Until Carlos Rodon decides his future team, and Hal Steinbrenner his future legacy, the Yankees have no moves

Sorry to be crabby today, but you know all this bloggery we're reading about potential Yankee trades or fallback free agents? Well, none of it amounts to a mouse turd until one Carlos Antonio Rodon makes up his mind. 

Until then, the Yankiverse is paralyzed in a whiteout of time, space and - most importantly - money. Aside from a few minor league contracts, nothing is moving, nothing is happening, nothing is everything. 

Right now, the 2023 Yankees present two alt-universes - one with a fearsome rotation, perhaps baseball's best (with Rodon), and one that hopes for rainouts, bullpen starts and Domingo German (sans Rodon.)  

The team suffers withering sinkholes in LF, SS and 3B - problems that will be either solved by Hal Steinbrenner's generosity (with Rodon) or deepened by his frugality (sans Rodon.) 

Every potential deal on Brian Cashman's iPad hinges on the vast differences between the Yankees with Rodon and without him. Most importantly, so does the legacy of Hal Steinbrenner. 

Either Hal kicks in the money for the best starter on the market - yes, Rodon is expensive; no denying it - or he pulls out his pockets and poormouths - in essence, quietly blaming Aaron Judge's big contract for the new austerity. 

This would betray a promise that surely was inferred when Judge was deciding to stay in New York. Yankee management must have assured No. 99 that he would have the full backing of the front office and never become the reason why other free agents are not signed. That promise will have lasted two weeks.

For better or worse, we have reached a world where the richest of the rich have too much money to be imagined, much less counted, and the siren call of their emotional whims can never be sated - or underestimated. 

The owners of the Mets, Phillies, Dodgers and Padres see their teams as toys, as extensions of their egos, if not their dicks. Hal sees the Yankees as a family business, perhaps as a legacy he never wanted. Trouble is, he's sitting on the most lucrative market in professional sports. He's sitting on the team we have loved all our lives, and in the end, he's counting nickels.

 What happens with Carlos Rodon will dictate how Yank fans view Hal this season and maybe forever. I don't believe he's a bad person. I think he truly wants the Yankees to win. I think if he ran a bar, we would drink there. But he's running the Yankees, and the world has changed around him. 

For us, the "pride of the Yankees" was always sacred. Twenty seven world championships. Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio, Mantle, Jackson, Jeter, Judge...  

We are not the Phillies. We are not the Padres. But if Hal cannot compete with Philadelphia and San Diego, it's time to sell the team to someone who will.