Cashman's comments would have you thinking all is fine across the Yankiverse. I assure you, it isn't.

Yesterday, at their birthing ceremonies for Max Fried, Brian "Cooperstown" Cashman - aka: Yankee GM for life - vomited a Linda Blair-worthy stream of marketing mush, which was instantly gobbled up and excreted by the Gammonites of Gotham. Cashman said: 

“We’re getting after it! We’re defending our title with a whole different crew! Our intention is to find a way back to the World Series! Stay tuned!”

He neglected to add, "And buy U.S. Savings Bonds! Jollygood show! Y'all come back now, ya hear! Excelsior!"

Insert shrug here.

So... Here we are, halfway through this snake of a winter, which has already restructured NY's sports landscape for the rest of our lifetimes. This will be remembered as the year the Yankees... 

a. Embarrassed themselves in the World Series
b. Lost Juan Soto to the Mets
c. Became the Number 2 team in NY
d. Gave up their Florida encampment, soon home of the Rays. 

This is the winter that the Mets took New York, our worst disillusionment since 2004, when Boston ate our lunches - a defeat that, 20 years later, has yet to be avenged. Increasingly, it looks like we will go to our graves, forever chasing wild cards, while Boston periodically tanks, regroups and wins the world championship. 

Interesting that Cashman talked about getting "back to the World Series," which is hardly the goal for much, if not most, of the Yankee fan base. We want to win a fucking World Series, not appear in one, and certainly not to end up constantly recalling the most embarrassing Game 5 meltdown in history. 

Cashman can talk joyously about a World Series appearance. The fan base won't join in. The recent October showed us, once and for all, to be careful what you wish for. 

Today, rumors are gurgling that the Yankees will sign Anthony Santander, the Orioles power-hitting RF. (I wonder if Cashman hyped them, off-the-record, during yesterday's event.)

Santander would be - like Cody Bellinger, whom we obtained this week - an incremental improvement. He hit 44 HRs last year, and he switch-hits. He is a rare RF who is not a defensive upgrade over Soto. And he does not get on base often. (Neither does Bellinger or, basically, everybody on the team except Judge and Giancarlo.)

Rumors come and go. Toronto and Boston - both having offered Soto up to $700 million - clearly have money to burn this winter. Are they sitting out Santander, saving for Corbin Burnes or Alex Bregman? Dunno. But I do believe in collusion. The owners are in freefall over Soto's bidding war. And now, with Soto a Met, every Yankee move stinks of desperation. 

So, getting to the World Series? Woopie. Been there, done that. And trying to forget. Damn, winters are cold, when you're Number 2.