Tulo: Too little, too late?

Obviously, you already know that Troy Tulowitzki is hitting .176 - 3 for 17, in this early non-spring of no collusion (!) Aside from two HRs - lead-off dingers in his first two games back in February - he's been the ghost of Jayson Nix. He is 0 for his last 12, with - gulp - nine strikeouts. (One walk.) He grounded into a DP. In the field, he's been serviceable: no errors in 16 chances over 31 innings. Jayson Nix.

Obviously, it's too early to panic. The guy has only seen 45 pitches. But Tulo's early haplessness serves as a cold skin-bracer to the Calgon Beauty Bath delusion that Tulowitzki would be a low-cost miracle makeover - the CBD oil that would cure all the Yankees problems until Didi Gregorius returns.

Suddenly, we must confront the knee-buckling possibility that Tulo will be a wipe-out, and that come March 30, we will once again learn that Father Time is ball-buster, that nobody plays forever, and that missing 18 months is a kiss of death for even the great ones... and, well, that anybody can look Tulowitzkian in a two-day, Tulo tryout. Which is what the Yankees bought into.

Obviously, we should not throw in the Tulo towel. This is a microscopic sample size, and the guy's reputation remains solid. But you can sense that seed underneath the mattress. We figured he would play well; the fear was that he'd tweak something and disappear, like a Joba into the night. Now, we are left with the possibility that Gleyber Torres must shift to SS, with DJ LeMahieu - the Man Who Hits at Coors Field - at 2B.

LeMahieu went 0-4 yesterday, lowering his spring average to .208. He was supposed to be a contact hitter, the guy who doesn't strike out. He has fanned four times, already - 10 ground balls in 24 at bats. Oh, well. Get him to Coors Field, and things will change! 

Excuse me, but I'm going to cut this short. I want to go re-read those blogs that rejoiced when the Yankees avoided those "disastrous" deals with Manny Machado and Bryce Harper. Maybe they'll give me comfort. Because right now, 2019 looks more like 2016 than any other recent year, and 2016 was a bad season. You could look it up.

Right now, we have a three-man rotation, no CF, and a jump ball in the middle of the infield. We have no clear 1B, and our 3B's glove is a work in progress. (Note: Miggy with 40 chances, no errors!) Our bullpen looks solid, and we should hit a lot of HRs. After that, we'll need to get lucky. And the Tulo card that we're about to turn over... suddenly, I'm getting nervous.