At catcher, it's Gary, Higgy and the Elders

This week, the Death Star annexed another scrap heap catcher, 33-year-old Josh Thole who, FUN FACT: In eight MLB seasons he has somehow managed to hit only 9 home runs. Nine. No juiced ball/video cheating allegations for him! Thole has spent the last three years ricocheting around the minors, hitting .243 last season in various backwaters. He'll probably spend most of 2020 in exotic Scranton (or mysterious Wilkes Barre.) 

Thole now gives us a nuclear triad of recently-signed veteran backup backstops - Chris Iannetta and Erik Kratz are the other two - to form the safety net below Kyle Higashioka, when Gary Sanchez goes down for his annual month in the hot tub. 

There is no "if" about Sanchez getting hurt. There is only a "when" and a "how bad will it be?" The man is a veritable walking tweaked-gonad.

No starter drives Yank fans crazier than Sanchez, who last year appeared in 106 games and hit 34 HRs. Often, on ESPN broadcasts, Alex Rodriguez would extol Sanchez as the Yankees' best hitter, the most feared bat in the lineup. But what we would see was a guy who strikes out at a rate of one-in-four at-bats, and who - though his defense did improve last year - remains a wild card of streakiness and lost potential. Maybe it's unfair to Gary. After his explosive arrival in 2016, Sanchez faced impossible expectations, beyond the capabilities of any rookie. He was never going to bat .299, as he did in that second half of 2016. Still, ever since, we have watched bad habits transform him from a future consensus all-star into a potential defensive albatross. And this winter, we cut the cord with Austin Romine.

Now, when Sanchez rests his hammy for six weeks, it will be Higgy and the blood donors. Whomever it turns out to be, he will bat ninth, be replaced for pinch runners (if not pinch hitters), and be expected only to provide defense. (The Higster does have power; last year he hit 20 HR in Scranton.) It's revealing  - and potentially ominous - that Brian Cashman, in the final days of winter, is hording cheap backups, obviously hoping to find something... anything. 

After Gerrit Cole signed, it quickly became apparent that he was the Yankee off-season spending project, and that Romine and Sir Didi were goners. No Yankee fan worth his Altuve pin-cushion will underestimate the loss of either - though Romine remains one of the great successes of the Yankee farm system in this millennium. I'm glad he'll get a chance to play every day in Detroit, and it wouldn't surprise me if Romine is playing next July in the all-star game, where Sanchez was supposed to be a fixture. We might have let the wrong catcher go.

Certainly, the Yankees have enough firepower to carry a .200-hitting, defense-only catcher in their lineup. Hell, if Giancarlo and Judge stay healthy, they alone should carry the team. Ah, but there's that word - "if." Last year, every "if" went against us. That means in 2020, get ready for Thole, Iannetta and Kratz. (Oh, my.) 

Thole, Iannetta and Kratz (oh my.) Thole, Iannetta and Kratz (oh my.) 

We may need 50 games from them. Oh, my.