Stephen Drew and Martin Prado are helping to finish off the Yankees season

I tend to think of the Trading Deadline in baseball like Christmas morning from when you were a kid. Or your birthday if you prefer to get non-denominational. The excitement of something shiny and new entering your life, often times replacing an old toy that just wasn't very fun anymore. And even if a gift wasn't EXACTLY what you wanted (socks,bed sheets) you were still getting something you would presume to be useful. In this scenario Stephen Drew would totally be the socks. But there is always risk involved. When I got the Ninja Turtles blimp for Christmas one year when I was a lad, my initial sheer joy was only surpassed by my ultimate grave disappointment because the damn thing kept falling apart. The novelty of the newness of the acquisition fades and all you are left with is sadness. That's what we have with the aforementioned Drew and Martin Prado. Two unwrapped presents that have done nothing but disappoint since they were taken out of the box.

The most amazing part is that the bar had been set so incredibly low for the both of them. Drew was replacing Brian Roberts and his 81 wRC+ and 0.1 fWAR and Prado was replacing Ichiro Suzuki and his .224 batting average in July. An E-Z Bake Oven that broke down and caught fire and a remote control car that leaked battery acid everywhere. You would still take that over what Drew and Prado have been doing in their 2+ weeks with the team. Drew is sporting a 21 wRC+ and Prado is at 29. They're both striking out over 20% of the time while walking less than 5%. Aside from the occasional nice play in the field, they've been totally useless. The Yankees playoff chances were already less than healthy with two bad players being slotted into their lineup every night, but two purportedly decent ones hitting like pitchers has helped put the team in their coffin. The Yankees picked up a pair of socks with holes and a set of sheets covered in mites for the trade holiday. Thanks in no small part to those "gifts", the 2014 season is at the stage where Dr. Frankenstein may be required to revive it.

Since it's such a small sample size, neither of these performances would be particularly indicative of anything, even looking towards their future potential performances as Yankees. But if Drew's performance did scare the Yankees decision makers off they can just let him sign elsewhere next year. But Prado's here for the long haul, being owed $20+ million dollars over the next two years. So everybody cross your fingers and hope that this rough stretch is just that, and not a further indication of a downward spiral in Prado's hitting production. He's obviously not a sub-.200 hitter, but it would be nice to see some glimpse of the player he was as recently as 2012 before the season closes out. Or else his position in 2015 (be it RF, 2B or other) isn't going to feel any more resolved or sturdy than it was when 2014 opened.

It's not easy coming over to a new team in a playoff race in the most crushing media market on Earth. You get virtually no opportunity to struggle before the fans are calling for your head. Hell, when Chase Headley started 0-for-4 in his first game as a Yankee I'm sure there would people at the ready with torches and pitchforks. But time was not a luxury that Drew and Prado were going to have with the Yankees this year because the team desperately needed them to give the sagging offense a shot in the arm. By going the extra mile and making the offense even worse than before, they may go down in the lengthy annals of regrettable Yankees acquisitions. Even if they turn it around at this juncture.