I wouldn't exactly call the Yankees plucky, not when they just swallowed the approximately $25 million remaining on Martin Prado's contract as if it was a mint.
But resourceful? Yes, the Yankees are resourceful. On the field, off the field, for the second straight year.
Off the field, general manager Brian Cashman keeps making incremental upgrades. On the field, the Yankees again are out-performing their run differential, which at minus-28 is the sixth-worst in the AL. Their record is 58-54. It should be more like 53-59.
The Yankees' negative run differential stems in part from four April blowouts that they lost by a combined score of 54-12, blowouts partly attributable to the soft underbelly of their bullpen.
The back end of the 'pen, though, remains quite strong. And the Yankees have now played 16 straight games decided by one or two runs, the longest such streak in the majors since 1975. They're 9-7 in this stretch, an MLB-best 37-26 in games decided by one or two runs overall.
No doubt, the Yankees have all kinds of issues. But give credit to Cashman, manager Joe Girardi and pitching coach Larry Rothschild. They've already extracted victories from an MLB-high 19 pitchers, maximizing what they have.
