The Yankees will spin now. They will say Cliff Lee was an extravagance and not a necessity.
They will point out that they are glad to keep a prospect as good as Jesus Montero and still know that they are going to get Lee in the offseason for just money — oodles and oodles of cash.
They will comfort themselves that they have a strong rotation now, the best record in the majors and are still the perceived favorites to win it all even without Lee.
That is a very mature, logical perspective.
But know this: The Yankees saw themselves, as late as yesterday morning, facing first-and-goal on the 1-yard line to obtain Lee. Nevertheless, they never reached the end zone. And that is painful, no matter the spin. Because as much as the Yankees want to look at the big picture and plan for the future, the only season that ever matters is the current one.
And the acquisition of Lee by the Yankees would have blanketed the major league landscape in hopelessness. There are no sure things, especially in a short series. But the concept of beginning each postseason series with CC Sabathia and Lee made it feel as if the Yankees were as close to a 28th championship as a team could be in early July.
But images of another ride up the Canyon of Heroes devolved into fury yesterday for the Yankees. The Mariners ultimately backed out of an agreement in principle, claiming problems with the physical condition of one of the players, Double-A second baseman David Adams, who currently is out with an ankle injury.
The Yankees, however, believe the Mariners were more devious here. They think the agreed-to-offer was still being shopped and that it moved Texas to go from not including Justin Smoak as the main piece in a package to including the touted first baseman. Smoak was the player the Mariners wanted all along, even more than Montero, the hitting prodigy who was the key to the Yankees deal.
The Yankees believe the worst here because Seattle asked them to exchange Single-A righty Adam Warren for Adams, and the Yankees agreed. But then, later in the day, the Mariners asked for Triple-A shortstop Eduardo Nunez. The Yankees had refused to include Montero and Nunez in the same package when Seattle asked weeks ago, and would not blink now. The Yankees came to believe at that point, however, that they were probably being used.
Suddenly, the idea of putting a stranglehold on the uber-competitive AL East vanished. Visions of opening October with the devastating 1-2 of Sabathia and Lee disappeared, as well. What emerged was the possibility of the Yankees facing Lee in the playoffs against the AL West-leading Rangers, and the Yankees surely can remember losing twice to Lee in last year’s World Series. It would bring quite a storyline to a Division Series or Championship Series.
But the Yankees were not looking to juice up the script in October. The DNA of the organization is to go for championships. That is why the Yankees did not see Lee as overkill.
The Yankees have done a good job in recent years of refurbishing their farm system. So Montero was available because the Yankees might be deeper in catching prospects than any organization in baseball. The Yankees project Adams as a high-level offensive second baseman, but their second baseman, Robinson Cano, is only 27 and might win the AL Most Valuable Player award. The third piece to the offer, Zach McAllister, had fallen behind many other pitching prospects in the Yankees’ eyes.
So the Yankees saw this as a package they could afford to surrender in exchange for a player they believed significantly increased their already strong championship possibilities.
Good for Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman for continuing to fuel an organizational ethos that so fixates on rings. And that is why this stings for the Yankees, even if you can already conjure up the image of Lee putting on pinstripes at a Yankee Stadium press conference this winter.
By then another champion will have been crowned. Maybe it will be the Yankees anyway. But for a moment on July 9, it felt like the parade already had begun before Seattle — fittingly — rained on that parade.
joel.sherman@nypost.com