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TAMPA — Here is all you need to know about the state of these 2013 Yankees:
Remember the team captain? The guy who turns 39 in June and faces over a century of data that players his age shouldn’t be patrolling shortstop anymore? And who is trying to return from a serious left ankle injury and hasn’t participated in a Grapefruit League game?
“I’m not worried about Derek Jeter at all,” Brian Cashman said yesterday at Steinbrenner Field. “He’ll be ready when it counts. I’m not worried about Derek. He’s the least of our concerns.”
That should sound like crazy talk by the Yankees’ wheelchair-bound general manager. Instead, given what else has transpired in this camp, it’s perfectly understandable.
The latest news is that Mark Teixeira will be out for 8-to-10 weeks, having strained the ECU tendon in his right wrist, and the immediate conclusion couldn’t be simpler:
The Yankees are more vulnerable than they ever have been since Jeter joined them. Just look at their worst-case scenario Opening Day lineup, without Jeter, posted here. Good Lord.
The Yankees look health-challenged, depth-challenged and talent-challenged. They play in a division, the American League East, in which no entry will be a walkover, while the AL West’s newcomers, the Astros, will serve up easy days at the office to the Angels, A’s and Rangers — making it harder for the AL East clubs to gain wild-card berths.
“People get hurt,” Jeter said, before the Teixeira news broke. “But the good teams find ways to get it done.”
For sure. Are these Yankees a good team anymore, however? Their pitching staff appears strong, yet the fact that the power trio of Andy Pettitte, Rivera (right knee) and CC Sabathia (left elbow), the latter two coming back from surgery, haven’t reached game action shows the great caution with which the Yankees are handling these assets. And Phil Hughes (upper back) got sidetracked.
Compared to the lineup, though, the pitching looks like the 1971 Orioles. Teixeira joined Curtis Granderson (right forearm) as a serious Grapefruit League casualty. Alex Rodriguez (left hip) will return at the All-Star break at the earliest, never at the latest. We still don’t know what the Yankees can get from Jeter this year, although you would go broke betting against him.
Budget pickups like Eric Chavez, Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and Raul Ibanez, as well as homegrown products Ivan Nova and David Phelps, came through the previous two seasons when the Yankees hit other speed bumps. Now, though, the Yankees acknowledge they don’t have the same kind of roster protection. Starting Jayson Nix at third base and sliding Kevin Youkilis over to first base is unappetizing, as are all of the Yankees’ remaining internal options (Dan Johnson, Juan Rivera) at first.
Anything is possible at this point. Carlos Lee? Sure, although he hasn’t been willing to sign with interested suitors for a low base salary. Scott Rolen? Man, he didn’t seem to have much left offensively with Cincinnati the prior two seasons, yet he still fielded third base capably. Colorado’s Tyler Colvin doesn’t have a starting position with the Rockies, though has some game, he hits left-handed, and the Yankees haven’t clicked with Colorado in recent trade discussions.
It’s a mess. Maybe the Yankees can survive it with great pitching and a few great small samples from someone like Nix or Johnson, and then Granderson and Teixeira can return in May and be their old selves. Both players’ injuries, in the lower arms, have the chance to linger, raising the degree of difficulty.
The happiest guy right now might be Robinson Cano, the Yankees’ healthy hope, who played for Team Dominican Republic yesterday against the Yankees (the first of many games against the Yankees for him?). He’s off to Puerto Rico to play in the World Baseball Classic and enjoy the temporary company of teammates like Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez and Carlos Santana.
“I don’t want to put any negative stuff in my mind,” Cano said, when asked about the Yankees’ injury epidemic. “I just want to go out there and just play the game.”
Sure, he can escape reality. But he has to return at some juncture. And when Cano reports back to the Yankees, he might think he has arrived in an alternative universe. One in which the Yankees could be a bad baseball team.
kdavidoff@nypost.com