It’s not a fundamental problem that the Yankees are having trouble signing players who, in years past, would have taken less money amid knowledge that they’ll also receive less playing time to try and get a playoff/World Series share, bolster their value a bit, and go elsewhere. Nobody is going to be lamenting Jeff Keppinger signing with the White Sox or Eric Chavez going to the Diamondbacks based on what kinds of players they are in the view of the Yankees—backups and utility players. Chavez can’t be counted on to do what the Yankees were probably going to need him to do and play 4-5 times a week until Alex Rodriguez gets back. Keppinger, in spite of a broken leg suffered at home, received a 3-year, $12 million deal and deserves to play semi-regularly—something that wouldn’t happen with the Yankees once A-Rod is back; Chavez received 1-year, $3 million from the Diamondbacks. But all of this is beside the point. The point is that players are suddenly rejecting the Yankees when the Yankees want them; the Yankees are—rightfully—shying away from overpaying for mediocre backups or players who they have valued at a certain level and chosen not to surpass that number as they did when they let Russell Martin leave for the Pirates.

Chavez is injury prone and Keppinger has a broken leg and both selected deals with other clubs instead of the Yankees. That leaves the Yankees scrounging for a warm body to replace A-Rod and possibly a proven, veteran catcher. Now what? Are they seriously entertaining Kevin Youkilis and A.J. Pierzynski? The Youkilis talk has the tone of the propaganda arm of the Yankees dictatorship—the YES Network—dropping a pebble into the water to gauge the fans’ reaction to accepting and trusting an enemy defector.

Even thinking about courting players the ilk and reputation of Youkilis and Pierzynski presents the conundrum of the Yankees still pushing the ridiculous concept of “dignity” and “class”. It would take a few days for Youkilis to start tossing his helmet, walking the plate in the first inning looking like Pigpen from Peanuts; or Pierzynski nearly starting a brawl because of his obnoxiousness with opposing batters, umpires, and everyone else before someone from the organization said to one or both, “That’s not the way we play and act here,” spurring both players to reply, “Well what the hell’d you bring me here for?”

It’s entirely possible that the attraction to the Yankees is finally being seen for what it was: that they won and either paid more money than other clubs or helped a player increase his value when he moves on. With the rising number of players rejecting the Yankees from the major stars like Cliff Lee to players like Chavez, Keppinger, and Martin, could it be that the allure of pinstripes wasn’t a desire to be part of some phantom storyline of superiority and that it was purely a business decision? That the continued whispers throughout baseball about the fan/media treatment of players turning over-the-line abusive has grown louder and louder with a happy-go-lucky player like Nick Swisher being most open and upset about it, other players are going to be reluctant to walk into that situation especially when its prospects of contention in the next two years are looking increasingly dim?

The Yankees didn’t lose out because Keppinger and Chavez chose to go elsewhere, but it’s not the individual players that should cause consternation among Yankees fans. It’s that the cracks in the foundation are now more than just cracks and these players would prefer to be far away from it when it disintegrates completely.

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