Could Miguel Andujar ruin everything?

I wonder if Cooperstown Cashman slept well last night, fretting over The Master Plan. It is called "Operation Brandon Drury," named for the plucky third baseman for whom the Yankees recently gave up two top prospects to obtain. Drury will start for the Empire on opening day and probably bat eighth. 

It shall be, as it hath been so decreed.

Thus, Miguel Andujar - third base front-runner for most of the winter - shall start the 2018 season in the Wakanda of Pennsylvania, the cloaked technological Utopia known to outsiders as Scranton-Wilkes Barre. There is no debate here, no spring training "third base competition," any more than there is a Klaw, a Killmonger, an Okoye or a Slade Heathcott. Drury will play third, and it's a done deal, because - well - let's all say this five times:

When Cashman plans to pay for a player, that paid-for player plans to play.

This is not to dig at Brandon Drury or suggest that Cashman did wrong by securing an experienced infielder. Since the deal came about, several Gammonites have humped the narrative that Drury is prime for a breakout season, that he's changed his bat trajectory to hit more flies, and his acquisition is yet another granite stepping stone on Cashman's nature trail to the south shore of Otsego Lake. Whenever the Yankee-aligned press agrees with Cashman, it doesn't mean the writers have received brain-implants from Fox News; it merely means that - like our brain trust - they ran some Brad Pitt/ Moneyball numbers, and they look good. In recent trades, Cashman has posted more wins than losses. The trouble is, we still can't gauge most of his deals, because the prospects we gave up have yet to give a full account of what we traded. We know Sonny Gray. We don't know James Kaprielian.  

But if Cashman last night was bouncing off the bed rail, it might be because Andujar could still undermine The Master Plan. Yesterday, he hit his second homer in as many games. If Andujar keeps it up, the Yankees will look bad when he boards the 30-hour bus to Scranton, disillusioned and depressed, and ready to open the season in a free-fall funk. We've seen it happen, sometimes with players who overcame it - Francisco Cervelli had a nice career in Pittsburgh - and with those who didn't: Whither goest, Rob "Brigadoon" Refsnyder? Something about having a breakout spring training, and then learning it doesn't matter, seems to jab a wooden stake into a prospect's heart. 

Of course, it's way too early to draw conclusions. It's February, for god's sake. Zolio Almonte was the Babe Ruth of February, and where is he now? (Answer, he's playing OF for the Chunichi Dragons of the Nippon Professional Baseball League.) But the Yankees went most of the winter assuring us that they were quite comfortable with Andujar at third, and then, two weeks ago, signaled that it was all - as the kids from Florida call - "B.S." I hope Andujar never really believed them. It'll be easier on him. Because he can hit 20 homers in March, and it won't matter. That's the way it goes. 

Altogether now...

When Cashman plans to pay for a player, that paid-for player plans to play.

When Cashman plans to pay for a player, that paid-for player plans to play.

When Cashman plans to pay for a player, that paid-for player plans to play.

When Cashman plans to pay for a player, that paid-for player plans to play.

When Cashman plans to pay for a player, that paid-for player plans to play.