"And eternity in an hour..." The next Yankee decade could boil down to what happens Wednesday

Wednesday, Manny Machado visits the Yankees. Let's imagine it: 

At the front gate, Manny and his entourage are greeted by supermodel sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid, wearing only Yankee jerseys with No. 13 - Manny's old number. Escorting him through the concourse, beneath the giant pictures of the Babe, the Mick and Yogi, they recite Yankee lore. At the main office, Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone await them. They nod to the Jumbotron, which shows Manny's image in a Yankee cap.  

They talk for an hour. Manny tells how the Yankees were always his first choice, and Cashman declares that the Yankees agree. The meeting goes longer than planned, because of the hearty laughter and good will. In pops Reggie Jackson, with a Reggie bar refitted with Manny's name. 

There's a knock-knock in the doorway. "I heard we had a visitor!" Hal Steinbrenner chortles. Everyone slaps their knees. Hal leads the group to his private Yankee Owner's bar and sushi house, where A-Rod and Jennifer Lopez are waiting. In pops Sofia Vergara! Billy Crystal! Penelope Cruz! Shakira! John Leguzamo! Mayor Bill de Blasio! U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez! A bell gongs, and in comes the Broadway cast of "Kinky Boots!" Hal dons his signature red leggings and leads the merry group in Christmas carols, between toasts of his finest champagne from... Jared Kushner!

Then... holy crap! In strides Santa himself! who turns out to be... the legendary voice of the Yankees... John Sterling! With the crowd hushed, The Master performs his first-ever Manny Machado home run call: 

MAN O' MANNY! MACHADO ES MAS MACHO!

Bedlam! Joy! They're slithering around on the floor! Jared reads Tweet proclamations from his father-in-law and Vladimir Putin. Finally, it's the ultimate guest: Yankee President Randy Levine... serving ice cold hot dogs, straight from the Yankee commissary, covered in mouse turds, cockroach parts and month-old romaine... 

Okay, let's ditch the foodstuffs. Seriously... Wednesday could be the most important Yankee date in the rest of our Yankee fan lives. 

Seriously. I am not kidding.

If the planets line-up - if Manny says the right things, and Hal reaches for his wallet - the 2019 Yankees could be on the verge of a massive reformation. They would hit Opening Day with the highest expectations since the pressure cooker days of old George's mega-payrolls. Here's the potential lineup.

Aaron Hicks, cf
Manny Machado, ss
Aaron Judge, rf
Giancarlo Stanton, dh
Miguel Andujar 3b
Gary Sanchez, c
Gleyber Torres, 2b
Luke Voit/Greg Bird, 1b
Brett Gardner/Clint Frazier lf 

Wow. How does that team NOT set a new MLB season HR record? But there is a glaring problem: Too many RH bats. 

Until Sir Didi returns - (perhaps creating another problem, who plays where?) - the lone LH hitters, Gardy and Bird, scare nobody. Thus, it's easy to imagine Andujar and/or Red Thunder being traded for pitching (Bumgarner? Kluber?) It's easy to picture a cascade of trades before spring training... all stemming from what happens Wednesday.

Or... maybe not. Maybe Manny gets stuck in traffic, arrives 45 minutes late, and the highlight moment is Lonn Trost puking eggnog onto Larry Rothschild's seeing-eye dog. Maybe Manny signs elsewhere. The Yankees could still bring an imposing lineup, and - wait a minute - maybe yet another big day could loom: The visit from Bryce?  

I dunno about Harper. Manny seems to be on the radar. And everything happens Wednesday. We may someday view December 19, 2018 - the Wednesday before Christmas - as the day everything changed. (And not necessarily for the better.)