Heading into the trade deadline, the Yankees basically have no cards to play

Every morning, a parade of cooing headlines touts possible Yankee trade targets, as our boys pursue that magical, final AL wild card slot. (We're four games behind Oakland, one behind Seattle and tied with Toronto.) Commonly, we see names like Marte and Gallo and Story (oh my!) coming to the Yankees at prices that only make sense to toad-lickers. 

Any major deal to shore up their sore spots - the rotation, bullpen and outfield - will come at a price tag that chases Cooperstown Cashman into the caves of Connecticut. With his job on the line - which it might just be - he cannot afford a bum trade.  

Unless the ghost of Syd Thrift inhabits some GM's body, nobody is going to give us decent value for Voit, Frazier, Andujar, Gardner, Gleyber or Stanton - all of whom are season-long disappointments. The few players coveted by other teams happen to represent the future of the Yankees. 

For example, Estevan Florial clearly isn't ready now - he's a .190 hitter with far too many Ks - but in three years, (he'll be 26), his speed and power could make him a solid CF. Likewise, several infielders have had breakout summers in our farm system. But trading them - that's how the Yankees got into this mess. 

It's hard to see the 2021 Yankees winning anything meaningful in October. But if we're thinking of a sell-off - what's the point of trading players at their lowest value? We're better off waiting until winter. 

On that note, a suggestion: Stand the fuck pat. 

Old Rumsfeld may be gone - and good riddance! - but the guy had it right: 

You go to war with the army you have. This is the 2021 Yankees. This is the army we have. 

Let's consider our problems: 

Rotation: Cole is great, maybe even Cy Young. Tailon and Montgomery remain quirky. Severino might return; nobody holds their breath. Cory Kluber? A longshot. Mike King? Meh. We have spare parts at Scranton, nobody sticks out. (Deivi Garcia has completely tanked, and Clarke Schmidt looks like a wipeout.) To get Max Scherzer, we'd have to trade Yankee Stadium. We're better off rolling the dice with Cessa and Nasty Nestor (Octavio) Cortez. Most of all, we don't need another Sonny Gray. 

Bullpen: O'Day is o-done. Loaisiga should soon return. Let's face it: El Chapo either conquers his demons this weekend at Fenway, or this season is over. The last key is Zack Britton. If he could return to form, we still have a bullpen. But late July is when teams love to trade us lug nuts who had a nice first half and are ready to implode. Must we do this again?

Outfield: Judge returns soon. (And everybody better be fucking vaccinated; anybody who isn't - I don't care who - should be sent home.) Don't we love the speed and hustle of Greg Allen? For kricesakes, put him in CF, fulltime. Make LF a mash-up of Gardy, Stanton, LaMarre, Andujar and Frazier (assuming he returns; I think there's a chance he's done for the year.) Yeah, Stanton must play LF now and then. Frankly, I don't care if he gets hurt. We're a 4th place team with him. We can be a 4th place team without him. If he plays OF, we have a better chance of trading him next winter.

You go to the war with the army you have. Cashman built this army. Trades cannot save this team.