What if the saviors aren’t?
What if the guys the Yankees have built their whole hold-the-fort mindset around so far this season ultimately are not good enough or healthy enough to make a dramatic difference?
It has been such an accepted line of thought the Yankees will be better when their injured cavalry begins returning en masse that no one has stopped to examine who those guys actually are in 2013.
The influx began last night with Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis and continues Monday, when Andy Pettitte is scheduled to start against Cleveland. Each should upgrade the team. But here are hard truths: Each is a declining player who now must be considered a red flag physically. Let’s put it this way, it is probably more likely all three will go on the disabled list again than all three won’t.
Teixeira is back from a serious wrist injury and “wrists are tricky” has been Brian Cashman’s mantra. Youkilis has a chronic back condition. Pettitte, two weeks shy of his 41st birthday, has morphed from one of the most-durable starters of the generation to a more fragile state.
Teixeira (0-for-3 with a walk and run) and Youkilis (1-for-4 with an RBI) should help the Yankees’ patience (the team had four walks yesterday or as many in its five previous games combined) and in lengthening the lineup, particularly against lefties. Which was the case last night as the Yankees beat Jon Lester and the Red Sox, 4-1.
Still, the Yankees won for the same reason as usual in 2013 — strong pitching. CC Sabathia used his best fastball/slider combo this year to hold Boston to one run in 7 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
Even with Teixeira and Youkilis, the Yankees were outhit (8-7) and out-extra-base hit (3-1), and failed yet again to crack their unofficial scoring ceiling. This was the 37th time the Yankees have scored four or fewer runs, second in the AL behind the offensively atrocious Mariners.
And before you say it will be much better now, remember Teixeira’s OPS has fallen every year since 2007 (down to .807 in 2012) and Youkilis’ has dropped three straight seasons (down to .745 last year). What happens if those numbers continue to dwindle?
Then there are the health questions. The Yankees, in fact, are keeping Lyle Overbay for now as an insurance policy, though with Teixeira and a lefty DH (Travis Hafner), Overbay has no obvious place for many at-bats.
The Yankees are carrying 11 pitchers until Pettitte is activated Monday. At that point a position player will go with Overbay, David Adams and Brennan Boesch as the main candidates.
Unlike Adams and Boesch, Overbay has no minor league options. So if the Yankees expose him to waivers, they will probably lose him. The Mets could be a possibility if they really are ready to demote Ike Davis. But the more probable destination would be Milwaukee. After being released by the Red Sox in late March, Overbay spurned the Brewers to sign with the Yankees. But since losing Mat Gamel for the season, Milwaukee is desperate for a first baseman as it mainly uses two shortstops, Alex Gonzalez and Yuniesky Betancourt, out of position.
Or, the Yankees could retain Overbay as a seldom-used insurance policy for Teixeira and the injury-prone Hafner.
Adams started last night at third (with Youkilis at DH) and went 0-for-2 with a hit-by-pitch against Lester and will probably start today against fellow lefty Felix Doubront. Consider it an audition to see if he can be a regular piece against southpaws. If not, the Yankees could use Youkilis and Jayson Nix at third, and send Adams down.
They also could consider demoting Boesch. But he offers lefty pop from the outfield, which is valuable considering the malaise of Ichiro Suzuki, who did have two hits last night. That is why Curtis Granderson’s second sustained loss might be the most painful of all for the Yankees.
Still, the supplementary players become less important if the frontline is performing — so that brings insta-pressure to Teixeira and Youkilis, though both naturally tried to deflect the savior tag.
They projected a desire to be part of the solution, not the solution. And that is probably how this will have to work for the Yankees to prosper. Neither probably is capable of carrying a team any longer. But maybe they could offer good-to-very good results and deepen the Yankees reserve to better support what has been one of the AL’s better pitching staffs.
It is not savior stuff, but it just might save the season anyway.
joel.sherman@nypost.com