Despite the Yankees' current great play, a Superstar Correction looms

As hard-bitten, caustic, regularly negative Yank fans, we all know what's coming: 

The Correction. 

We won't win 9 of 10 forever.

So be it. We can't complain. Hell, it's been a fantastical season, courtesy of the New York/Wilkes Barre Railriders. (By the way, Scranton is about to clinch its division, so the vein of Triple A talent runs deep; I bet Scranton would beat Baltimore in a seven game series.) But we know what's coming.  

Soon, the regulars will heal, reassembling the millionaire, dream team, all-star lineup that has only existed in the zeitgeist of spring training. Then what? Well, there's a decent chance that we will return to the tired ways that won us nothing - zilch - over the last decade. Don't snicker. It could happen. Let me give you Exhibit A: The Case of Gary Sanchez.

Last night - to kill time during the massacre - the YES network flashed a graphic showing the production of backup catchers Austin Romine and Kyle Higashioka: In 15 games, they've batted nearly .370 with 8 HRs. At one point, the announcers suggested this was an output worthy of Gary Sanchez. 

Huh?

In case we've forgotten, before Gary tweaked his left titmouse, his batting average had plummeted to .229, and he hadn't homered since the all-star break. To suggest his output would come anywhere close to what Romine and Higashioka have done... good luck with that. I'm fine with attributing Gary's slump to nagging injuries, which he was shouldering stoically. But he had become our Chris Davis. His whole game was withering, threatening even the defensive improvements he'd made. Batting cleanup, he was killing us.

Meanwhile, Romine's pivotal HRs led to huge victories, including the final game in Fenway. He lifted this team. When Sanchez returns, I, for one, am here to suggest that Romine deserves more - if not equal - playing time. I understand that traditional rule: An injured player doesn't lose his job. But unless Gary starts hitting, I see no reason why Romine - and even Higashioka, after September 1 - should not get more at-bats. And maybe a true assessment of Gary Sanchez should not balance upon his first two months in the majors, when he produced in ways he has never been able to duplicate.

Then there is Giancarlo Stanton, now on the verge of becoming the new Ellsbury. (Which begs a question: Whatever happened to Jacoby? Aren't we supposed to hear updates? Last we knew, he had a bum whatever. Is he so down on the depth chart that the Yankees no longer bother to say his name? He used to be a gamer, a clutch hitter. Has he de facto retired? Same with Greg Bird. Have these become Voldemort-level creatures, so loathsome we no longer speak their names?) 

As my esteemed colleague Alphonso loves to point out, the most defining image of Stanton's Yankee career is his 5-strikeout Platinum Sombrero, which - if memory serves - he's accomplished twice. (When he turns in his fifth - a platinum Platinum Sombrero - MLB should halt all games to celebrate.) This season, Giancarlo has 1 HR and 7 RBIs. Unbelievable. 

They now say he is "resuming baseball activities." (For me, that means reading box scores.) That's good, because if he doesn't return soon, the Triple A season will be over, and he will have to play himself in shape during major league games. That usually means a slump. Same with Edwin Encarnacion, Luke Voit, Aaron Hicks and - if they mess him up - Gleyber Torres: 

Unless they return soon, they'll have to rehab at the major league level. 

The Yankees are playing their greatest baseball of the season. Every player is contributing. But the lineup has maybe two "stars:" Aaron Judge and the emerging MVP, DJ LeMahieu. After that, it's all hungry overachievers. 

And soon, they will disappear. We will see fading veterans, working themselves back into shape.  

And that, my friends, is the looming Correction.