Tampa is returning to earth, where Estevan Florial remains captive

It's finally happening: The once-unstoppable Red Tide Rays are leaking oil, losing six of 10, and worrying about sinkholes and elbows. Their big lead over the uber-darling O's has dwindled to three in the loss column, and Baltimore remains young and adorable, as Tampa was before Wander Franco stopped running out grounders. 

Toronto remains stunned by the unmerciful violence inflicted by Aaron Judge. The Jays thought they could do some nutty TikToks and get to him. That shit might work on Rudy Giuliani, but it backfired on Captain Crazy Eyes. As for Boston? They still look like a team destined to vanish in a series of late-July garage sales. 

Speaking of trades, Yank fans should start shuddering over the decimation deals that Cooperstown Cashman could inflict on or about Aug. 1. It's hard to imagine a worse set of trades than what he pulled off last year, but in terms of Yankee needs - bullpen, 3B, LF - almost nothing has changed. 

Most of all, the Yankees need a LH leftfielder who is not named Estevan Florial. 

Apparently, somebody somewhere once caught Florial eating with the wrong fork, or chewing with his mouth open, and he'll never get another shot, no matter what. It's hard to imagine a better defensive outfield than Florial-Bader-Judge. Not many balls would drop. But forget Florial. He's on somebody's shit list.  

Did I mention that, last night with Scranton, Florial went 4 for 5, hitting his eighth  HR and raising his BA to .313? He has nine stolen bases and an OPS of 1.032. But who cares? All the Yankees are his 46 strikeouts in 115 at bats. (For whatever it's worth, Anthony Volpe has 54 in 162, Judge has 50 in 133, and DJ has 43 in 146.) And, yeah, I can't lie: That's a shit ton of Ks. But Florial has 27 walks and an on-base percentage of .441. He's working on it. If they're not going to give him a shot, they better move him while he's hitting .313 - not wait until he becomes disillusioned and goes 0-for-40. 

Of course, there's no path for Florial. Nobody wants to see fan-fave Oswaldo Cabrera demoted, and just when he seems like a washout, Oswaldo always manages to show a spark. The real shame is that the Yankees simply will not let Aaron Hicks go, because they're paying him too much. Thus, Florial can wow Scranton until Doomsday, or at least July 31. But I wonder... if they brought him up tomorrow, wouldn't he outhit Willie Calhoun or Jake Bauers? And isn't he obviously a better fielding option? 

Florial's problem is that the Yankees lose nothing by sitting on him. He's 25. Will he die in Scranton? In Florida, they don't say "gay." In NY, they don't say "Estevan."