The central Yankee question of spring 2020: What to do with Andu?

Last time we saw Miguel Andujar, he was valiantly trying to play 3B with a string cheese shoulder, with the 2019 season seemingly destined for the paper-shredder. Miggy played in 12 games - just 49 plate appearances - then disappeared into the Ellsburian abyss. We never even learned if he had mastered the art of 3B. We just don't know...

For the record, in his blink-and-you-miss-it, 2019 cameo, Andujar played four games at 3B, botching three balls in 10 chances. Putrid. Then again, he was playing in pain. Who can say if the bum shoulder caused his renegade throws? We just don't know... 

But we do know this: Andujar - the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up - became a 2019 afterthought when Gio Urshela blossomed into a All Star-level 3B. And that leaves Andujar - at the ripe age of 24, yes, twenty-four - coming to Tampa this week with no place to play - that is, unless the Yankee spin machine is telling the truth, and he's finally figured out 3B.

If so, the Yankees have a wonderful problem of excess, but a problem, nonetheless. 

If Andular can play 3B: Well, then Yankees need to put him there. History shows many greats - such as Wade Boggs, Mike Schmidt and Adrian Beltre - who broke in with suspect gloves. Third-basemen grow into the position, and Andujar needs a chance - the one he didn't get last year - to show if he can do it. (He deserves the chance because, as a great-hitting 3B, he'd earn millions more over his career than by playing OF or DH.) If Andu can play 3B, he could hold the position for the next decade, a candidate for Monument Park, if not Cooperstown. Simply stated - no, cruelly stated - his ceiling is far higher than Urshela's. 

But this is no year for long-term astral charts. The Yankees must win a championship now, and Urshela's spectacular defense will surely beat whatever improvements Andujar shows. The question whether Urshela's  breakout year- 21 HRs, .314 average - was a flash cube. (He did - sigh - hit .207 in September.)

Even if Urshela flops offensively, the Death Star should have enough firepower to justify a glove-only 3B. Still, it sends dominoes toppling across the lineup behind the fundamental question: What to do with Andu?

If he can't play third and moves to LF: Clint Frazier almost certainly must go. Does he share it with Mike Tauchman? Andujar is too important a hitter to platoon. Then there is the crazy notion of Giancarlo Stanton playing LF. It might just be that Stanton needs to roam the outfield, as he did in his last great season in Miami. Could spending all that time in the dugout, as a DH, be a cause for his constant tweaks?

If he moves to 1B: It means Loyal Luke Voit almost certainly must go, and does he platoon with Mike Ford? Or could the Yankees move DJ LeMahieu to first, choosing to go with the best defensive lineup. (On that note, could Urshela play 2B?) 

We have 40 days and nights to figure this out. But keep this in mind:

Last year at this time, we viewed Miguel Andujar as a potential future great Yankee, a rare generational talent. Okay, so he lost a year. Nothing has changed. At 24, he's way too young to be overlooked, far too talented to be traded - (unless for a ridiculous return, which we'll never get while he remains unproven.) To Andu, or not to Andu, that is the question. (Until, of course, the juju gods answer it with a tweaked gonad or two. Hey, am I right?)