Will somebody please, please, please, take Luke Voit aside and tell him to ditch the Home Run Derby?

Before I launch, a few choice words about Mr. Luke Voit:

He is the Yankee 2019 Thus Far MVP... a breath of fresh, mountain air... the Second Coming of Lou Piniella (in that he arrived late in MLB)... our first-baseman through 2021... a true American League All-Star... and as close to the Yankees' heart and soul as a player can get. Without him, we are in third, looking up at Boston. 

But he's about to make a serious mistake. 

I'm referring to Voit's stated desire to compete in the All-Star break's annual Home Run Derby, which is to baseball what Taylor Swift is to gangsta rap. Luke thinks it would be fun to jeopardize his back, shoulders, hips and timing for the national audience that is still channel-hopping in search of The Big Bang Theory. And if anyone can do it - and not hurt himself - it could be a guy who does one-armed, 135-pound bench presses on YouTube. 

Also, I get it that Luke can use the money. He's earning the MLB minimum, $573,200. This year's Derby-winner payout will be $1 million. I don't blame him for wanting to feed his family. The Derby could end up paying him more than the cheapskate Yankees.

But it's a bad idea. Why?

1. Nobody gives two craps about the Home Run Derby. He might as win Dancing With the Stars. I don't remember who won last year, or most years. What I do know is that Joggy Cano once won it, testifying to the notion that you don't need to be a home run hitter to win the home run derby. It means nothing, beyond selling ads on ESPN.  

2. As we all remember, Aaron Judge went into a huge slump following the 2017 home run derby, which he won. He lost his timing and nearly his mind. And everybody drew a direct correlation. As a result, Judge turned down invitations to compete last year. He didn't want the distractions. And that's exactly what the Home Run Derby is: A big, huge, awful, sickening, disgusting distraction. Nothing good comes from it.

3. If Luke competes in the derby, the entire NYC Gammonitic Infundibulum will immediately rev up its notorious Speculation Machine, wondering if and when Luke will hit a slump. This is just the kind of thought process that turns an 0-for-4 into a 1-for-20, and causes statisticians to start disregarding the season's entire first half. He'll be playing with fire... and for what?

Here's what should happen. Someone in the Yankee brain trust - how about Randy Levine, who should be Trump's Chief of Staff! - should tiptoe up to Luke's locker with a gym bag filled with $1 million is cash. He should leave it with a note that says, "For winning our Home Run Derby," which is exactly what Voit has done during the first half. 

He should not be thinking that, to pay the mortgage, he should jeopardize the second half of 2019, and/or his future. 

In a nutshell... Screw the fukkin' Home Run Derby, and screw baseball's infatuation with homers, which is turning the game into tedious, four-hour marathons. The Yankees need Luke Voit fresh for the second half. And he still needs a full year to prove himself as the Yankees premier slugger - more than Judge, more than Stanton, more than any of them. He doesn't need to wow the ESPN announcers. He's too important to risk. Will somebody please, please, please tell him that?

(NOTE: It's since been reported that Seattle will pay $8 million of Encarcion's salary, and NY will pay another $8 million.)