A quick look at the standings, where the New York Yankees sit fourth in the American League East at 56-55, and you might expect Brian Cashman’s seat cushion to be getting a warm. The Yankees have less than a two percent chance to make the playoffs and haven’t won a meaningful game in October since 2012.

Somewhere, a Steinbrenner has to be fuming.

Cashman has had an incredible run as New York’s general manager, winning four World Series, including one in each of his first three seasons at the helm, while making the playoffs in fifteen of eighteen years. That success was largely predicated on properly allocating the hundreds of million of dollars ownership provided him to create a Major League powerhouse, but he’s excelled in an entirely different manner as of late.

The Yankees have lost seven of their last 13 games, but Cashman has a nice hitting streak brewing over the two-week stretch, collecting win after win on the transaction ledger.

It all began on July 25 when the Yankees traded Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs for Adam Warren and three Minor League players. Cashman reportedly tried to extend Chapman before shopping him, which made sense with the closer headed for free agency this winter.

The haul Cashman received for Chapman was significant. New York traded Warren to Chicago for Starlin Castro just last offseason, Gleyber Torres ranked as the Cubs’ top prospect and Billy McKinney is a former first-round pick of the Oakland Athletics.

Less than a week later, New York sent Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians for four players, including Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield, two of the Tribe’s top three prospects. Frazier was the fifth overall pick in 2013 and Sheffield was taken in the first round a year later.

Miller is owed $21 million through 2018 and is worth that as one of the game’s top relievers. Moving him now, when he had greater value as more than a rental, was Cashman’s second stroke of genius. Even if Frazier -- the best bet to do so -- is the only part of the package that makes an impact at the Major League level, it’s a clear win for the Yankees. They won’t be in position to benefit from having an arm like Miller’s until his contract is all but expired.

With the clock ticking on the August 1 non-waiver trade deadline, Cashman shifted to moving expendable veterans for more organizational depth. The biggest of those deals sent Carlos Beltran to the Texas Rangers for a three-prospect package headlined by last June’s fourth overall pick -- Dillon Tate. He ranked among the Rangers’ top handful of prospects despite a disappointing season that made him attainable.

Before the horn sounded, the Yankees sent Ivan Nova to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a pair of players to be named later.

The effect of those four trades is two-fold. Not only have the Yankees restocked their farm system and brightened the future, but they also created openings on the Major League roster for young, developing talent. We’ve already seen the benefit of that with the promotion of Gary Sanchez. More important than his .721 OPS through 19 at-bats is what this experience will mean for him down the line.

After a busy week, Cashman went from sending players out in return for prospects to putting finite ends on the memorable careers of some expensive veterans.

Mark Teixeira announced on Friday afternoon that he will retire at the conclusion of the season. Teixeira’s decision doesn’t remove a major headache or clear a position on the roster, but it does put less pressure on Joe Girardi as he constructs lineups down the stretch. Teixeira is hitting just .199/.288/.341, but it’s safe to assume he’ll hold his spot in the lineup as the season winds down. New York might have handled Teixeira differently over the final two months if Greg Bird didn’t have surgery to repair a torn labrum in February.

Less than 48 hours after Teixeira’s announcement, the Yankees held a joint press conference with Alex Rodriguez that carried much more weight on the short and long-term future of the club.

Rodriguez refused to use the word retirement, but he will play his final game in pinstripes on Friday before immediately becoming a special instructor and advisor with the organization. The role will run through the end of the 2017 season, the final year of his contract, and will pay him the $26.5 million he’s still owed (he’ll remain part of New York’s tax bill).

He will be 42 and more than 15 months removed from playing baseball when he has the opportunity to chase another contract and a chance at 700 home runs.

There had been speculation about whether or not the Yankees would release Rodriguez amid declining production. With the three-time MVP posting a .204/.252/.356 slash line over 234 plate appearances, Cashman was blunt when he said the Yankees “had no choice here, given the performance.”

Cashman couldn’t have acted alone in finding an answer to the Rodriguez dilemma, but this resolution is as perfect as the Yankees could have envisioned. They weren’t going to find salary relief and now Girardi no longer has to juggle putting A-Rod in the lineup under the ruse of a reduced role.

Like the trades of Chapman, Miller, Beltran and Nova, knowing that Rodriguez’s days in uniform are over will further allow the Yankees to point their toes towards the future and away from the past. That past is worth remembering, but over the last two weeks they’ve helped ensure the future will be one to celebrate as well.