Brian Cashman is not giving up, but should he?

“We have a small piece that we’re acquiring right now that hasn’t been announced yet, so again going to continue to try to piece things together,” said Cashman during an interview with MLB Network this afternoon.

While I don't ever want to see the Yankees give up, I'm afraid of what could happen should they try too hard to compete this season.

The team has more than one hole to fill in order to truly compete in 2014. The Yanks have lost 4/5 of their starting rotation to injury (mind you, none of the injuries have been minor), so they could use another starter or two depending on how some of the rehabs go. On top of starters the Yankees could use a right fielder, third baseman, and a reliever. To get all or even part of that, the team would likely have to give up some youth. And that youth could help future teams.

If it's not youth the team gives up it would just be money. Which, on it's own, is no big deal. While the Yankees can handle taking on more salary, the problem in doing so is the extra years that a player would have left on his contract. And having that guy around could keep the team from making moves in the offseason which would make the team better.

For example, what if the team traded for John Danks of the White Sox? Sure, it would clearly be a good move for this year's team. Not that Danks is on par with other possible trade targets like David Price or Cliff Lee, but he's a solid starter. But what happens next season, and the season after that, as Danks' contract runs through 2016? The Yankees already have CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, and Ivan Nova as rotation candidates for 2015. Adding Danks into the mix would likely keep the team from possibly going after somebody like Jon Lester, or trading for a better starter. Even if the Yanks didn't want acquire a new starter, having Danks around would block a youngster like Chase Whitley, Shane Greene, or David Phelps from developing further.

The point I'm trying to make is that making moves to help the 2014 Yankees could be detrimental to future teams. One of those types of moves is bad enough, but do that three or four times and we're looking at more heartbreak later on.