Searching for a Didi in a Didi-less universe

Let's start with The Tulo Pledge. Repeat after me: 

I, (state your name), being a humble - yet craven and greedy - Yankee fan, hereby call upon the juju gods to bestow continued health and well-being upon Mr. Troy Tulowitzki. In return, I shall not complain about the rot and rank cheapness of certain personalities within the ownership orbit of said Yankee franchise. Bless everyone, thank you, Audrey Meadows, everybody! ARRRT CARRRRNEY! MIAMI BEACH AUDIENCES ARE THE GREATEST IN THE WORLD, GOOD NIGHT, EVERYBODY! 

Listen: The guy has shown up in Camp Tamp as a medical marvel, a resurrected star, a fable of redemption, a species saved from extinction, a blossoming tree of grafted fruits, a talented kid given a second chance by Adam Levine on The Voice... yes, all of those things, as well as the most important concept of all: A 100-day replacement for Didi Gregorius.

Yesterday, Tulo homered again, and the ravings over his spry, June Taylor-esque movements in the field appear to be more than mere YES Network beer-goggled happy talk. He's bringing it. I don't know how long Tulo can last, but let the record show that this crafty old pro came to Yankee camp in perfect working order, unscratched, undented, shiny and smooth-running - despite the mileage on the odometer and the tread on the tires. If he could return to his form of, say, 2014 - just for three months - whatever deal he made with Mephistopheles will be worth it - for us, anyway.

Other tidbits: Tyler Wade continues to hit. With a lefty bat, speed, and a mitt for almost every position, he looks like the new Big Toe. I've always liked Wade and still believe in him. He homered yesterday. What else can a guy do? 

Greg Bird went 2 for 3, continuing to push Luke Voit into upping his one-handed bench presses in the weight room. At a certain point, probably around the third week of March, if Bird is still hitting, he could leapfrog past Voit on the depth charts, simply because he bats left-handed, and we are still the Yankees.  

Nice to see Thairo Estrada hitting, perhaps reclaiming his future value as a trade chip. As you know, the poor kid got shot two winters ago during a robbery - he was simply wrong place, wrong time - and he came to camp  last spring with lead in his lumbar, a bullet in his bun. Becoming a pun... that's no way to be. 

And Giancarlo in left field for a change. What a gifted jack-of-all-trades he is! He no longer tops the list of baseball's richest players. The cross-hairs are gone. A career year, maybe? That's all we need. 

As for pitching, fukkit. Let's worry about Happ and Ottavino in April. Still, sad to see Nestor Cortez Jr. get pounded - again. Yeah, he was always ticketed for Scranton/Dingleberry, but he has to be disappointed. Cortez was a 1,00-to-1 long shot for an opening day role as swing man, but it's not a-gonna happen. Oh well, it's a long season. By July, to fill the rotation, we'll be turning over rocks and cashing in our Malo Cup coupons. There's plenty of time to straighten out before the Yankiverse is Didi-filled again. Nothing really happened yesterday. I'll take it.