Mike Celizic

When the tabloids start pushing Alfonso Soriano as the man who can save the Yankees, you know there’s trouble in the Bronx.

That was the situation Friday morning, when the New York papers hit the streets. The mighty offensive juggernaut that just 12 hours earlier had been the Yankees had taken one amidship when left fielder Hideki Matsui, a guaranteed 110 RBI, broke his wrist so badly there was speculation that he might not return this season. With right fielder Gary Sheffield already sidelined with a bruised wrist and not looking to return until June, the Yankees outfield had no corners and the batting order had lost a pair that last season hit 57 home runs with nearly 250 RBIs.

What makes it a disaster of epic proportions is that the Yankees are not built to win low-scoring games. Their game plan is to roll out slugger after slugger after slugger, throw up six runs or more a game, and hope their pitching can make it stand up. Without two major sluggers, that plan isn’t going to work.

Other teams call up whatever they have on the farm and hope for the best. The Yankees have done the farm thing — Melky Cabrera and Kevin Reese have taken the shuttle from Columbus. But they’re not into the hope thing. Instead of throwing wishes at the schedule, the Yankees go shopping.

The team knows it can’t live with Bubba Crosby, a good fielder who doesn’t have a lot of pop at the plate, and Bernie Williams in the outfield. Williams can still hit, but he’s on the team to DH and play the outfield occasionally. His legs aren’t what they used to be and his arm is little more than a dishrag.

The Yankees also aren’t going to survive with Cabrera, who makes up for his failings on defense with a lack of prowess at the plate.

It’s a given the team will buy somebody, and lists of likely suspects started to proliferate immediately. Some simply have no chance of happening, such as suggested trades for Ken Griffey Jr. or Austin Kearns of the Reds or Bobby Abreu of the Phillies. Both the Reds and the Phillies are in pennant races, and both teams need pitching, a commodity of which the Yankees have very little. They do have Carl Pavano and Ottavio Dotel, both due to return from injuries soon, but if you were a GM trying to get the pitcher who is going to win you a division, do you trade for either of them?

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Torii Hunter, the Twins’ great center fielder, is also frequently mentioned as a player Minnesota will not be able to afford to re-sign and must move. But you have to figure the Twins will want a lot for him, and the Yankees don’t have the talent in the system to get Hunter.

But Soriano is a different story. He’s the reluctant left fielder for the Nationals, who are already waving the white flag of surrender and talking about next season. He’s a free-agent-to-be and he’s got a fat contract. The Nats don’t want his salary or his whining, and are willing to move him right now. Unlike a lot of other teams with outfielders to trade, they don’t need anyone who can help right now.