NEW YORK -- Dark storm clouds morphed into brilliant sunshine on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in the Bronx, but that same clearing still has not taken place for the Yankees' underwhelming opening act.

General manager Brian Cashman found a grassy patch of real estate toward the first-base side of the batting cage, trying his best to ignore the obvious -- finally, after so much Hot Stove speculation, Johan Santana had found his way to Yankee Stadium, doing so wearing the uniform of the New York Mets.

In case you ignored every back page of the Gotham winter, Santana was the heartthrob of the Yankees' offseason -- if not organizationally, then certainly for Hank Steinbrenner, whose pining remains: "I can't say that I wouldn't like to have Santana in the rotation," he said this week.

Instead, the Yankees decided to set their course with younger pitching. Hours away from watching Santana pitch effectively to defeat the Yankees in the first of six games against the Mets this year, Cashman insisted he would not wonder what it would be like to have a do-over.

"That would be wasted energy; I don't think of that at all," Cashman said. "I'm not sure what difference it would make, if we're not scoring for him either."

History nearly shifted in December, when the Minnesota Twins shopped Santana with measured urgency at the Winter Meetings. Two distinct four-player packages separated the Yankees from calling Santana their own.

In one deal, the Yankees would have parted with right-hander Phil Hughes, outfielder Melky Cabrera and two prospects, one of whom was right-hander Jeff Marquez. In the other, the Twins were asking for right-hander Chien-Ming Wang, Cabrera, right-hander Ian Kennedy and Marquez.

Though Steinbrenner seemed to offer reporters internal play-by-play, Cashman stayed mum, even refusing to acknowledge Santana's existence in one meeting with the Yankees' beat reporters. In the end, Cashman kept his mouth closed and kept his prospects as well, beginning the season with Hughes, 21, and Kennedy, 23, in the starting rotation.

The hyped group, including 22-year-old phenom Joba Chamberlain, was dubbed "Generation Trey" by one New York tabloid. Few could have imagined that by the third week in May, Chamberlain -- a reliever -- would be the only one of the trio to actually log a Major League victory in 2008.

That quirk proves particularly sticky because of Cashman's own contract situation; his three-year deal, worth approximately $5.5 million, expires at the conclusion of the season, and the performance of those young pitchers may play a large role in whether the Yankees make the playoffs or not.

Though Steinbrenner has said that he still wants Cashman -- the club's GM since Feb. 1998 -- to continue in his role, both parties mutually agreed to delay any discussion of a contract extension until after the season.

If the youth movement continues to provide underwhelming results, the landscape may change markedly. Of this, Cashman said only, "That's not a question for me. That's a question for ownership."

Steinbrenner's take: "If he wants to stay, there's a chance of that. If he wants to leave, then I guess he'll leave. It's up to me and it's up to him, too."

Cashman notes that the Yankees' lack of offense and their numerous injuries have more to do with their place in the standings than their pitching, and he may be correct. The feared lineup has been anything but a juggernaut, scoring just 189 runs through 46 games.

Going without Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada for extended periods of time, due to injuries, weakened the heart of the lineup noticeably, and Steinbrenner rejected the idea that the performances of individual players like Hughes or Kennedy could play a role in Cashman's future.

"Santana is a great pitcher, but we acquired Pettitte to allow us to hold those assets to use for our own purposes or utilize as trade chips. How they perform as Yankees or how they perform as opportunities for us remains to be seen, but I'm not tethered to them."

-- General manager Brian Cashman

"First of all, that would be unfair pressure on those young pitchers, and unfair pressure on Brian; no, I don't look at it that way," Steinbrenner said. "We'll just see what happens and bring these kids along. It's just a matter of giving them their chances and not letting them lose confidence.

"They need to continue to understand their own abilities, just like Joba. He is what he is and nothing bothers him. That's what we want for Hughes and Kennedy and anyone else who comes up."

Cashman does not feel especially anchored to Hughes and Kennedy by his decisions. Instead of signing Santana to a $137.5 million contract extension, as the Mets did, the Yankees retained Andy Pettitte on a one-year, $16 million contract to help bridge the rotation into the new Stadium across the street.

"Santana is a great pitcher, but we acquired Pettitte to allow us to hold those assets to use for our own purposes or utilize as trade chips," Cashman said. "How they perform as Yankees or how they perform as opportunities for us remains to be seen, but I'm not tethered to them."

Cashman speaks with confidence that the choices were the correct ones, even if the results to date may suggest otherwise.

"I have a healthy left-hander in Andy Pettitte in the rotation, taking the spot where Santana would have pitched," Cashman said. "I have the use of a guy [Cabrera] who is playing a heck of a center field and is one of the emerging center fielders in the game today. I have two potential starters for our rotation, as well as some kids down in the Minor League system that we still retain.

"They're assets. That money went to Pettitte and the remainder is still in place for us to utilize as we see fit. We made a long-term decision, and you don't judge a long-term decision in two months or in one year. That's not why you make a long-term decision."

Seeing the forest from the trees could be a challenge. Hughes made six starts for the Yankees, never experiencing the same success he had in an April 3 no-decision against the Blue Jays (six innings, two runs). In his final start on April 29, Hughes coughed up six runs in 3 2/3 innings to the Tigers in New York before revealing pain in his side, walking off the field and onto the Yankees' disabled list until at least July with a mysterious fractured rib.

Though he remained healthy, Kennedy fared no better, making six starts for the Yankees and losing twice before being demoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following a May 1 start against Detroit.

Manager Joe Girardi and pitching coach Dave Eiland both were frustrated by with what they regarded as Kennedy's nibbling approach on the mound -- desperate enough to offer a start to Japanese import-turned-reclamation project Kei Igawa, just to see if there'd be anything different.

"Obviously, this is not the Ian Kennedy that we all saw last year," Girardi said after the May 15 start at Tropicana Field, when he allowed five earned runs in five innings after being recalled to suffer his third loss. "We need to find a way to get him back there."

"With the exception of the Red Sox, who have some youth like us and some veterans like us, most of the other teams winning right now seem to be on youth movements. We've got to keep going with the farm system and build them up as strong as we can -- get everybody we can."

-- Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner

Kennedy has said that he believes he belongs at the Major League level and would like to work out his problems there. With just 11 games of big league experience under his belt, it remains uncertain if the Yankees will allow him to take his lumps for a club grappling to regain control.

"I don't know the answer to that question," Steinbrenner said. "That's up to the guys that are with him every day and see him throwing every day. It's up to the baseball people, as far as what they think he can do and cannot do. We're just going to have to see."

The Yankees' plan to extend Chamberlain's innings -- he threw 35 pitches in relief on Wednesday, his first steps toward the eventual goal of 100 and a spot in the rotation -- could further complicate matters. Wang, Pettitte and Mike Mussina should continue to reside in the rotation, and Darrell Rasner has been a boost through three starts.

By the time Chamberlain is ready for serious consideration for his first Major League start, Hughes could have returned from injury and Kennedy may still be in consideration for a rotation spot. Seven won't go into five.

"It's certainly going to create competition," Cashman said. "Hopefully, we can keep everybody healthy, and everybody is going to have to fight to keep their spot in the rotation. That's typically not how it works, though."

More than ever, patience will be a virtue in navigating the Yankees' summer -- certainly no hallmark of George Steinbrenner's leadership. It remains to be seen if the younger regime will be able to watch the Yankees simultaneously attempt to contend, while also nurturing young talent.

Retreads like David Wells are not the answer, but the last time the Yankees missed the playoffs, Melido Perez and Scott Kamieniecki anchored the back end of the rotation. Could Steinbrenner allow his club to revisit the October disappointment of '93 without at least acquiring a stopgap veteran?

"We're building for the future, too," Steinbrenner said. "You can't just do it year by year. Before the great team we had in the late '90s, there were some real lean years there. We don't expect to have it to be that lean this year or next year, but people forget there were some really tough years before the great teams of the late '90s. We have to look at it both ways."

Steinbrenner stressed that the youth movement will take time, but noted that given the increased parity of the Major Leagues, developing talent at the big league level is certainly not a foreign concept. It may be the only way to continue to compete.

"With the exception of the Red Sox, who have some youth like us and some veterans like us, most of the other teams winning right now seem to be on youth movements," Steinbrenner said. "We've got to keep going with the farm system and build them up as strong as we can -- get everybody we can.

"If we have to, we'll hoard everybody. We'll do what we've got to do in the U.S. and in Latin America to get all the best young talent we can. That's what the Yankees used to do."