Write this down: The Yankees will regret letting Mean Chad Green go to Toronto

Yesterday, while the Yankees were dicking around with whatever it is they have been dicking around with lately, the worst thing in the world that could happen... happened.

Mean Chad Green signed with the Blue Jays. 

Damn. WTF? Were the phones out? Was everybody on vacation? Who let this happen? 

This punch shouldn't land with the force that it did. Green disappeared last May with a barking elbow and Tommy John surgery. He probably won't return until this fall. He'll be 32, the country will be bankrupt, artificial intelligence will have reached singularity, the UFOs will have landed and who knows who Pete Davidson will be dating, Jasson Dominguez, maybe?

Still, for all the uncertainties in this world, I doubledog guarantee this: 

At some critical point, Chad Green will emerge from the Blue Jay bullpen and shut down the Yankees like the state of Texas' power grid in a snowsquall. This is as unavoidable as Dolly Parton's wig. He will avenge the Yankees' refusal to re-sign him - a spasm of disloyalty that will haunt us in the fierce darkness of October.

Green signed a sweet deal: $8.5 million over two years, even if 2023 is a wash. We should be happy for him. He'll forever represents one of Brian Cashman's greatest trades - he and Luis Cessa from the Tigers for Justin Wilson - back in pre-Trump 2015. He gave us some great moments.

Remember the first inning of the 2017 AL Wild Card, against the Twinkies. Green relieved Luis Severino with three runs in and two more on base. He fanned two batters, then pitched a scoreless second. The Yankees won 8-4, a battle of bullpens. (They went on to beat Cleveland - Greg Bird's HR! - and then lose in seven to the cheater Astros.)   

Green is the rare pitcher who once lost his stuff, found himself in the minors, and saved his career.  That happened in 2019, when he was cruelly bombed in April, then dispatched to Scranton, where many pitchers die. He returned in May, pitching himself back. It takes a special person to do that.

Last May, he reported elbow pain. He was one of our first workhorses to go down, as our vaunted bullpen collapsed. 

Look, I get it: Baseball is a business. You can't sign everybody. Still, I'm surprised Cashman let Green walk to an AL East rival, especially for chump change. 

This we know: Green will return to haunt us, likely at a time when Boone's pitching staff is in shambles. By August, we will scouring the outback for bullpen help, and overpaying for whatever we can find on the market. 

We will regret letting this guy go.