Heading into the Subway Series and the halfway mark, the Yankee Death Star is attracting hope and despair

 1. Finally, the Yankees this week added a LH catcher: 31-year-old Rob Brantly, a lifetime .220 hitter, who can kick-save wild pitches and maybe give us a fighting chance against the RH bullpen specialists who own Gary Sanchez's soul. Best part of the deal: SF accepted cash. Platoon, anyone?

2. Maybe Brantly should hook up with Eric Kratz, our current backup, who is 4 for 11 on the season. Kratz has more doubles (2) than Sanchez, who has - drum roll, please - one... (the loneliest number that you ever know.) Gary is hitting .139 in 72 at-bats. He leads the team with 34 strikeouts, nine more than Luke Voit, who is second. Fun Fact: Gary also leads the team in Hit By Pitches, with three. (He not only can't catch wild pitches, he can't dodge them, either.) 

3. Aaron Judge's apparent re-injury is by far the most distressing Yankee event thus far in 2020. (Until this, the first was the notion that Trump was going to throw out a ceremonial pitch.) Judge has gotten off to a great start. This was going to be his year, the season he cemented his legacy as the face of the Yankees. Instead, he now looks like Giancarlo II - a career "what-if...?" If this sounds harsh and unfeeling, well, I don't know how else to put it: The guy did interviews last week, saying he was ready and raring to go, that he didn't need to be on the IL. Then he returns for five innings and pulls up lame. 

4. The last five losses exposed glaring weaknesses - most notably our LACK of depth (formerly the team's great strength.) Last year's "Next Man Up" elevation of Urshela, Tauchman, Maybin and Voit now looks like a lucky, one-shot deal. This year, neither Wade (.185) nor Estrada (.222) nor Ford (.163) have stepped up. The bottom of the lineup is Death Valley, and every day, Cashman patrols the scrap heaps for still-pulsing cadavers.

5. Almost every MLB trade rumor in captivity has Miguel Andujar going somewhere, usually for a rag-armed bullpen inner tube. Miggy's two hits Wednesday raised his average to - gulp - .160. Two years ago, when he chased DiMaggio, who could have expected his stock to now be so low, so horrible? In this fractured market, we might receive pork and beans. His Yankeeography is a slow-motion disaster. 

6. When Aaron Boone mentions Michael King as a viable starting option this weekend, from where is he getting his information? The CDC? The FDA? Infowars? King's ERA is 6.59 - worse than JA Happ. In 13 innings pitched, he's given up 10 runs. If the Yankees blow this series, they could find themselves being tailgated by Toronto, trapped in a hole from which they cannot emerge. And they're turning to King? This is bad. This is real bad.

7. On the pitching staff, our most pleasant surprise - maybe the only one - is Jonathan Loaisiga. His ERA - 2.77 - is only behind Mean Chad Green, and the absent Zack Britton and Tommy Kahnle. But but but... in his second time around the order, Johnny Lasagna seems to lose a tick. He looks more like a closer than the starter we desperately need. Over his career, he's also been extremely fragile. How many innings should we pile on him? We might soon get an answer, and it won't be a pleasant surprise.

8. In comments to the Gammonites, Boone keeps ignoring Clarke Schmidt and Deivi Garcia as starter options for this weekend. The only conclusion? Neither must be pitching well at the alt-site in Scranton, or is something else in play? Are the Yankees protecting them in anticipation of a trade? (God help us.) Or, I wonder if hamstrings have been popping in Moosic, as they are in NYC? If a gonad tweaks in the forest, does anybody yelp?

9. The canceled games in the aftermath of Kenosha remind us of how fragile this dark season remains. Any trade must take into account the very real chance that there will be no World Series, or that one infection could wipe out our post-season. Meanwhile, a large segment of the U.S. population is being told the pandemic is over, and that fans should return to the bleachers. (Considering the proposed Lysol cure, maybe some fans should be called "bleachers?") Wash your hands, everybody. We're barely halfway through the 2020 season. The rocky roads lie ahead, and I don't mean ice cream.