Brian Cashman could cost the Yankees a playoff berth

While the New York Yankees made one minor (and bizarre) move at the trade deadline, their main competitors for the final American League wild-card spot wisely made significant deals. Now the relative inactivity by Yankees GM Brian Cashman could cost the team a postseason berth.

At the deadline, the Tampa Bay Rays traded for starting pitcher Aaron Civale while the Toronto Blue Jays acquired Jordan Hicks to fortify their bullpen and Paul DeJong to improve their infield depth. Meanwhile, the Houston Astros added Justin Verlander, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, to strengthen their rotation.

The Los Angeles Angels kept two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani and acquired outfielder Randal Grichuk, infielder C.J. Cron, starter Lucas Giolito, relievers Reynaldo López and Dominic Leone, as well as third baseman Eduardo Escobar. The Angels have flopped since, but main wild-card contenders Tampa, Toronto and Houston have further separated themselves from New York in the standings.  

The Yankees were the last MLB team to make a move at the trade deadline. New York acquired middle reliever Keynan Middleton from Chicago at 5:57 p.m., three minutes before the deadline. The Middleton acquisition was strange because the Yankees boast the best bullpen in baseball (3.18 ERA). 

Since the deadline, the Yankees are 4-5 and coming off losing a series to Middleton’s old team, the terrible Chicago White Sox, who are 22 games below .500 (47-69). 

In his post-trade-deadline news conference, Cashman said, "There wasn’t a big thing to add, to be quite honest, that was going to solve the immediate problems that we had.”

Despite his inaction at the deadline, Cashman later said, "We are in it to win it," seemingly contradicting himself.

New York should have at least made moves to bolster an offense that ranks next to last in batting average in the big leagues. If you have roster problems but choose not to address them, how could you possibly be "in it to win it"?

Since the deadline, the Yankees have fallen from 3.5 games back to five games back in the wild-card race. According to FanGraphs, New York has just a 9.2 percent chance to make the playoffs. 

If New York was focused on making the playoffs, it would have cashed in its chips and found help. The Yankees don't lack talent in their system. New York has seven prospects in "Baseball America's" in-season top 100 prospect rankings.

Blame Cashman and his inactivity if the Yankees continue on their lousy path.