It's a free country, so let's talk blasphemy

Now and then, I feel like running up to Mount Kilauea, singing the old Kellogg's Puffa Puffa Rice jingle, and pissing gasoline onto the lava flow. You know, talkin' some Yankee blaspheme and startin' a fight. So, here goes...

1. Austin Romine should be the Yankees' starting catcher.

Frankly, it's a no-brainer. Tell me one phase of the game - aside from HRs, (of which we have plenty) - that Gary Sanchez is superior. Let's table the enormous batting average disparity (Romine's .358 to Gary's .211) as a small sample size. Romine is better defensively, better at handling pitchers, and better in the clutch. Meanwhile, let's say it: Gary has failed to take that next step to defensive excellence; if anything, he's regressing. 

Sanchez is tied for the MLB lead in passed balls, with eight. (He's up there with the great Omar Narvaez of the White Sox.) At this rate, he will top last year's total (16) which was also tied for the lead. As The Master says, "GARY IS SCARY." We've got to stop seeing him as the Great Yankee Salvation of 2016, the summer when Cashman finally went with youth. In many respects, he's just another rookie who broke-out super hot, cooled off, and then never learned the art of adjustment. In recent weeks, he has become a strikeout machine who flails at pitches out of the zone. His big hit against the Astros - a nubber through the open right side - was hailed as a sign he will smarten up against the over-shift. On his next at bat, he was back to pulling a grounder into the teeth of the defense. So much for that. 

Romine, at 29, does everything the Yankees ask. It spoke volumes in April when manager Aaron Boone refused to allow Romine to become Sonny Gray's personal catcher. He didn't want to launch a controversy. Well, one is coming. 

I'm not saying the Yankees should trade Sanchez, (though in such blockbusters, the devils are always in the details, right?) I think we should reduce expectations about his future Hall of Fame credentials, drop him in the batting order, replace or platoon him at DH far more often, and dramatically increase Romine's playing time. Let it happen slowly. By September, Romine should be our number one catcher. And if we find ourselves playing a one-game season, here's a revolutionary idea: let's go with the catcher who catches.

2. We need to go easier on Aaron Hicks.

When you look at the great baseball teams of eternity, a common thread emerges: The CF can sure cover ground. It doesn't matter if he hits. The fucking guy covers ground. You need a Paul Blair, a Cesar Cedeno, a fleet glove who roams the horizons and catches everything he sees. The defensive CF. It's a must. 

That's what Hicks is, and we should stop thinking of him as the power hitter who briefly emerged in 2017. View him as a light-hitting, defense-oriented CF, and he's not half-bad.

We're still judging him by 1) the fact that he's a former first-round pick, 2) he looks big coming off the bus, and 3) that apparent breakout last spring, when he was the Yankees' best player. Forget the shoulders. Look at his speed - he's tied with Gardy for the team lead in stolen bases, with five - and you see a relatively light-hitting, defensive CF. He can bat eighth or ninth. And that's all we need.

One more thing before you carp: We have nobody to replace Hicks. The notion that Gardy will move to CF and save the day? That works for a weekend. He'll never last a month. Clint Frazier? Dear god, get real. He'll run into Judge, and they'll both be lost for the season. Our young CF option was Dustin Fowler - aka Moonlight Graham - whom we traded to Oakland for Sonny. The only other viable possibility is Jacoby Ellsbury, but this is blasphemy, not comedy. 

So lay off Hicks, and start viewing him as the Blue Jays do Kevin Pillar, or Atlanta does Ender Inciarte: A solid glove at a crucial position.

There, anybody wanna argue? Or do I need to go to the volcano and claim that Cashman is actually performing brilliantly? Nu-i, nu-i...