Via Filip Bondy this morning:

Nobody is talking about the Yankees as a championship team anymore – not this year, anyway – and that means the arrow continues to point in the wrong direction for this franchise.

Over the past eight years, the Bombers have slowly devolved from perennial champions to chronic playoff disappointments, then to a wild-card team and now to a mere wild-card contender. Over a sampling of more than 1,175 games, a pattern is easily discernible, and more reliable than a 33-32 record.

Think about it for a moment. The days are long past when Joe Torre was banned by George Steinbrenner from even mentioning the possibility of the wild card, for fear of seeping defeatism.

It is no longer good enough to cite the early season injuries as alibis. Damon, Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu have solid numbers at the plate, while Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez have combined for 24 homers. The Yanks came to the West Coast yesterday as the third-best hitting team in the American League, behind only Texas and Boston.

We know the problem, and it is not when the Yanks are at bat. They were 21st in ERA out of 30 teams, a sad stat considering the investment of time and money involved. Going into the game Tuesday night, their team ERA of 4.44 was exactly 1.00 worse than the A’s, whose GM, Billy Beane, is famous for his ability to make lemonade out of lemons. Oakland has a payroll this season of $48 million, third-lowest in the league and less than a quarter of the Yanks. Yet somehow, the A’s are everything the Yankees are supposed to be.

Brian Cashman has not been as efficient developing young arms as Beane, and he hasn’t been as smart about spending tons of money as Theo Epstein. That leaves the Yankees hovering around .500, and leaves us to shrug our shoulders at what comes next.

At first, I thought maybe park factors was the reason behind the difference in the A’s ERA and the Yankees ERA – but, when I looked at RSAA totals, to date, for the teams in the A.L., it does show that Oakland’s pitching (as well as Boston’s) has been better than the Yankees this season.

But, then again, the Yankees pitching, as a whole, is right around the middle of the pack this season in terms of RSAA. So, while they’re not great this season, so far, they’re not terrible either.

I think it all goes back to the Yankees plan this season: Having bats to mash and offset the question-marks and growing pains on the pitching staff. And, while guys like Giambi, Matsui and Damon have mashed, guys like Jeter, Cabrera and Cano have been very weak, with the sticks, this season – and this with losing Posada (and having to play Molina) has offset what Giambi, Matsui and Damon have been doing. In fact, in terms of team RCAA, the Yankees are a middle of the pack team (in the A.L.).

Just about league average team offense and just about league average team pitching leads to a .500 team record. And, that’s what’s wrong with the Yankees this season – they’re just average – in terms of the sum of their parts.

And, for that to change, Jeter and Cano need to start hitting like they have in the past and Cabrera needs to step-up or be replaced. It’s either that, or, the Yankees need to get better pitching.