The Yankee bullpen looks like a beleaguered crew in the dregs of August. It's only May 19.

Over his last three outings, David Bednar - the barrel-chested, scruffily bearded Yankee closer - has...

Walked four batters.

Given up five earned runs.

Surrendered six hits.

Watched his ERA balloon to 5.14.

Muttered an uncountable number of unpleasantries.

Bednar accomplished these feats against two tomato-can lineups - the Mets and O's - who are a combined 11 games below .500.

In another time, in another universe, the Yankees would gently excise Bednar from the closer role and give him a week in the Adirondacks with a sex worker and the phone number of a competent therapist. He seems to be falling apart. Over his last seven games, his ERA is 8.59. Before our eyes, Bednar has turned into Aroldis Chapman without the sweat glands.

If it were late July, Cooperstown Cashman would be working the phones like a whirling Dervish, trying to trade Spencer Jones, Anthony Volpe or the Martian for somebody, anybody, who can pitch a 9th inning. But this is not a raging, late-summer pennant race. This is May 19, a week away from Memorial Day and - already - Aaron Boone's famous Circle of Trust has shrunken to a dot. 

 Who pitches the last three innings? And who records the final three outs? That question now lingers over every Yankee lead, and every blown scoring opportunity. Last August, Cashman traded a massive chunk of the Yankees' prospect base for Bednar, Jake Bird and Camilo Doval - with only Bednar proving his mettle. In previous trade deadlines, they collected Scott Effross, Mark Leiter Jr., and the cast of Knot's Landing. The strategy of waiting for July 31 - and then hold a farm system garage sale - is no way to run a baseball club, and it won't work in 2026.

The Yankees cannot wait until August. The bullpen is shot, and the wolf is at the door.