This season, your favorite former Yankee will be risking his life to provide you with a diversion

If there is one player that Yankee fans can never rightfully boo - (we do, of course, reserve the right to hiss, moan and whine) - it is Didi.

Sir Didi Gregorius.

He remains the heartache from last winter. He's the one that got away. Starting next week, he'll wear a Phillies logo, and - damn - that's just so wrong. The juju gods must be drunk; that's the only explanation. 

For the record, I sincerely hope that Sir Didi hits 15 homers and drives in 40 runs this year - incredible stats that should make him the MVP. I hope he shows that the Yankees made a terrible mistake, a ridiculous blunder, though - truth be told - Cooperstown Cashman had little choice. Once we signed Geritt Cole, the dominoes were destined to drop. The Yanks were - still are - overstocked at SS. This is the year when Gleyber Torres annexes the position. I harbor no anger for what the Yankees did - or didn't do. But we lost one of the most popular players in memory. It's a cruel and brutal business, our national pastime. 

Yesterday, we learned a grim addenda to Didi's new incarnation, and it should send a shudder through every Yank fan. 

In 2011, long before he became a Yankee, doctors diagnosed Didi's kidney malfunction. It threatened his career. Ever since, he's kept it at bay. But it's just the kind of pre-existing condition that COVID exploits. Yesterday, Didi told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he will wear a mask at all times this season. It's not that he is on the secret payroll of George Soros. It's just that a mask might save his life.

“I can’t force a person to wear their mask, but it’s for everybody’s safety,” Gregorius said. “I’d prefer for everybody to wear it. You have to get the right one, too, while you’re playing, so you can breathe normally, because if you are wearing a mask and you can’t breathe, it’s going to be hard for you to breathe through it. So, get the right one.”

Two thoughts:

1. Didi will always be a Yankee. Someday, he will return to us. The Yankiverse will rejoice. (Yes, the juju gods are bastards, but they are, at essence, old softies.) 

2. If you don't wear a mask, you might just inadvertently extend the infection chain that kills Didi. If so, go root for the Mets.