Ben Rortvedt has a barking finger, and Yank fans may be ready to shout, "Chop it off."

It's his middle finger. The one given us by Fate. 

So... where to start? Frankly, you don't need to hear me whine about Ben Rortvedt - of the bulging biceps and multi-consonants - who missed most of 2022 with a cavalcade of injuries, including knee surgery. We hoped his bad luck was over. Now, we have to wonder. 

Some poor guys just lurk in that Twilight Zone dimension, always on the snake-bitten fringe, flittering at the precipice of the 40-man roster, always seeking to return to a place where they have never been. Think of Mike Pence, for example. Or Colter Bean. The Rort might just be one of those players, their begotten souls eternally consigned to walk the Earth in pain and suffering, while we check their weekly stats in Scranton.

This week, Rortvedt's inability to take the field prompted some strange crosscurrents in the Yankiverse: 

1. Get this: The Yanks are listed as one of several potential landing strips for Gary Sanchez, the former Kraken, whom we traded last winter for Rortvedt. Frankly, this seems absurd. Is Salvador Dali blogging about the Yankees? 

Gary, now 30, hit .205 with 16 HRs last year with Minnesota - enough for the Twins to punt on him. One possible positive: He was charged with only four passed balls in 91 games - (he had 18 in 76 in 2019, when Yank fans began to boo.) Gary last year suffered 27 wild pitches - (his career high was 60, in 2021.) Not bad. Has he finally figured out how to block pitches? Or did he simply have friendly Gammonites in the scorer's booth? 

Either way, former Yankee stars always return home someday, but Gary might be too young for his Old Timers Day reunion. 

2. Prospect Austin Wells generated ink this week after arriving in camp with bruised ribs, a mystery ailment that makes you wonder: WTF? Was he playing football? Skiing? Breakdancing. I don't recall an explanation for his bruises. It's probably nothing, none of our business. Still, bruised ribs? 

Wells was the 28th overall pick in the 2020 draft. He supposedly can hit with power, and he's a lefty bat. All of the above make him an important possibility this year, assuming his ribs can avoid bruises. Snowmobile accident? Bar fight? Roller derby?Bruised ribs? 

3. The status quo: Jose Trevino and Kyle Higashioka. Both are popular, in part, because they've never let us down. We simply had no expectations. Nobody figured Trevino to hit his weight and make the all-star squad. He was the feel-good Yankee of the first-half. And despite leading the team in HRs last spring, Higashioka never drew comparisons to Elston Howard (as Sanchez did in his  rookie breakout.) Still, it would be nice to have a lefty hitter option at catcher, which is where the Rort supposedly came in.

So, is Rortvedt damned for eternity? Obviously, it's too early to say. And a finger is a finger - not a big toe, as with DJ. I wish Rortburger no harm, but - damn - he needs a solid spring. A bad finger isn't going to cut it.