Bombers go

Even Yanks have a budget, or

Last week, Forbes placed two New York teams, the Yankees and the Knicks, as two of the five most valuable franchises in all of professional sports. After a trade deadline where the Yankees failed to make a single impact deal of impact or import to the big league club, Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman revealed that the Knicks and Yankees have plenty in common. It's not that they play in one of the world's largest sports markets. Nor is it that they profit wildly for the privilege of playing here.

No, it's that both the Yankees and the Knicks operate with a salary cap. The Knicks' cap is formal, visible and easy to discern. The Yankees' cap is informal, but has just as much of an effect on their business dealings.

The Yankees' win over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday played second fiddle to the indecision of their front office as the deadline passed. After Cashman failed to make a single meaningful acquisition to bolster the team, especially their beleaguered and struggling starting rotation, the Yanks' GM was asked if he had any regrets about failing to sign Patrick Corbin during the offseason. The Nationals' star acquisition is great in exactly the way the Yankees need (3.26 ERA, 3.6 WAR, sixth-best in the National League), and feasibly could have been obtained — he was a free agent, and the Yankees have more cash to spend than almost any other American sports franchise.

Cashman offered a tepid justification for why Corbin isn't wearing pinstripes.

“There's a lot of guys currently sitting in (the Yankees') locker room that wouldn't be here because, again, all that money woulda gone in one direction,” he said. “We repackaged that money and produced various assets like DJ LeMahieu and y'know, [Adam] Ottavino amongst others.”

LeMahieu is a fringe MVP candidate in the midst of a career year, and Ottavino has struck out 32.5 percent of the batters he's faced. In short, they're quality players having strong seasons. But according