We need to start talking about Gleyber

"Gleyber Torres is a singles hitter now and his regression since that 38-homer season in 2019 should be the No. 1 worry for the franchise." 
-Mike Axisa, RAB Thoughts (via Patreon, well worth paying for, BTW) -

Ow. That line hurt, just cutting and pasting it. I felt a jolt. I mean, WTF, Mike? 

Two years ago, the Gleyb was one of baseball's rising stars, up there with Trout, Lindor and Mookie. This summer, gulp, he could become a fifth wheel. 

Last night: Another 0-4 clunker, batting fifth, which nearly helped return a gift win from Atlanta. On the season, Gleyber has no HRs, one RBI, is hitting .180, and has fanned 15 times in 55 at-bats. Moreover, his defense at SS - where the Yankees made him their linchpin - has been shoddy, at best. (Better lately? Or am I imagining it?) Like a bad Gleyber, Torres is not there. 

In our own personal panic rooms, we must start pondering the unponderable: 

What if Gleyber is a fizzle?

By "fizzle," I mean a young player seemingly destined for Monument Park, who is cut down by defensive realignments, pitching strategies and - (let's face it, probably...) - his dick. (Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim...) In the last few years, the Yankees have seen their share. 

Yangervis Solarte was a fizzle. Greg Bird was a fizzle. Tyler Austin was a fizzle.

Gary Sanchez... an emerging fizzle. Aaron Hicks, yep. Miguel Andujar? Starting to worry. Clint Frazier? Ouch, make it stop! Gleyber? A fizzle?

At this point, I need to calm down and chant our mantra: 

It's... still.... early... it's... still.... early...it's... still.... early...it's... still....

An old John Mellencamp song goes, "This aint the end of the world, but you can see it from here." That's how I see the Yankee alt-future, if Gleyber continues to fizzle. 

Here, comrades, is the OFFICIAL IT IS HIGH GLEYBER WORST-CASE SCENARIO:

1. We try him for two months at SS. His glove never comes around, and he sinks lower in the batting order. Weak up the middle, the Yankees struggle.

2. In June, we switch Gleyber back to 2B, hoping to save him. That pushes DJ LeMahieu to 1B, making Luke Voit a fifth wheel (until someone gets injured.) We shop Voit around because... 

3. We have a massive void at SS. Tyler Wade - never exciting enough to "fizzle" - is not an everyday SS for a contender.  We end up trying Kyle Holder, a glove SS who has never hit. 

4. On another team, Voit excels. We finish out of the playoffs. The Mets play Boston in the World Series. Our rivals laugh at us.

5. Next winter, we shop Gleyber for a pitcher, or a catcher, or the SS he wasn't. 

6. At age 25, for another team, he  becomes a superstar.  

7. We relive the 1980s, one of the worst periods in Yankee history - characterized by bad trades, from Doug Drabek to Willie McGee, from Fred McGriff to Jay Buhner.

8. Everybody dies.  

Dark enough? Today, the Yanks have two big prospects, an overly hyped 17-year-old OF named Jasson Dominiquez and Oswald Peralta, a 19-year-old SS. The hope is that Peralta this year will shoot through the system and become a unicorn. It's fun to hope. But with the minors canceled last year, nobody knows nothing, in terms of which prospects are real and which are Memorex. 

If Gleyber is a fizzle... oh, God... It's... still... early... it's... too... early...