In gift to spelling-challenged bloggers everywhere, Yanks sign Asher Wojciechowski

Asher Wojciechowski. (Pronounced as it looks.) 

This is war. 

This. Must. Not. Stand.

O, there hath been dirty deeds done (dirt cheap) by Brian Cashman - aka the Y-anon Shaman - but this, THIS, takes the urinal cake. I'm still battling with LeMahiue and the occasional Teixeira... with PTSD flashbacks to the Spell Checker Kraken of 2007, the good-hearted Doug Mientkiewicz. Now... this? It's unforgivable, I tell you, a cruel joke by a demon who humps buildings in an elf costume. And here's the worst part of this treachery: Wojciechowksky might be here to stay. 

Why would I think this? Well, for starters, he is one. And right now, the Yankee rotation is Geritt Cole dressed as a Five-Day Deodorant Pad. (Millennials, ask a boomer.) Wojciechowksky - known, of course, as "Wojo," (rare Barney Miller reference; ask a boomer), toiled last year for Baltimore, with a 6.82 ERA over 37 innings (including seven starts).  He is 32, a righty, a 6'4" war horse, originally drafted (first round, no less) by Toronto, back in the Obama administration. Over his MLB career, Wojo has thrown 198 innings with a 5.95 ERA. Basically, he's a guy who takes the ball. 

If you need a Yankee comparison, last year he was an older, better version of Michael King, who threw 26 innings with a patriotic 7.76 ERA. 

Signings like this raise the specter of a Sergio Leone movie. (Ask a boomer.)

The good: He signed a minor league contract. Whatever happens - no harm, no foul. History is paved with pitchers who peak after 30; the Jays just signed one, Kirby Yates, for a Putin-level pile. If Wojo is smart - if he has guile and guts - he could be our fifth starter until somebody else emerges.

The bad: Nobody might emerge. This signing - as "no fault" as it seems -  suggests how dire the rotation situation currently looks. Cashman is quietly looking under rocks. Also, it's interesting that Wojo chose the Yankees. He and his agent saw a pitching vacuum, a wide-open opportunity. 

The ugly: The Yankees might keep him in April and May simply to screw rookie pitchers out of future arbitration years. He might start, even with younger and better options available, simply because he's cheap. On the Yankees, no less...

Also, I gotta spell this guy's name for the next four months. Asher Wojciechowskie. Damn you, Cashman, you've won again.