As strange as this season has been for the Yankees, it’s about to enter an even stranger phase. Back in the early 1980s, there was a time when George Steinbrenner overbooked the Yankees’ roster, leaving the team with a large set of ill-matching parts, all of whom had a claim on playing time. As a result, the Yankees experienced two seasons of first basemen/right fielders, shortstop/first basemen, first basemen/center fielders, and other equally baroque part-time combinations. The team defense was ineffective, and the players became confused and demoralized. With the imminent return of Hideki Matsui, as well as of Carl Pavano and/or Phil Hughes, the Yankees are headed for a similarly disorienting place.

Now, the reinstatement of the Samurai, the Kid, and the Outpatient won’t bring the mood down to where it was in 1982 and 1983. After all, the Yankees are almost certain to be excluded from the playoffs for the first time since 1993. If that hasn’t put a cork in the party, there’s no reason to think a crowded roster will do so. Still, the Yankees will need to give careful consideration to how they distribute playing time over their final 38 games, because they really are playing for next year, and the year after as well.

Just last week, the Yankees finally awoke to the devastatingly negative offensive value of Melky Cabrera and replaced him with 2005 third-round pick Brett Gardner. In his last two games, both wins for the Yankees, the diminutive Gardner went 5-for-11 with a double and a triple and delivered the winning hit in the 13th inning of Saturday’s game. In some ways, his game-winner was just another hit. In others, it was a hint of what a more balanced lineup for the Yankees might accomplish, one in which the big boppers such as Alex Rodriguez were not hamstrung by Cabrera, this year’s on-again, off-again version of Robinson Cano, and the club’s congeries of post-Posada backstops. Gardner is almost certainly not a coming star and may not even be a coming starter, but he represents the closest thing the Yankees have to a ready positional prospect — Double-A Trenton outfielder Austin Jackson is next on the list, and he’s a full level away. And with the Yankees’ roster aging, the big club needs to see what it has in him.

Yet, with Matsui apparently ready to come off the disabled list today, Gardner’s chance to shine may have come to a premature end. Since Matsui’s return represents a successful postponement of surgery on his left knee rather than an actual cure, he won’t be used in the outfield for the remainder of the season. Assuming he plays most of the time — and Matsui didn’t put off surgery merely to sit — that would seem to limit the number of combinations available to Joe Girardi. Bobby Abreu is solidly ensconced in right field, Xavier Nady has earned his place in left with a home run every 11 at bats since becoming a Yankee, and Johnny Damon has been one of the club’s most consistent hitters this season, with a batting average of .325 in 79 games since the end of April. Assuming he’s physically able to play center field, that’s where he’ll be when Matsui plays.

There is no doubt that this configuration, with Jason Giambi playing first base, represents the most potent lineup available to the Yankees at this time. However, if the postseason is truly out of reach — and the Yankees would have to play at close to a 110-win pace to catch the Red Sox for the wild card if the latter played only .500 baseball for the rest of the season, and that assumes that one of the White Sox and Twins aren’t in the mix as well — the Yankees need to start figuring out how they’re going to get the team back on track for next year. Abreu, now finishing his contract, may not be part of the mix. Indeed, given his age, declining production, and defensive limitations, there is a strong argument to be made that he should not be re-signed. Assuming the Yankees chose to concentrate their free agent dollars on C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira rather than the more limited Adam Dunn or Pat Burrell, a likely outfield configuration for next season would have Damon in left, Gardner in center, and Nady in right. If that is indeed the plan, a battle-tested Gardner carries a stronger chance of succeeding. There is also the possibility that Damon and Matsui, both 35 next season and in the final seasons of their contracts, will disappoint, be it through injuries or weak performances. This also argues for allowing Gardner to continue to play.

Almost out of space and we haven’t even gotten to the potential return of Pavano, a pending free agent who needs the Yankees more than they need him. If he’s allowed to pitch, the Yankees will have to worry about injury — not Pavano’s, but the rest of the team’s. How do you patch a player whose head has just exploded after witnessing the impossible?

Mr. Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible for yesnetwork.com and is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.