The Martian is making left field into a place of terror and suspense.

There's a new streaming sci-fi flick, The Gorge, where Anya Taylor-Joy - (last year's IT girl) - plays a gritty military sniper sent to an obscure base and told to shoot whatever emerges from a deep dark canyon, because it threatens humankind. Haven't seen it, but I like the concept. 

It describes our situation in left field - because, right now, whatever emerges may threaten the future of Yankind. 

Why do I say this? Yesterday, Jasson Dominguez botched another fly. 

This one was a misdiagnosed liner to the track, a catchable ball turned into a double - the Martian's 4th defensive goof in four games. His woes in LF have begun to shade not only the 2025 lineup, but the balloon of hype that lifted Dominguez - aka "The Martian" - all winter.

Okay, let's step back. Before I play Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, let's acknowledge that:

1. It's still February - at least, for today.
2. We're only four games into spring training.
3. This is the time to make mistakes.
4. Dominguez is learning a new position, LF, (though it's not like he's donning a mask and cup.) 

Right now, our main problem is credibility. For years, the Yankee brain trust has hyped Dominguez as a rock-ribbed perfectionist, a tireless student of the game, with the work ethic of a team of huskies. He hungers for self-improvement, takes notes, remembers birthdays, a bone-crushing handshake, forever seeking to elevate the Yankee human condition. 

Unfortunately, over the winter, he does not seem to have worked on his defense in LF. 

Last September, he looked imperiled in left - so lost that the Yankees played a disappointing Alex Verdugo throughout the postseason. The October narrative went that Dominguez would catch flies all winter and report to Tampa with at least a clue. Something has gone wrong. Every fly ball is The Gorge. 

Having built their 2025 lineup around The Martian, the Yanks now seem to have few options, aside from sticking him in LF, closing their eyes and hoping for the best. Giancarlo Stanton's barking elbows might offer a solution:  Dominguez could become a fulltime DH. But, seriously, do we want our top prospect, age 22, without a position? Yikes.

Welp, the hype machine may giveth what it taketh away. Today, The Athletic devotes 800 words to the newest Yankee IT boy, Spencer Jones, who's having a nice spring - .286 with a HR. At 23, Jones could nicely fill the role of breakout OF prospect, if the Martian keeps flubbing flies. 

The problem: Jones last year fanned more than any 200 times, more than any Yankee farmhand in history.

We all know Jones. A former first rounder, who stands 6'6", he's been hyped for years. He'll surely start 2025 in Scranton. Last spring, the story goes, the Yankee brain trust saw a hole in his swing and began retooling his stance blah-blah-blah. That said, Spencer hit .444 in spring training last year - you can look it up - so he couldn't have looked too badly.

Welp, the Yankees have made their bed in LF, and Dominguez is sleeping in it. Whether he can wake up, that's the question. 

But if The Martian cannot play LF... holy crap, are we ever in trouble. I hope they have a sniper, because what emerges from left field could threaten everything. It won't be February for long.