BOTH

It is said that the sign of a mature individual is the ability to keep two opposing ideas in his mind at the same time.

I would add that another sign is the ability to adjust to changing situations, even when they wreck your original plans.  That's been a characteristic of our most outstanding presidents, generals—and baseball executives.

I was and am all for the Yankees building from within, and skipping free-agent signings like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, young, talented but flawed players, who are also inherent risks simply because of the size of the contracts they will command.

But.  But.

The situation has changed.  The Yanks now have a gaping hole in their infield, thanks to Sir Didi's injury—one they made worse by releasing the Toe.

The Yanks have a gaping hole in their outfield, despite all of Brian Cashman's defiant folderol.  I love Red Thunder, but sadly, we don't know if he will even play again.  I love Gardy, but he's done.  I...don't actually HATE Jacoby Ellsbury, but let's be serious.

Down on the farm, everybody raves about Estevan Florial, with his five tools and his superstar potential, and his great personality.  I love the IDEA of that.  But let's face it:  the guy is still in Single-A ball and just got through hitting .178 in the Arizona Fall League, with no home runs and two stolen bases.

Some of those tools seem to have fallen out of the tool box, and I'm not talking about the needle-nose pliers.  When Mickey Mantle was his age—barely turned 21—he'd just finished a season as the best player in the AL, and hit .345 in the World Series, driving in the winning runs in Game 7.

(And people still considered him a disappointment.  No wonder the guy turned to drink.)

Is it unfair to compare anyone to Mickey Mantle?  Of course it is.  But it's also unfair to assume anyone is going to BE Mickey Mantle.

So what's that leave us?  Big hole in the infield, big hole in the outfield...and, oh yeah, big hole in a lineup that is only going to swing one way if we don't grab Harper.

So sign both.  Nice as it would be to build from within, Brian Cashman has already screwed that up, and there's no indication he could ever do it in the first place.

In 43 years of free agency, there have never, ever been two players this young and this good on the market.  It could easily be another 43 years before there are again.

Are they imperfect?  Yes.  Could they be complete disasters?  Yes.  Hey, as a great man once said, there's no predicting baseball.

Will they be better than watching Brett Gardner try to play a whole season for us again?  And/or Neil Walker?

Abso-fucking-lutely.

Disappointing as this postseason has been, it is not (yet) a disaster.  Signing Happ instead of Corbin might even have been the smart thing.  Sign up Harper and Machado, and we're guaranteed nothing—except a chance.

Without them, we got trouble.  The situation has changed.