The Morning After Didi... a bipolar exposition on the fundamental Yankee human condition

Well, the first days are the hardest days. Don't you worry anymore. Because when life looks like easy street, there is danger at your door. Think this through with me...

Ah, Jerry... where are you? Yesterday, upon hearing the Yankees will lose our best player, Didi Gregorius, for six weeks, my thoughts turned to Jerry - who died 22 years ago within days of Mickey Mantle, of all people. In a perfect world, I would grab some sour diesel, roll 40 fatties - one per day - and check in with you all on May 1 - Mayday - to see where the team stands. But the Yankees are my self-medication, and for the last 18 hours, why lie? I've ping-ponged between hope and despair. 

My immediate thought: It's not so bad. We only play 24 games in April. (I looked it up.) A few get rained out. (Only three in a dome, Tampa.) It's a long season. Everybody gets hurt. We're lucky this didn't happen in July...

Then the equal, opposite reaction, as required by the law of thermodynamics: This is the worst thing that ever happened. It's just the kind of injury that wrecks a guy's season. Didi was on the verge of stardom. It'll take him into June to catch up with pitchers. What if it's the start of shoulder issues? In April, we play 15 games within our division. Fifteen. Every loss will haunt us all season. If it happened in July, Gleyber Torres might be ready. Now, we're sunk...

I bounced back to hope: Ha! Another reason not to trade for Jose Quintana. (I think it's Reason #304; the pile is taller than Mt. Marcy.) Whenever someone goes on about why we should trade prospects for Quintana, they sound like a toaster oven trying to pass the Touring Test. So much for that. This is a transition year. We must think of 2018 and 2019. No trading prospects!

Then... despair: Fuck me. Right now, Cashman surely is working the phones, offering Gleyber, Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield for a Brendan Ryan. We already have two Ryans - Brendan Tejada and Brendan Kozma - but they're not enough. He'll trade for another. Six weeks is just long enough for Cashman to wheel and deal. Hell, maybe we'll sign Brendan Ryan off the Tigers scrap heap. After all, he hit .077 last year for the Angels.

Then... a giddy twinge: Wait... WTF! Tyler Wade! He's 22, bats lefty (platoon with Torreyes). He played 133 games last year at Trenton. He hit .259 with an On Base Percentage of .352. That's a shitload of walks (And he stole 27 bases!) This spring, he's 13-for-33 in Tampa - has yet to make an error. (Torreyes and Tejada have each made three, and Gleyber Torres - bless him - made four.) They've been grooming Wade for a utility slot. Push the button, Cash! Throw us a bone! Let's "Wade" into 2017. 

Then... I saw Girardi's lineup last night: Torreyes at SS. (Went 0-3) That's Joe's immediate reaction - his current plan. Shit. Listen: I like Torreyes as a utility piece. He's pesky, he's quick, and he's not Brendan Ryan. But I don't see him playing everyday for a month without being undressed... and certainly not at SS. Jeez. I dunno.

But I'm not leaving in transcendental despair. We'll get through this. Forty days. And it's a long-term tumbler clicking into place. Next year, Didi should play 2B, with easier throws. (Yeah, he got hurt at 2B, but overall...) If Castro is a part of our future  - (big "if," considering his refusal to walk: his OBP last year was only .300) - it's at 3B. Our SS must be Gleyber Torres. This injury sucks, but it's a reason not to turn Gleyber into a 2B - and maybe to bring Gleyber up in July and never look back. In the meantime, 2017 is a transition year. So let's transition, goddammot! Tyler Wade, baby, TYLER FUKKING WADE!