GENIUS CASHMAN IN A BIND

Yankees

Yankees GM Brian Cashman in a bind with veterans under big contracts and a lack of soon-to-be-ready prospects

With Hal Steinbrenner’s $189-million payroll edict for 2014 hanging over his head, Cashman couldn’t even keep Russell Martin from leaving to sign a two-year deal with the Pirates, of all teams.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, December 3, 2012, 10:14 PM

Mark Humphrey/AP

Brian Cashman has old players tied up in big contracts and without major-league ready prospects.

NASHVILLE — Over the years rival baseball executives have often joked privately that they’d love to have Brian Cashman’s job for a finite period, short enough so they could get out before developing an ulcer, but long enough so they could win championships and play fantasy GM with that limitless Yankee payroll.

Suffice to say the job doesn’t hold quite the same appeal at the moment, particularly after the news on Monday that Alex Rodriguez needs hip surgery again.

“Cash is in a tough spot,” one GM said at the winter meetings. “He’s got old, injured players who cost a fortune, his owner wants him to get the payroll down, and he doesn’t have major league-ready prospects he can trade to get help.”

Somehow the guy managed to resist the urge to add: “Good luck with all that.”

No, these are not the best of times to be GM of the Yankees. With Hal Steinbrenner’s $189-million payroll edict for 2014 hanging over his head, Cashman couldn’t even keep Russell Martin from leaving to sign a two-year deal with the Pirates, of all teams, a move that leaves him desperately in need of a No. 1 catcher.

And now he has to find someone to play third base for at least the first half of next season, and maybe longer, depending how A-Rod recovers from surgery on his left hip — surgery that Cashman said would be more extensive than the one he had on his right hip in the spring of 2009.

The Rodriguez injury adds to the questions the Yankees face going into the 2013 season, as Derek Jeter returns from a broken ankle while closing in on age 39, Mariano Rivera returns from major knee surgery at age 43 and CC Sabathia returns from surgery to remove a bone spur in his left elbow.

Throw in the fact that Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte, the No. 2 and 3 starters, will be 38 and 41 next season, and you can see why Cashman — as well as other GMs — may feel as if the walls are closing in on him.

Then again, it’s possible the Rodriguez hip surgery could be a blessing in disguise of sorts. It could explain his helplessness at the plate in September and October, and it could make him dangerous again, as it did in 2009, the season in which A-Rod finally produced in October, leading the Yankees to a world championship.

On the other hand, a second hip surgery could merely hasten A-Rod’s precipitous decline, making it less likely that he’ll be able to play an adequate third base when he does return, and more likely that he’ll have to DH regularly.

In any case, it puts Cashman in a bind.

“Yeah, but that’s part of the job,” he said Monday. “It’s no complaint — it’s just we have to deal with it. We will. How we deal with it remains to be seen.

“I can’t tell you what our Opening Day situation is going to be there yet, but we have some more time to deal with that. It’s not an easy position to fill. The (available) choices aren’t pretty.”

It’s a slim free-agent market for third basemen, to be sure. Utility man Marco Scutaro, who played superbly for the Giants in the postseason, is more of a second baseman but he might be the best option, filling in at third base nicely last season when Pablo Sandoval was injured.

Otherwise, well, the Yankees aren’t signing Kevin Youkilis, and they don’t seem to have the prospects to go out and trade for someone like the Padres’ Chase Headley.

As for internal options, Cashman said firmly that moving Jeter to third will not be considered: “We can get that out of the way — he’s our shortstop.”

Cashman also said that Eduardo Nunez is a shortstop, not a third baseman, but did not shut the door on moving him. The problem there is that Nunez has been erratic defensively at both spots.

That leaves Eric Chavez, still a good player but too old and injury-prone to count on regularly, and Jayson Nix, a solid utility man who played a lot of third and short last season. But obviously Cashman will be looking for something more appealing.

“We will try to accomplish upgrades where practical,” he said. “But if people want to try and take advantage of the circumstances and have us pay twice the price, then we’re not going to do anything there. We’ll just deal with what we’ve got and wait it out.”

Cashman is accustomed to having the upper hand at this time of year, dealing from a position of power afforded by the Yankee payroll and its star power. But times are changing, and quickly. For the moment, at least, his job is no longer the envy of his peers.

EDB

Ti