Have the Yankees hit rock bottom? Don't you believe it. There is plenty of space below.

Well, now, that was something. 

So much for Hope Week. So much for the vaunted Yankee bullpen. So much for trading Aroldis Chapman for a massive haul. So much for - well - 2021...?

Comrades, it's time to ponder our friend, The Abyss. Hold onto the rope, step to the ledge, and take a long, hard look into the darkness. Can you see Alvaro Espinosa? Matt Nokes? Jesse Barfield?

I'd love to believe in the "Rock Bottom" theory - that once a team hits absolute ground zero, no matter how shitty, it can only improve. Last night - when El Chapo walked the bases loaded and gave up a grand slam, killing a 4-run lead - well, you'd like to think that's our rock bottom.

But I dunno. These is the Death Barge, a special organization.

Here it is, the first of July, nearly halfway, and the Yankees have done what I never could have imagined: They have somehow created a toxic feedback machine, a workplace where nobody thrives, and everybody waits for the next gasket to pop. 

So, El Chapo blows a four-run lead. Come on, folks, didn't we see it coming? 

Once upon a time - not that long ago, in the scheme of things - the owner of the Yankees would blow sky-high over the recent collapse, as the team systematically drained hope from its fan base. Instead, we have an absentee heir, Hal Steinbrenner, who must be on his yacht somewhere, frolicking with the dolphins, wishing he had an Allen Weisselberg to take the fall.

Four years after tanking - something Hal said would never happen - the Yankees are facing another July 31 sell-off. But this time, they are so constrained by contracts and clauses that they can barely get off their backs. They don't have Andrew Miller to trade. They might not even be able to deal Chapman.

How did we get here? Nancy Pelosi should appoint an investigative commission. It's stunning to see how ineptly built the 2021 Yankees appear to be. 

Three years ago, free agents Manny Machado and Bryce Harper visited NYC seeking to play for the Yankees. Harper was famously a lifelong Yankee fan, and Machado's wife wanted to live in New York. In another era, Old George might have signed both. But his son just hid under the bed until they left. Hal had spent his money on Giancarlo Stanton, and he wasn't going to squander any more.

Look... we can argue pro and con about the Yankees decision to pass on Machado and Harper - I don't want to derail this conversation - I'm just saying that Old George wouldn't have let them go. He had a thing for stars who seek to play for baseball's marquee team. Which is what the Yankees were.

Not anymore, of course. That's the Dodgers, or Boston, or maybe Tampa Bay. The Yankees would be in the upper third, after - say - the Cubs, White Sox, Giants, Padres and Mets. Everywhere you look, you see a franchise in limbo. 

Take Clint Frazier... please. He looks completely ruined. Last night, he came out with dizziness. (Let's hope it's not serious.) He should be dizzy: For three years, the Yankees ping-ponged him back and forth from Scranton. Now, he looks permanently baffled. My guess is they'll soon trade him for nothing, and he'll have a decent career on another team. (Same for Miguel Andujar and Luke Voit?)

Take our once-praised bullpen. Other teams offer young arms who throw 100 mph.  The Yankees go with elders - Chapman, Zack Britton, Darren O'Day, Justin Wilson - and nobody stays healthy. (By the way, wanna bet that Chapman doesn't land on the IL soon?) What's galling is that Boston is getting more from Adam Ottavino and Garrett Whitlock, both of whom were cast away. Can it get any more embarrassing? 

Take our farm system. Are we supposed to be excited that 18-year-old Jasson Dominiquez, barely a week into his professional career, will represent us in the Futures Game? Frankly, that's horrible. MLB is basically saying the Yankees have nobody more advanced than an overly hyped kid with no track record, whatsoever. And I can't help but notice that Roansy Contreras - whom we traded to Pittsburgh in the Jameson Tailon deal - will represent the Pirates. Yeesh.

Everywhere you look, you see disaster. I'm not one for sugar-coating the George Steinbrenner era. He conjured up terrible teams for nearly a decade, before finally turning over the franchise to Gene Michael and Bob Watson. You might argue that Hal is simply going through Daddy's 1991 phase - like father, like son. If so, that means we're four years away from hope... in other words, hopeless. 

See that Abyss? Get used to it.