Before the season, many observers noted that the Yankees’ main flaw was that they were fielding half a baseball team, one with a pitiful bottom of the order, a thin bench and bullpen, and a curious lack of starting depth. Believe it or not, the baseball gods have smiled on the Bronx this summer, as the rotation’s utter collapse was masked by the inexplicably excellent performances of Aaron Small, Shawn Chacon, and Chien-Ming Wang.

But that didn’t fix the problems. The inability of the team’s brass to lay hands on any worthwhile relievers and the unwillingness of Joe Torre to use the quality reserves, like Matt Lawton and Mark Bellhorn, who were acquired to add to the team’s depth, have left the Yankees in a bad situation. Even if they make the playoffs, who exactly are they going to play?

On the offensive side, things are a mystery. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, and Robinson Cano are all rightly assured of postseason roster spots. That leaves five bench spots and a bewildering variety of roles which the Yankees seem unable to fill. In no particular order of importance, Torre will need a defensive replacement for the outfield, another for first base, righty and lefty pinch hitters, and a pinch runner.

What he has is a collection of square pegs for round holes. Ruben Sierra and Tino Martinez will make the roster because they’re established Yankees, despite being superfluous and not very good. John Flaherty will make the roster as the reserve catcher. That leaves Lawton, Bellhorn, Bubba Crosby, Tony Womack, and Andy Phillips for the last four slots.

While Crosby isn’t an especially good runner or defender, he’ll make the roster because he looks like he’s both, while Womack is safe because he’s stolen a lot of bases in his career. Bellhorn and Lawton are both on the bubble – these are good hitters who haven’t shown it in the Bronx, and atrocious defenders. Both will almost certainly make the cut ahead of the useless Phillips, but you never can tell with Joe Torre.

Frighteningly, this plausible roster has three designated hitters, no one capable of backing up shortstop or third or playing an adequate centerfield, and more crummy pinch runners than solid right-handed bats. None of this would matter much if Torre wasn’t addicted to what TV announcers like to call “the National League style” of managing during the postseason (read: too many inane substitutions meant to display the skipper’s tactical genius). But as he is, if the Yankees make the playoffs, we’re going to see Womack at bat in key situations and Matt Lawton in center. None of this is good.

It certainly looks good next to the pitching situation, though. It’s possible to cobble up a reasonable roster of hitters for the Yankees; doing so with the pitchers is quite a bit harder. Let’s assume Randy Johnson, Chacon, Small, Wang, and Jaret Wright all make it to the end of the season in one piece – a rather dubious proposition, but one we can make. Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera will make the roster, while Tanyon Sturtze’s continued semi-competence and Al Leiter’s big-game experience will put them in October, too.

Who are the last two pitchers? Alan Embree, who seemingly has yet to get a lefty out in a key situation and has managed the neat trick of pitching only 2 1/3 innings in six games? Wayne Franklin, Scott Proctor, Jorge DePaula, or Felix Rodriguez, none of whom has a September ERA below 7.71? Granting that’s a ridiculously small sample size, it’s not as if these guys have given anyone reason to think they’re not awful this year, and their bad pitching of late isn’t helping their cause. Maybe Mel Stottlemyre is planning to come out of retirement?

There’s no way around it: If they make it to the playoffs, the Yanks are going to have to feature a pitching staff on which Johnson and Chacon will be the closest the team has to reliable starters – a staff featuring three different mop-up men and not a single effective situational reliever. Someone like Embree is going to get the call in a big spot, because Torre is prone to using horrible pitchers as if they were good just because he falls into patterns he likes (such as calling on a lefty with one or two outs in the bottom of the eighth in a close game rather than simply bringing in Rivera), and it’s going to cost the team big-time.

If all this seems negative, it’s not meant to be. It’s just that it’s unbelievable that the Yankees are confronted with such sketchy options given that everyone with the least idea of what they were talking about was pointing out before the season that this was what would face them if they didn’t get serious about acquiring some quality role players.

Star power wins in the postseason, and the Yankees have enough at the plate to go all the way if they can survive into October, but it’s just as likely that Wayne Franklin or Tony Womack will be holding the team’s fate in his hands – something no one other than their relatives wants to see.