The Yankees’ rumored interest in free agent utility man Bill Hall is a bit puzzling. Should we interpret that interest as a sign that the Yankees do not believe that Eduardo Nunez can handle the defensive responsibilities of being a utility infielder. Alternatively, is it a signal that the Yankees would like to trade Nunez, perhaps in a deal for a left-handed bat who can fill part of the DH role? To be honest, I’m not sure which of those thought processes are running through the mind of Brian Cashman.

Still, Hall is an interesting player. In 2006, he hit 35 home runs as a starting shortstop and looked like a budding star at the age of 26. Stardom never happened. In 2010, he was a reasonably productive utility man for the Red Sox, filling in around the infield and outfield. Then he signed a free agent contract with the Astros, where he flopped as the team’s everyday second baseman. After being released by the ‘Stros, the Giants took a flier on him, but watched him hit a mere .158 in 38 late-season at-bats.

Now 32 years old, Hall will never be a 30-home run man again, that’s for sure. But if he can revert back to the player of 2010, a versatile player who can play three infield positions and all three outfield positions while hitting with some pop, he’s be a useful guy to have. If not, if his 2011 numbers are an indication of his true current ability, then the Yankees will have to tread lightly here. If they sign Hall and trade Nunez, there may not be a safety net available in the event of a Hall breakdown.

When you’re a baseball fan, it’s funny how the mind works. When I hear the name “Hall,” I think of the Hall of Fame, and I think of past Yankees with the same last name. The Yankees have not had a player named Hall since the now-infamous Mel Hall, who was one of the team’s bright spots during the fallow years of the early 1990s. Hall played hard, pounded right-handed pitching, and delivered his fair share of clutch hits, but then he took some “hazing” of a young Bernie Williams to ridiculous extremes, driving the young outfielder to the verge of tears. He repeatedly referred to Williams as “Zero.” When Williams began talking in Hall’s presence, the veteran outfielder chided him by yelling, “Shut up, Zero.” Why this treatment was allowed to go on unchecked remains one of the great mysteries in Yankee history.

Hall also failed to make friends with the front office when he brought his two pet cougars–yes, a pair of pet cougars–into the Yankee clubhouse without warning, creating a mild panic in the process.

Yet, the hazing and the cougar incident pale in comparison to Hall’s post-career problems. Hall is currently sitting in a federal prison, where he will remain until he is old and gray because of his repulsive relationship with two underage girls. Hall was convicted of sexual assault; he essentially raped the girls, one of whom was 12 at the time of the relationship. Sentenced in 2009, he will have to serve a minimum of 22 years, or the year 2031, before he is eligible for parole. If he does not gain parole, the total sentence will run 45 years, putting him behind bars until 2054. Hall is 51 now, so that would put him at a ripe old 93 years. So who knows if he’ll even live that long.

There is one other “Hall” that I remember playing for the Yankees. He was Jimmie Hall, a left-handed power hitter of the 1960s. He began his career with a flourish, putting up OPS numbers of better than .800 in his three major league seasons with the Twins. As a rookie, he set a record for most home runs by a first-year player in the American League, busting the mark set by Ted Williams in 1939. He also had the ability to play all three outfield spots, making him particularly valuable toMinnesota.

Apparently on the verge of stardom, Hall then fell off the map. He struggled so badly in 1966 that the Twins traded him to the Angels. Some say his early decline was the result of being hit in the head with a pitch. Others pointed to his inability to handle left-handed pitching. And then there were those who felt that he was done in by the changes to the strike zone that hurt so many hitters during the mid-to-late sixties, when the second deadball era set in.

By the time that Jimmie Hall joined the Yankees, he was a fragment of the player who had once torn through the American League. The Yankees acquired him early in the 1969 season, picking him up from the Indians in a straight cash deal. Hall came to the plate 233 times for the Yankees, but hit just three home runs and reached base only 29 per cent of the time. Even in a deadball era, those numbers didn’t suffice.

Hall didn’t last the season in theBronx. On September 11, the Yankees dealt Hall to the Cubs for two players with wonderfully opposite names, minor league pitcher Terry Bongiovanni and outfielder Rick Bladt. If you remember either of those players, give yourself a cigar.

So that’s it for the Yankees’ legacy of Halls. Mel and Jimmie. If the Yankees end up signing Bill Hall, we can only hope that he’ll be a better player than Jimmie and a better man than Mel.

Bruce Markusen writes “Cooperstown Confidential” for The Hardball Times.

The Yankees should feel thoroughly humiliated after losing two of three games to the worst team in baseball. It is unfathomable that the Yankees could muster a mere seven runs in three games against the poorest pitching staff in the major leagues and arguably the worst bullpen that has ever been assembled in the history of the game.

If this atrocity of a series against the Nationals, who had a won a total of six road games prior to this week, had been an isolated development, I would have been willing to cast it aside as a blip on the screen. But it is not an isolated occurrence. When attached to a lackluster series against the Mets, another sweep at the hands of the Red Sox, an embarrassing 0-8 record against Boston, mediocre play against the Orioles, and another abominable April, it becomes a symptom of a larger disease.

So what exactly is wrong with the Yankees? Having followed them closely through their first 66 games, I’m not convinced that the real problem is a lack of talent. Oh sure, their bullpen and bench could use upgrading and the absence of overall depth remains a concern, but those are problems that can be fixed relatively quickly from within. I’m afraid that the Yankees’ malaise has roots in other areas, principally a low baseball IQ, a lack of toughness, and a general complacency that can happen when too many players have multi-year contracts and no fear of losing their status on the team.

A smart baseball team does not allow Jacoby Ellsbury to steal home plate with the bases loaded, especially moments after a veteran pitcher had been reminded to check the baserunner. A smart team does not forego an easy stolen base when the opposition tells you to take it, as the Nationals did in the second game of the series. A tough team does not repeatedly shrink with runners in scoring position, now a long-term problem that dates back to the beginning of the 2008 season. A tough team does not play like a collective group of basket cases when they face their archrivals, a team that remains the Yankees’ No. 1 barrier in trying to re-take the American League East. Finally, a hungry team does not continue to react to bad losses with a general shrug of the shoulders, instead of occasionally displaying some level of anger when the effort and execution are poor.

Yankee management needs to react to the Nationals series (and the generally poor play since the last Red Sox series) by making some kind of a change, even a small one. The players need to realize that there will be consequences for inexcusably poor play. Once and for all, it’s time to release Angel Berroa, who continues to occupy a valuable roster spot for no apparent reason. Maybe Brett Tomko should be designated for assignment in order to make room for the live-armed Mark Melancon. Perhaps a coach, maybe hitting instructor Kevin Long, should be fired, with Butch Wynegar promoted from Scranton-Wilkes Barre.

Maybe that is the way for the Yankees to send a message to their outdated on-field leadership. Perhaps that will convince Derek Jeter to finally express some anger during a postgame assessment of the team, or persuade Jorge Posada to stop selfishly obsessing about still being the catcher in 2011, or force Joe Girardi into finally losing his temper over another baserunning mistake. Something is going to have to change, or else the Yankees will be making another concession speech come October…

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The Yankees did make one positive move this week when they cut bait with Jose Veras, who has been designated for assignment and could be headed toward a reunion with LaTroy Hawkins in Houston. (Yes, the Astros are interested in Veras and might be willing to give up something tangible in return.) Although it was clearly time for Veras to go, if only because his utter lack of control makes Kyle Farnsworth look like a marksman by comparison, I must admit to having mixed feelings about his departure. Still only 28, Veras has two legitimately frightful pitches in his flamethrower fastball and that vicious, serpentine slider. If his new team can retool his dreadful mechanics, or at least help him learn to sacrifice some power for accuracy within the strike zone, Veras might still be a serviceable late-inning reliever. Maybe the Astros, with their accompanying low expectations, would be just the place for that to happen…

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In the early 1990s, Mel Hall was one of the few players that made the Yankees worth watching. As the organization mucked through an early 1990s decline, Hall brought clutch hitting, hustle, and some much-needed color to the pinstripes. Although Hall had his limitations—he never walked much and couldn’t throw worth a damn—he hammered right-handed pitching, always ran the bases hard, and never shied from hitting with runners in scoring position. He could also provide some sideshow entertainment, as he once did when he brought his pet cougar into the Yankee clubhouse!

Unfortunately, Hall took a wrong turn when some initial rookie “hazing” of a young Bernie Williams evolved into mean-spirited tormenting of a sensitive teammate. And then, after his playing days, Hall fell off the moral track completely when he engaged in a reprehensible sexual relationship with a 12-year-old girl, which resulted in this week’s prison sentence of 45 years, with eligibility for parole in 22 years. In other words, Hall will remain in prison until he is at least 70, and possibly until he is 93. Assuming that he did the crimes, and the evidence indicates that he did, he deserves every day of that sentence.

At one time, Mel Hall was one of my favorite Yankees. Now I just wish he had played for somebody else.

Bruce Markusen writes “Cooperstown Confidential” for The Hardball Times.