For the 2020 Yankees, every day will be Gleyber Day

The Yankees are starting to resemble the Iowa caucuses: After months of pondering the outcome, what more to say? Soon, somebody will win, somebody will lose, a few will disappear, and Aaron Hicks will still be injured. Soon, something will happen, and we will have to ask ourselves, what was the point of all that speculation? We could have been watching Ellen.

Then again, this is what fans do - gloriously waste time and brain cells - and we at IIHIIFIIc are blessed with, I believe, the most bonkers Yank fans this side of stage four schizophrenia. Thus, we sit around, thinking personal re-thoughts - that is, thoughts that we have thunk before. (Technically, every thought's been thunk before by somebody; you know how Descartes said, I think therefore I am? Fuck him. I thought it once, all by myself. I was 10 years old, staring out the window and wondering how I could get out of going to school. It hit me, out of the blue: I think, therefore I am. I didn't make a big deal out it. Descartes robbed me.) Anyway, here is today's personal Yankee re-thought: (At least, I'm assuming that I thought it before; actually, I can't remember.)

The fate of the 2020 Yankees rests almost entirely on Gleyber Torres.

If Gleyber can play solid SS, we win the AL East by 10 games. 

If Gleyber can't play solid SS, we face a dogfight for the division, and maybe we settle for the wild card.

Whatever Gleyber delivers, it will topple dominoes in every direction. If he cannot play SS, he moves to 2B, knocking DJ LeMahieu to 1B, thus knocking either Luke Voit or Mike Ford to Scranton. Then there is the question of who plays SS: Tyler Wade, Thairo Estrada, or - my guess - a veteran glove plucked from somebody's leftovers. (One other exotic possibility: Kyle Holder, up from Scranton.) 

In the everyday lineup, Gleyber probably bats third: (LeMahieu, Judge, Gleyber, Stanton, etc...) If his bat is compromised by the pressures of playing SS, that's a problem. We have undermined perhaps the best hitter on the team. That sends ripples in every direction, as well. 

Thus, everything - the sun, the moon, the vagaries of love! - depends on Gleyber's ability to play SS. Last year, he played it for several months, during Didi's absence. He looked.. okay. But my personal re-thought is that when Didi returned, and Gleyber moved to 2B, our overall defense improved. (The question: Was this, in part, because LeMahiue took over at 1B? Maybe.) The problem in October was that Didi didn't hit. 

So, the question entering 2020: Can Gleyber play SS with superior defense, while maintaining his offensive output? 

We let Didi walk this winter, didn't even give him a qualifying offer. (Apparently, we feared he would take it.) I understand the reasoning, sorta: They were cutting corners after signing Gerrit Cole. They were moving toward Gleyber as the SS of the future. I get it. Still, does anyone out there NOT think that Didi will have a great year in Phily? And if Gleyber stumbles, Hal's little spasm of austerity could haunt the 2020 Yankees, and if this team doesn't win a championship... well, it could haunt Yankee teams for many years to come.