A CHILL IN THE AIR

Brian’s cool restraint is wise at topsy-turvy Winter Meetings

YANKEE LEGIONS are understandably frantic after watching 72 total players changing teams at the winter meetings, 17 involving Dodger deals alone — and Brian

Cashman coming home with nothing to show for his time under the San Diego palm trees but the gaping hole in the middle of his rotation. The void from his trade of Shane

Greene a few days before became more gaping with Brandon Mc

Carthy’s free-agent defection — this along with his not-so-sorry farewell to David Robertson.

But it could’ve been worse, actually a lot worse, if Cashman had done a lot of dumb things such as trading off any of his three top farm prospects — the electric, fast-rising righty Luis Severino, lefty-hitting first baseman Greg Bird — the Arizona Fall League MVP — or outfielder Aaron Judge, the hulking 6-7, 230-pound outfield slugger — or given the kind of four-year contracts, for $48 and $54 million, McCarthy and Ervin Santana got from the Dodgers and Minnesota Twins, respectively. If nothing else, you have to commend Cashman and the Yanks for the restraint they’re showing this offseason. If this were back in the ’80s, when George Stein

brenner was at his “win now, damn the future” Doug Drabek- for- Rick

Rhoden manic worst, Severino, Bird and Judge would likely all be elsewhere; 36-year-old Jimmy Rol

lins might be playing shortstop for the Yankees, Evan Longoria and his declining productivity might be at third, and 30-year-old Max Scher

zer would be a seven- year, $200 million bookend to CC Sabathia (and how’s that one working out?). With

A-Rod, Sabathia and Mark Teixeira all Exhibits A of the folly of 7-plusyear contracts to 30 or older players, and a payroll consistently over the luxury-tax threshold for the foreseeable future, the Yankees have apparently learned their lesson about trying to buy a championship as opposed to building from within — as

Gene Michael did in preserving the Derek Jeter/Andy Pettitte/Bernie Williams/Jorge Posada/Mariano Rivera homegrown core back in the early ’90s.

That said, Cashman still has to come up with at least one starting pitcher to replace Greene or McCarthy, with the free-agent market pretty much stripped clean to the low risk/high upside types such as

oft-injured lefty Brett Anderson. In all likelihood he’ll have to resort to the trade route, sacrificing some of his lesser prospects, such as catch

er Gary Sanchez, whom the Yanks nevertheless still overvalue. Otherwise, the Yankee high command feels Severino has the stuff to be in the Bronx by midseason. And it

looks like Chase Headley’s market may also be falling into the Yankees’ (three-year) comfort zone.

Meanwhile, for all the sound and gas-bag fury at the San Diego swapfest, only three teams — the White Sox, Marlins and Padres — significantly improved themselves without paying through the nose for it (as the Cubs did with Jon

Lester), while the Red Sox and Tigers both addressed needs with their mutual trade but not their primary vulnerabilities.

DODGERS

New Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is being hailed as a creative genius in some quarters for his sweeping makeover of the Dodgers. But what did Friedman actually do other than get older in the infield and somewhat cheaper in the outfield? Yes, Rollins, even at 36, is a huge improvement at shortstop over Hanley Ramirez, and a perfect placeholder for top prospect Corey Seager; and 31-yearold Howie Kendrick (who, like Rollins is a free agent after next season) will provide RBI punch at second base. But even though Dee Gordon tailed off considerably in the second half last year with only four walks and a .300 OBP, his speed (major league-leading 64 stolen bases) and youth (26) will be greatly missed as the Dodgers are now one of the oldest and slowest teams in baseball. But the real head-scratching deal was Friedman’s shipping of the popular Matt Kemp (whose 17 homers and 54 RBI after the All-Star break were second-most in the majors last year) down the freeway to the Padres, along with $32 million in cash for some marginal prospects and catcher Yasmani Grandal, who hit .225, threw out just 13% of opposing baserunners and was suspended for PEDs in the Biogenesis scandal. (Ah, but he’s a great framer of pitches!) Nothing creative about that. Friedman’s first mission was to rid the Dodgers of one of their expensive outfielders — Kemp, Andre

Ethier or Carl Crawford — and he picked the wrong one.

MARLINS

They were able to address two of their primary needs — speed (Gordon stole eight more bases than the entire Marlin team last year) and starting pitching depth by acquiring

Mat Latos from the Cincinnati Reds without sacrificing either of their two most-prized pitching prospects,

Tyler Kolek or Justin Nicolino. But they still have one major need — a power-hitting first baseman to provide middle-of-the-order protection to $300 million man Giancarlo

Stanton. They tried to get Colorado’s Justin Morneau, only to find the price prohibitive and are now zeroing in (along with the Orioles and Astros, among others) on San Francisco free agent Michael Morse.

RED SOX

They made a great deal with the Tigers, getting Rick Porcello, who should be a solid No. 2 starter for them, for Yoenis Cespedes, who because of his expected contract demands after next year and questionable makeup, didn’t have as much value as might have ordinarily befitted a 100-RBI man. But they’re still far from being transformed from a last-place team to a World Series contender again until they get a bona fide No. 1 starter. At least they’ve still maintained all of their top prospects — catcher Blake Swi

hart, third baseman Garin Cecchini, lefty Henry Owens and righty

Anthony Ranaudo — meaning they have the package it will take to get the No. 1 starter they really need such as a Cole Hamels from the Phillies, a Johnny Cueto from the Reds or the Nationals’ Jordan Zim

mermann. They also need a lot of bullpen help, even a closer, unless they really think Koji Uehara’s regression and late fade last year was nothing to be concerned about. The fact that the Sox were willing to go only as high as $135 million for Lester — who spent nearly nine years in Boston — tells you the Sox will not be in on Scherzer.

TIGERS

Certainly Cespedes adds another formidable bat with Miguel Cabre

ra and the two Martinezes, Victor and J. D., in the middle of their order, and Alfredo Simon, from the Reds, is a decent replacement for Porcello in the rotation. But the Tigers are an old, slow team that really needs a full return to health from shortstop

Jose Iglesias — and they remain, as always, very suspect in the back of the bullpen. Signing Robertson would’ve been a much better move than trading for Cespedes.

WHITE SOX

Considering they didn’t have a whole lot of desirable prospects, they’ve done a great job of addressing all of their needs — a top-of-the-rotation starter in Jeff

Samardzija to complement Chris Sale, a lefty-hitting first baseman

in Adam LaRoche to complement Jose Abreu, and a remake of the back end of their previously porous bullpen in lefty set-up man

Zach Duke and closer Robertson. For good measure, they picked up another under-the-radar lefty relief specialist from Miami in Dan

Jennings. And on his way out of the meetings Sox GM Rick Hahn said he still had one more move to make, presumably acquiring a more athletic defensive left-field alternative to Dayán Viciedo. As for the Avenging Agent,

Scott Boras, and his quest for the One Dumb Owner to give Scherzer — with one complete game to his credit — $200 million, well, he’ll probably find one — he always does — even if it’s not the usual suspects: Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers or Angels. Here’s our best bets: Texas, which needs to do something dramatic with its pitching to keep pace with the Angels and Mariners in the AL West; the Astros, who appear poised to spend big to satisfy owner Jim

Crane’s edict to be competitive next year, or the Nats, if they decide to trade Zimmermann.