When the Yankees lost Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS, I was exhausted. The Yankees had consumed every waking hour of my life for the 23 consecutive days, and with late start times, long games and crowded train rides home, nearly every hour of those 23 days was a waking hour.

The Yankees had an opportunity to win one of two games in Houston to advance to the World Series, and they didn’t. Four seasons and four-and-a-half calendar year later, that’s the closest these Yankees have gotten to getting the franchise back to the World Series, let alone winning the World Series. Or so I have thought. Brian Cashman tells me and all Yankees fans that the Yankees didn’t actually lose to the Astros in the 2017 ALCS, and the organization’s World Series drought isn’t going on 13 years in 2022.

“The only thing that stopped [us] was something that was so illegal and horrific,” Cashman told The Athletic. “So I get offended when I start hearing we haven’t been to the World Series since ’09. Because I’m like, ‘Well, I think we actually did it the right way.’ Pulled it down, brought it back up. Drafted well, traded well, developed well, signed well. The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off.”

Spoken like a true loser. When Cashman inherited the general manager position, the Yankees won a record 114 regular-season games and then went 11-2 in the postseason to win their second championship in three seasons and what would eventually amount to four championships in five seasons. Since the 2000 World Series win over the Mets, the Yankees have won once in 21 years.

Yes, the Astros cheated by illegally stealing signs during the 2017 season. I don’t know how that explains the Yankees scoring one run in Game 1, one run in Game 2, one run in Game 6 and no runs in Game 7. I don’t know how winning the American League means the Yankees would have beaten the Dodgers.

“It does bother me when people say we haven’t been to the World Series since ’09,” Cashman said. “We did it all right, by building it to a certain level that could have gotten us to a World Series — if not for something else. But hey! We’re back at it. Every year, we’re still back at it. We’ve been qualifying for the postseason, and we’re going to take this team as far as we can get it, and hopefully we can push through.”

How dare anyone criticize the Yankees’ lack of championships since 2000! They have qualified for the postseason! They’re taking this team as a far it can go (which is a humiliating ALDS loss to the Red Sox, another ALCS loss to the Astros, an ALDS loss to the 28th-highest payroll Rays and a degrading wild-card game loss to the Red Sox)!

“People are like ‘Oh, we haven’t been to a World Series … and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I don’t think that’s as true a statement as it could be,'” Cashman said. “We had a World Series team. And either you get it done or you don’t. People don’t want to hear that. I get it. But that’s real to me. I think it’s real to all of us.”

If “having a World Series team” is good enough for Cashman and not actually needing to win the World Series then it explains the team’s decisions post-2017. Since losing Games 6 and 7 in Houston and coming within one win of the World Series with a young, inexpensive core, the Yankees moved on from Joe Girardi for the inexperienced and idiotic Aaron Boone, cut payroll by more than $30 million for the following season, and for the last four offseasons have passed on every single star position player available on the free-agent market. All while boasting the same payroll in 2021 they had in 2005 despite exponential growth in revenues during that 17-year period.

“The fans, they’re fanatics for a reason,” Cashman said. “They don’t really care about how it all adds up. They just want to be the last team standing. As do we. But my job, and our front office’s job, is to find a way within the current restrictions that we have, and the options that are available: ‘OK, what can we come up with that solves these problems, as fast as possible?'”

There should be no “restrictions” when it comes to the Yankees. They’re the Yankees! Back in October, Cashman spoke about how the 2021 Yankees were “unwatchable” and needed “upgrades” and how there were many “legitimate options” to add to the roster. He signed zero free agents, traded for an all-glove shortstop and a 36-year-old former superstar, constructed the worst starting catching situation in the league and re-signed a first baseman whose stock is coming off the worst year of his career since his rookie season nine years prior. Problems solved!

“We believe if we get there, we’re good enough to run the table,” Cashman said. “The Braves showed it last year. All due respect. They’re world champs. But were they the odds-on favorite? Or the second? Or the third? Or whatever, entering that process. And the answer was ‘No.'”

Last season, the Yankees were the odds-on favorite to win the AL and finally get back to the World Series. As the odds-on favorite, they finished fifth in the AL and third in their own division, and their postseason only lasted nine innings. (It really only last lasted four batters into the bottom of the first of those nine innings.) The Yankees’ financial position allows them to be able to to put together the best possible roster to win a championship each season. They shouldn’t have to settle for “getting hot” in October or having a miraculous month like the Braves did.

“I’m past it now,” Cashman said. “But it does bother me when it comes up. We built something that — I can’t tell you we would have won. I can’t tell you we would have beat the Dodgers. But I do feel pretty confident that that team [the Astros] wasn’t stopping us, if it wasn’t for those advantages. That’s all.”

‘I’m past it now, but I’m going to reference it over and over in an on-the-record conversation with a prominent media outlet. But I’m totally over it. Really, I am. And I can’t tell you we would have won, but we definitely would have won. In fact, we did win. So no, there’s no World Series ‘drought‘ for the New York Yankees.

That’s how that last answer from Cashman read. What an embarrassing interview to give, especially for someone who has experienced real success in the league, even if the majority of that success came more than 20 years ago.

I’m embarrassed for Cashman. These statements were the lowest point of his tenure as general manager of the Yankees, and he once traded Ted Lilly for Jeff Weaver, traded Tyler Clippard for Jonathan Albaladejo, signed Kei Igawa, chose Nick Johnson over Hideki Matsui, traded for Javier Vazquez twice, let his belief in Eduardo Nunez prevent him from acquiring Cliff Lee, gave Jacoby Ellsbury $153 million, hired Aaron Boone and extended Aaron Boone.

I’m embarrassed for Hal Steinbrenner because if Cashman believes what he told The Athletic then he has undoubtedly sold that steaming pile of crap to Steinbrenner, who can’t be sold on signing 26-year-old superstars, but can be sold on extending Boone and can be easily persuaded to believe the team is better than they are, like he was last year.

The Yankees’ lack of creating new franchise memories for the last two decades has forced the team to give just about everyone from the ’90s dynasty a plaque in Monument Park. It has now even led to Paul O’Neill getting his No. 21 retired. (I love O’Neill as much as anyone, but he shouldn’t be getting his number retired. He was a good, even great Yankee. He wasn’t a legendary, iconic Yankee, which should be the measuring stick for such an honor.) The Yankees couldn’t have been happier when Derek Jeter recently left his position with the Marlins, as earlier this week the team already began promoting a night at the Stadium to honor Jeter’s Hall of Fame induction (he was elected two years ago and inducted nearly a year ago) with No. 2 throwing out the first pitch. I can hear Paul Olden’s voice on a promo between innings this season:

Fans, come out to the Stadium on Sept. 9 and remember when the Yankees actually won championships and didn’t have to make them up as the team honors Derek Jeter as the Yankees celebrate his Hall of Fame induction with the Captain throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

When will it end? Will No. 24 come out of circulation for a Tino Martinez number retirement ceremony in 2023? If you’re retiring 21 for O’Neill, how can you not retire 36 for David Cone? Does Scott Brosius get a plaque behind the center-field wall? Does David Wells? When does A.J. Burnett get his day?

Now that the Yankees have pushed the limit on Monument Park additions and because they have failed to successfully field a championship team (and not just a championship-caliber team) since 2009, winning just once in 21 years, they have resorted to making up championship seasons, like Cashman did for 2017. I look forward to when they start having promotional nights to honor the 2017 “championship” team. For these Yankees, it might be the closest they ever get to actually winning.

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On Monday, after making a puzzling trade to acquire Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt for Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela, Brian Cashman spoke about the odd deal.

“We appreciate what Gio has done,” Cashman said to Meredith Marakovits. “But he’s not Josh Donaldson.”

Despite choosing to trade for Kiner-Falefa rather than sign Corey Seager, Carlos Correa or Trevor Story, and despite not adding a single starting pitcher, and despite not trading for Matt Olson or participating in the Athletics’ firesale in any capacity, the Yankees still had a chance to semi-save their disastrous offseason by bringing Freddie Freeman to the Bronx. Instead, they chose to sign Anthony Rizzo to a two-year deal.

I appreciate what Anthony Rizzo has done, but he’s not Freddie Freeman. He’s not close to being Freeman.

In terms of age, Freeman is 13 months younger. In terms of career, Freeman has posted a 43.1 WAR to Rizzo’s 36.8. In terms of postseason performance, Freeman has hit .290/.393/.523 in 42 games and Rizzo has hit .207/.283/.387 in 40 games. In terms of recent production, Freeman is coming off a 4.7 WAR season and Rizzo a 1.7.

In 2021, Freeman hit .300/.393/.503 with 31 home runs, led the league in runs scored (120), won his third straight Silver Slugger, was an All-Star for the third straight time, and finished in the Top 9 in NL MVP voting for the fourth time in four years (a year after winning the award). Rizzo posted his worst full-season OPS (.783) since his first full season in the majors (2013). He hit a career-low 21 home runs, drove in a career-worst 61 runs and had the second-worst on-base and slugging percentages of his career. As a Yankee, Rizzo hit .249/.340/.428, homered in his first two games on July 30 and July 31 and then hit two home runs over the next six weeks.

The Yankees reset their luxury tax penalty prior to this offseason and there was the hope they would use the reset to their advantage. They could go to the “marketplace” (Cashman’s favorite word) with their financial might and all it would cost them to make impressive roster upgrades would be money. Money. That’s it. The resource they make more of than the league’s other 29 teams.

Instead of using their financial power to bring in the “legitimate options” (a phrase Cashman used at his mid-October, end-of-the-season press conference), the Yankees have traded for a light-hitting stopgap shortstop, acquired a 36-year-old former superstar third baseman who has played 135 games in just two of the last five years and is owed $48 million, created the worst starting catching tandem in the majors and now signed a 32-year-old first baseman who’s coming off his worst full season since his first full season nine years ago. In each of these moves, the Yankees had the option to use the free-agent marketplace to their advantage and plug holes created by their past poor roster construction. In each move, they failed to do so.

The Yankees could have signed Seager, Correa or Story to be their everyday shortstop. Signing any of the three would have instantly made the Yankees better and would have pleased a fanbase that has watched the team half-ass its way to building rosters, resulting in early-postseason exits in three of the last four years. By signing one of the star shortstops in the best shortstop free-agent class of all time, the Yankees then would have been able to keep both Urshela and Sanchez and used the $48 million they now owe to Donaldson toward paying their new shortstop. A Seager-Urshela, Correa-Urshela or Story-Urshela left side of the infield and Sanchez at catcher is a much better situation than Kiner-Falefa and Donaldson at short and third and Kyle Higashioka and Rortvedt behind the plate. The Yankees instead chose to make the deal with the Twins, a deal that makes them worse, and you would have to lie to yourself in a way that Aaron Boone lies daily to Yankees fans to think the Yankees got better after Sunday night’s trade.

After watching the Braves trade for Olson, the Yankees were left with signing either Freeman or Rizzo to play first (since they have tried to trade Luke Voit for a full calendar year). Once again, rather than using their financial strength as a strength, they passed up the top-shelf choice for a good, but not great option. Rather than reinvigorate the fanbase and show that while the front office is committed to either Oswald Peraza or Anthony Volpe as their future shortstop, they still mean business when it comes to other positions. Now the Yankees are out on Freeman. Just like they are out on Seager, Correa and Story (just like they were out on other free-agent stars in their prime like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado). Just like they have been out on the starting pitching market as a whole this offseason.

Rizzo isn’t an upgrade and doesn’t bring change to the Yankees’ roster that was the preseason favorite to win the American League and ended up finishing fifth in the AL and third in their own division and played nine innings of postseason baseball. He was part of that roster. A Yankees team that failed miserably to meet expectations in 2021 has exchanged Sanchez and Urshela for Kiner-Falefa, Donaldson and Rortvedt for 2022.

The Yankees didn’t use their luxury-tax reset to build the best possible roster. They haven’t upgraded the roster with the “legitimate options” Cashman referred to in October. They have taken a roster that wasn’t good enough to reach the postseason until the final at-bat of the regular season and wasn’t good enough to win a postseason game and they have made it worse.

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“Neil, are you awake? Neil? Are you awake?“

“I am now,” I responded to my wife.

“The Yankees traded Gary Sanchez.”

“Yeah, right.”

“No, really. To the Twins.”

That’s how my Monday began, shortly after 2 a.m.

Beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday night I began updating every possible news outlet by the minute. That was the official start time to the 2022 MLB season and that was when the supposed madness would take place, especially for the Yankees, who would be in search of a shortstop, first baseman, starting pitcher and possible outfielder. I spent the weekend attached to social media in between Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Cocomelon episodes only to be disappointed when the Yankees’ lone move was bringing back Tim Locastro on a major-league deal to give them outfield depth.

I passed out shortly before 10 p.m. on Sunday night in the middle of scouring social media for any inkling of positive Yankees news or potential acquisitions. The moment I fell asleep, Brian Cashman and Co. swooped in as if they were waiting for me to let my guard down, sending Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to the Twins.

My Sanchez fandom is well known. As one of the few surviving members of the Gary Sanchez Fan Club, of course I’m disappointed he’s no longer a Yankee. When right, he presented the biggest position advantage the Yankees had over any opponent. The problem is he hadn’t been right often over the last few years and I spent an inordinate amount of time defending him to Kyle Higashioka believers, who have nonsensically looked past the 32-year-old backup’s career .183/.234/.385 batting line and bottom-of-the-barrel arm, while at the same time being fed up with Sanchez, who in a down year in 2021 hit three more home runs than Higashioka has hit in his career. In the end, Aaron Boone and Higashioka Fan Club won out and now the Yankees boast the worst catching tandem in Major League Baseball. Congratulations!

As for Urshela, I wrote at the end of last season that he was the easiest piece of the roster to move to give the appearance of a new-look roster, and so the Yankees moved him. He was a good Yankee. A product of the 2019 super baseball, but a good Yankee nonetheless.

The Yankees moving on from Sanchez and Urshela isn’t surprising. The return for Sanchez and Urshela is what kept me up from 2 a.m. until 5 a.m. this morning, tossing and turning, trying to go back to sleep, but wondering, ‘Why this trade?’

Prior to the 2019 season, the Yankees had the chance to sign Bryce Harper and/or Manny Machado. They courted Machado enough to sell it to the fanbase that they “tried” to sign the 26-year-old left-side-of-the-infield superstar. They didn’t even meet with Harper, the 26-year-old, left-handed-hitting outfielder with already one MVP to his name.

Why weren’t they even remotely interested in the generational talent Harper? Because they already had Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks, and had Clint Frazier waiting for an everyday role. Since not signing Harper, the Yankees haven’t extended Judge, they don’t let Stanton play the outfield, Hicks has missed 239 of a possible 384 regular-season games (62 percent) and Frazier was released this offseason for nothing. Harper has gone on to hit .281/.402/.556 for the Phillies, averaging 38 home runs and 105 RBIs per 162 games, while winning the 2021 NL MVP and playing in 356 of a possible 384 regular-season games.

All Harper would have cost the Yankees money. Their greatest resource and the thing they make more of than every other team. He ended up getting an average annual salary of $25.3 million, which would cover his age 26-38 seasons.

In Sunday night’s trade, the Yankees acquired Josh Donaldson … and the $48 million owed to him. An average annual salary of $24 million for a 36-year-old third baseman who has played two “full” seasons in the last five years and in one of those “full” seasons (last year), he missed 27 games.

Once upon a time, acquiring Donaldson and paying him that much money would have made sense. That time was five years ago. And while it’s not my money, the idea the Yankees are willing to pay essentially the same average annual salary for the age 36 and 37 seasons of an oft-injured former superstar, while choosing on multiple occasions to not pay for the age 36 and 37 seasons of other current superstars when they would also be getting their prime years is beyond puzzling. The Yankees are choosing that same path at shortstop.

Prior to the lockout, the Yankees had their choice at shortstop: Corey Seager, Carlos Correa or Trevor Story. Seager signed with the Rangers, leaving them with the 27-year-old Correa or the 29-year-old Story. The Yankees chose instead to trade for Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

They chose to do this because their No. 1 and No. 3 prospects are both shortstops excelling in the minors. So in win-now mode with the majority of their “core” approaching or on the other side of 30, rather than commit their future on an already-proven major-league shortstop in their prime, the Yankees are choosing to commit to either a 20-year-old who has never played above High-A or a 21-year-old who has only played 87 games above High-A. Only one of them can be the shortstop of the future, and it’s likely the Yankees choose Volpe, meaning the New Jersey-born native will basically have to become the other New Jersey-born former Yankees shortstop. The Yankees are banking on Volpe being Derek Jeter 2.0. A very reasonable expectation. Kiner-Falefa is a decent player, but the Rangers also signed Seager and Marcus Semien rather than commit to Kiner-Falefa. The Rangers. The same team that released Rougned Odor, who the Yankees happily traded an actual person to acquire, rostered him all season and even let him get two at-bats in the one-game playoff against the Red Sox. Only one person can bat ninth and the Yankees now have multiple candidates for that spot.

There’s this idea the Yankees aren’t done yet, but I don’t know how anyone could truly believe that. That trade could very well be it. They could go into the season praying for a miracle that Hicks (who has missed 44 percent of regular-season games since 2018), Stanton (33 percent), Donaldson (27 percent) and Judge (23 percent) all stay healthy and productive for six-plus months. They could think an infield combination of Donaldson, Kiner-Falefa, DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit is good enough to get them back to the World Series for the first time in 13 years. They could very well think the duo of Higashioka and Ben Rorvedt isn’t the worst catching tandem in the league. (Sorry, it is.)

In mid-October, Cashman said:

“I’m going to be looking to upgrade. There are some areas of weakness that have popped up in a lot of categories.

“Here’s the biggest key: Go to the marketplace, whether it’s the free-agent marketplace, or go to the trade market and see how we can solve that with what’s available in the marketplace. And obviously there will be some legitimate choices to reconfigure in certain categories.”

The roster that needed upgrades still hasn’t gotten them. It still hasn’t added any one of the “legitimate choices” Cashman mentioned. If this is it for the Yankees’ offseason, it’s going to be a long 2022 season, and likely a wasted one at that. On Monday morning, the Yankees’ roster is worse than it was on Sunday afternoon, and it was pretty awful then.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!