitting, Andujar "is the worst defensive third baseman in baseball, by many metrics" and cost the Yanks that fourth game in Boston (highly dubious—I seem to remember a certain, injured relief pitcher blowing up, and Bird dropping something.  But what do I know?)

"...the progression of emerging talent is rarely linear," Billwitz informs us, which is certainly true.

But typically, he is missing the onrushing avalanche for the trees here.

The Yankees this season have not simply endured the usual ups-and-downs of the young players everywhere.  They have plunged backwards in ways that have rarely been seen in living memory.

It's one thing to point out, for instance, that Aaron Judge jumped from a .179, part-time rookie year, to last season's monster performance.  But none of that explains his road hitting dropping by 52 points, to a completely anemic .204.  It doesn't explain the utter and complete failure of Bird.

And it says nothing about the regression of Sanchez.

Going from an all-star and the best-hitting catcher in the league, with 33 homers and a .278 average, to the current, .186 bit-spitting?

The only player I can even think of who had a similar fall from grace was George Scott, who went from being a Gold Glove, .303-hitting first baseman in 1967, 10th in the MVP voting...to .171 in 1968, under Dick Williams' constant goading about his weight and effort.

Boomer eventually turned things around, and became an outright star for a time in Milwaukee—away from those lovable, color-blind fans in Boston.

But frankly, I just don't see the Cincinnati Kid doing that, not under current management.  It's one thing for young players to suffer a "sophomore slump," as other teams adjust.

It's another for NOT ONLY the Yankees' young players, but also pretty much every veteran they bring in now to fall into a dramatic decline (we're looking at you, Giancarlo).

You'd think Billywitz might have noticed that during his gainful daily employment.  But then, that would have implied that Brian Cashman is not necessarily Cooperstown material...