Brian Cashman will have blood on his hands if Yankees' trade deadline isn't enough

Two things can be true. Brian Cashman is a Hall of Fame executive. Brian Cashman has also failed the New York Yankees more times than fans of the modern era can count. And while there's still plenty left in this season for him to write his story, the 2024 trade deadline could also be what seals his fate (but it won't, because the Yankees don't have the guts).

The Yankees started their trade deadline endeavors on Saturday by trading for Miami Marlins star Jazz Chisholm. Great job. But it wasn't enough. Thankfully, there were three more days left for New York to figure it out.

But ... they didn't. In the end, Cashman walked away from deadline day with Cubs reliever Mark Leiter Jr., Padres pitchers Enyel De Los Santos and Thomas Balboni Jr., and Astros prospect Kelly Austin. The team parted with reliever Caleb Ferguson as well as prospects Ben Cowles (SS), Jack Neely (P) and Brandon Lockridge (OF).

That's it. This has been the worst offense in the league for a month and Chisholm was the only addition on that front. This team is staking its 2024 hopes on Gleyber Torres (who has failed them countless times), Anthony Rizzo (who is not suited to be an everyday starter), DJ LeMahieu (see Anthony Rizzo), and Alex Verdugo (who spent the last two months being one of the worst qualified hitters in the sport). And that's only on the offensive side.

Yes, we know this was the best team in baseball for the first 70 games of the year, but they've since stalled out in alarming fashion. It seems the front office used the last four games as a measuring stick for what the offense is capable of, as the group exploded for a total of 40 runs. That's more of an aberration than the norm, however.

Brian Cashman will have blood on his hands if Yankees' trade deadline isn't enough

On the pitching front, it very much seems as if the Yankees are staking their hopes on a bunch of injured guys coming back and performing. Leiter Jr. is the only acquisition that will stick. De Los Santos could become roster fodder. Balboni Jr. is now with the Tampa Tarpons.

Not only did the pitching staff barely change despite a great need for it, but the Yankees just confirmed they're relying on Scott Effross, Ian Hamilton, Nick Burdi, Lou Trivino and/or JT Brubaker to come back and perform at a high level. That's surely not going to work out in their favor, as we've seen in previous years when the team acted as if players returning from injury were the equivalent of impactful trade additions.

The Yankees' starting rotation has been floundering and they had a chance to improve it in a cost-effective manner, but they got beat by a mediocre Dodgers offer as LA swooped in to grab Jack Flaherty from the Detroit Tigers. How could the Yankees not match this?

There was chatter the Yankees might trade Nestor Cortes, but they didn't capitalize on the fruitful returns for pitching and opted not to get creative — whatever that may have looked like. They didn't move Torres or Verdugo for pitching help. They added two real players when they had to do far more than that.

If you were on top of the market, the prices for pitching were particularly high. The cost for position players, however, were surprisingly low, so if you weren't going to spend to improve the rotation and bullpen, why not chase an impact bat at a fraction of the price? Was there even a plan? If the Yankees didn't acquire Chisholm on Saturday, we're essentially looking at a 2023 Keynan Middleton trade deadline.

This is it. This is your 2024 New York Yankees roster that has World Series expectations. They were exposed for a 40-game stretch, but the front office conveniently ignored that in favor of working with what they have. That's been the case for so many trade deadlines in recent memory, and it's mostly because the money is misallocated offseason after offseason, which puts them in a bad position when they need to bid for talent in the middle of the year.

If the Yankees don't make the World Series in a wide open American League, everyone can easily look back at where everything went wrong. And fans can rest uneasily knowing the organization won't do a damn thing about it.