The spin of the New York Yankees’ hierarchy rationalizing the team’s loss to Houston in the American League wild-card game, that “no one expected us to be here,” is as lame as the effectiveness of the Yankees’ general manager, Brian Cashman.

It is true that the Yankees exceeded expectations, but so did other teams – the Astros for one – and when they saw the possibility of post-season participation they took steps to enhance that possibility.

Cashman didn’t. Whether it was out of ignorance or arrogance, he sat on his hands and watched his counterparts on other contenders play a game of musical players, advancing one square on the board here, another square there. Cashman’s pieces remained stationery.

I have long questioned Cashman’s ability as a general manager, going so far as to suggest the Yankees would have been better off last winter changing general managers than extending Cashman’s contract to where he approaches two decades of employment as the general manager.

Cashman understandably has not responded graciously to my suggestion. He does not return my telephone calls, which is his prerogative, but it also means I don’t have to try to talk to him and hear his self-serving comments.

The major point I have made about Cashman is in his 18 years as general manager he has never had to play on a level playing field. While many other clubs have to work within strict economic bound, Cashman has been free to spend at will.

Other clubs have long resented the Yankees for spending exorbitantly for free agents, but they may be even more resentful that if the Yankees lose a player to injury for an extended period or a signed free agent or trade acquisition doesn’t work out, the Yankees can spend to secure a substitute.

That practice, as well as ultra-exorbitant spending, may be waning under the team’s direction of Hal Steinbrenner, who seems to be intent on being the opposite of his father.

Cashman, though, has not yet suffered from an austerity program. The Yankees have opened the last three seasons with payrolls totaling $652 million. That total is second behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, who under new ownership determined to be World Series champions has spent $724 million.

The Yankees have lost their position, which they held for years, as the highest paying team, but they are well entrenched as No. 2. They were $72 million behind the Dodgers in their three-year payroll but $143 million ahead of No. 3 Boston’s $509 million.

So Cashman has economic advantages over other general managers, and what has he produced? One losing playoff game in three years. What might he do with smaller payrolls? The Houston Astros, for example, have had three-year payrolls totaling $140 million, a sum that is less than the Yankees’ financial advantage over the Red Sox and less than one-fourth of the Yankees’ total.

Yet the Yankees have gone home for the winter while the Astros, who made their travel arrangements, play on.

We can’t disregard Cashman’s efforts altogether. He did acquire Dustin Ackley, but the Dustin Ackleys of the Major League Baseball world are not going to drive a team to post-season baseball.

The Astros were active prior to the July 31 non-waiver trading deadline, acquiring pitcher Scott Kazmir and Carlos Gomez, the outfielder the Mets traded for, then rejected because of a hip problem they said their doctors discovered. Gomez hit a home run in the Astros’ 3-0 win over the Yankees in the American League wild-card game.

I guess the Yankees have the Mets to thank for Gomez helping to send them home.

The Mets also benefited from their rejection of the Gomez deal. They wound up trading instead for Yoenis Cespedes, who was more responsible than anyone else for driving the Mets to the National League East championship.

The Mets also acquired Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, who both contributed critical hits in their post-season quest. They added reliever Tyler Clippard, too, who was also a contributor.

If you want to talk about teams benefiting from trading deadline trades, look at the Toronto Blue Jays, Do you think Cashman knows the names David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, Ben Revere and LaTroy Hawkins?

As trading time dwindled, General Manager Alex Anthopoulos knew what he had to do, and he obtained those players to fortify his team. He did not sit on his hands. What he did was leapfrog over Cashman. The Blue Jays, and not the Yankees, are A.L. East champions largely because of those trades.

The Texas Rangers are A.L. West champions because General Manager Jon Daniels made a trade with Philadelphia, adding ace Cole Hamels to the starting rotation. Hamels started 12 games for the Rangers and emerged from those starts with a 7-1 record.

Hamels was available to whomever could satisfy the Phillies. Other teams balked because of the Phillies’ asking price. We can’t single out the Yankees for failing to get the pitcher they sorely needed. But they were in critical need of starting pitching, and there were some pretty good pitchers who were traded before the deadline.

Some of them are in the playoffs, where the Yankees are not. Cashman presumably shied away from trading for one of the pitchers because he didn’t want to give up any of his good young players. Imagine that. The Yankees, for years, have seldom had good young players other teams would want. Now suddenly they have players who are too promising for Cashman to give up for a pitcher who might help them get to the World Series.

Most baseball men would tell you that a team doesn’t get those chances often enough to pass up an opportunity to get there. In 1987 the Detroit Tigers thought they had a chance if they could add a starting pitcher.

They made a deal with Atlanta for Doyle Alexander, who compiled a 9-0 record in 11 starts, and the Tigers made it to the post-season. Today the trade is better remembered for the pitcher the Tigers gave the Braves to meet their asking price. His name is John Smoltz, and he is a Hall of Fame pitcher.

The Tigers, however, would make the trade again because Alexander pitched them to the playoffs. Which minor league player Cashman didn’t want to give up for a pitcher will pitch or hit the Yankees to the post-season?