I had a lot of thoughts about this loss and what it meant in the big picture, but there really is nothing to be said. The team is suffering from a sudden lack of depth from injuries and underperforming. Perhaps there were certain leaps of faith that should not have been made, and overpaying for players who would otherwise not be here has always been a questionable strategy (but then what of Robbie?), but the most damning reality is that there was no one ready to take over for the old core players. Poor planning, bad luck, both? Do they really even believe in that anymore? But nothing here is new, so I'm pretty much just talking to myself out loud here.

Despite all the injuries, our pitching has held the line. You couldn't have asked more from Whitely, Betances, Warren and Phelps and even Nuño has not been horrible. Tanaka was the right move at the right time.

Two blown saves for Robertson is not a disaster.

The problem and the key missing piece to the puzzle is Cano. Put him in the current line-up and it's helluva a lot better. They should have given him the moon.

Picture him mentoring Solarte, jawing with Soriano. Making the people who hit around him, like McCann, just a little better.

Good news is that Seattle has to (or has already) fly from Seattle to New York. On an off day. Plus they lose three hours so they should be out of sorts.

Interesting [1] [2].
Cano would obviously make the team better this year, next year, and the next. And then the Yankees would be saddled with another Aging Star contract.
I think the Yanks would have to get pretty lucky to rebuild a core from the farm system, given that there cannot be any such thing as a rebuilding year for the Bombers. They will never get top draft picks, and the pressure to trade decent prospects is always going to be huge. Betances, if he could have been (or more optimistically, ever could be) a starter, is one of those lucky hits; Banuelos so far not so lucky. Montero also a fizzle, even though he was a smart try by Cashman. It's a tough game.

Boatzilla's reminder about Tanaka is right on point. This is the way the Yankees should be going. They should still have an advantage with international free agents. Did Cashman's crew have Puig on their radar? I'd love to see a Yankee team with a core of young international stars.

[3] I know, whenever I have to spend six hours on a luxury air cruiser and then play a game at what feels to me like 4 in the afternoon, I find it so taxing!

The Yanks rebuilt in the early 90's and can do it again. Trying to plug holes with aging stars is not the way to go. Besides without augmentation players are finished in their mid 30's or earlier. The Yankee farm system is having an excellent year with position players. Some young pitchers are already in the bigs. Without developing a core you can lucky for one year but cannot sustain success.
Hernandez is pitching tonight. He could walk to the Stadium and handle this lineup.

[1] The team is suffering from a sudden lack of depth

Is the lack of depth really so sudden? The team started the season with a a nominal ace of 33 years whose fastball has been disappearing (and now we know it's related to a degenerative condition) and a second ace who, though great the previous few seasons, is 39 y.o.. And big hopse were placed on the 25 y.o. flamethrower who had not pitched in the bigs in two seasons after shoulder surgery...and who is now shut down. The offense was to be anchored by a 37 y.o. slugger with bad knees, a 34 y.o. firstbaseman whose numbers had declined for four conscutive seasons and who is coming off a wrist injury, and Ellsbury. A team hoping a gainst hope that derek Jeter still has something in the tank. A team whose "depth" consisted largely of Alfonso Soriano (38 y.o.) and Ichiro! (40 y.o.). And the youngster, 30 y.o. Brett GArdner. No injury or underperformance can truly be a surprise if that is the way you build your team.

They can't admit it at these prices but the Yanks are rebuilding. Some decent young pitching is already in the bigs earlier than expected. Cashman was hoping to get another year out of this aging roster and fill the gaps. Unfortunately, the big contract guys have broken down and the signees can't play anymore. Unlike last year, however, there are some really good prospects in the minors getting close.
Go Yanks!

McCann has to start hitting, man. He's got to be frustrated with his results so far.

[6] The Yankee farm system is having an excellent year with position players.

[8] Unlike last year, however, there are some really good prospects in the minors getting close.

Who are these position players who are getting close? The AAA roster appears fairly empty in terms of position prospects, with AA not much better. Kyle Roller seems to be having a fine season, good enough to warrant promotion to AAA, but a 26 y.o. permanent DH/1B is not a prospect to get much excited about.

Eh.
Every year since 2001 a bunch of people have said, "Oh, the Yankees are so old, this is the end of the dynasty," etc. When that criticism turns out to be wrong over and over and over, it's a little hard to be impressed by it when the team really does get decimated by injuries.

Actually, at AAA Pirella, Roller and Garcia are older but better than what they have now and certainly hungrier. Refsnyder, O'Brien and Sanchez who is really heating up are at Trenton. The Tampa club has excellent young players. Jagielo from ND who was a first rounder last year is a third baseman and a lefty hitter with excellent power. Their best prospect is Aaron Judge a first rounder last year who is an athletic 6'7". Look for him to move up from Charleston after the draft. He hit a 450ft. homer yesterday.
O'Brien has 20 homer this year at 2 levels. Right handed power is rare in the majors.
When your retired you have time to study this stuff. Need some optimism. Hard to watch the present Yanks.

Probably Eric Jagielo and Gary Sanchez are the best non-pitcher prospects. Still a couple of promotions away.

I'm expecting (well, hoping) that the international scouting division will rebuild the team. I don't believe it's rebuilding now. The Yankees believe (and I can only assume they're right) that they just can't afford a rebuilding year, financially speaking.

Aaron Judge has such a non-baseball build that it's hard for me to take him seriously.
Man, Billy Beane and Michael Lewis would laugh if they heard that.

[12} Umm...Garcia is 29 y.o. Pirella, however, does look like an interesting player.

[13] My hope is that they are biding their time with the international market and hoping the young farm talent will make it to the bigs, then they can supplement their rebuilt core with ready to play young international players. The reiterate that the mistake they made over the last few years was trying to hold to a self-imposed cap limit that they realized too late was counterintuitive to their main goals. That line of thinking cost them Darvish, Cespedes, Chapman, Starling Marte, Jose Abreu, Puig and a host of other IFAs they could have built around or supplemented their home grown talent with. That's definitely an organization fail, but not fatal. It just sets them back for several more years than they can readily admit for marketing and fiduciary concerns.

[16] Yeah, I totally agree with that.
Of course, there were other guys who didn't pan out and would have been unfortunate signings, but that's one of the advantages of having the great coffers.

[11] This team is doomed.

(16)Chyll you can't sign everyone. Other teams have money too. They can't spend there way out of this mess.
(14)I have seen Aaron Judge. He is big, athletic and has a great approach at the plate. He will come fast.
(15) Garcia is a Cuban who has international experience and is playing well. That's why I mentioned him. Isn't this better than talking about Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts? I love this stuff.

[19] Probably too late, but...Isn't this better than talking about Kelly Johnson?

It would be if I thought the Yankees would actually take a chance on young (or not so young) MiL players.

[19] That's true, but what I meant was that they didn't try much, if at all to go after ANY of them, which is a fail. You can't reasonably expect to sign all the top talent, but the ones above they made poor attempts or none at all because they were adhering to their failed theory of staying under their limit to get a rebate next year. If they had continued with that line of thinking, they wouldn't even have Tanaka, or if they did it's Tanaka, Gardner and very likely a handful of AA-AAA players trying to hold it down with aging overpaid vets this year. Cashman's still looking for the next Scott Broscius and David Justice; he got lucky with Solarte at least (not to mention the banishment of He Who Should Not Be Named).

The Yanks are gonna have to ride out their lousy contracts and hope their prospects and signings can come in and take over in the meantime. Could have made the process a little easier if they had tried signing any one or two from the group above, but that's neither here nor there, so take the lumps and hope that whatever the new plan is now, it works and they continue o grow with it instead of what appears to be their wont to suddenly change directions again.

(14) Judge homered again tonight. Good prospect.

Yeah, so far it's been disappointing but with three fifths of the pitching staff gone for who knows how long they'll remain in contention through September because the division is very average. That said, why is Ellsberry batting 3rd. He is without a doubt the best leadoff batter in the league. The team has a lot of speed with him, Gritner and Ichie and should be playing little ball right now with no Soriano, Beltran, Tex and the ever disappearing McCann. For all I know, Solarte is fast, too. I liked the speed at the beginning of the season when JE was leading off, now, not so much.