Yankees to Pete Kozma: You’re Killing Me, Smalls!

Thankfully, the Pete Kozma experiment for the Yankees will be coming to an end with the return of Didi Gregorius from the disabled list.

When the Yankees selected the contract of Pete Kozma following Spring Training, more than a few eyebrows were raised. After all, the guy is a career .221 hitter who last played in the majors back in 2015 with the Cardinals.

I for one had been pining for 22-year-old Tyler Wade to break camp with the big league team. Wade, who can play second, third, short and all three outfield positions extremely well, has been tearing up Triple-A Scranton this season, hitting .305 through the first 15 games.

To a point, I understand the Yankees’ logic, that they didn’t want to add Wade to the 40-man roster and burn one of his three minor league options — sending him back down to the farm once Gregorius is ready — tentatively scheduled for May 1.

Kozma too was not on the 40-man, but at this point, no one will be sad to see him designated for assignment, sooner rather than later.

As for Ronald Torreyes, he has far exceeded expectations as the fill-in everyday shortstop — no question about it.

The issue at hand, though, is that Kozma has single-handedly cost the Yankees two ball games in the past week alone.

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Last Sunday, Girardi gave the scolding hot Chase Headley the night off against the White Sox. Shifting Torreyes to third base, Kozma (the defensive wizard) started at short, only to make a costly error on a routine grounder.

Then yesterday afternoon, with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning of a 2-1 contest against the Pirates, Girardi was forced to allow Kozma, the late inning defensive replacement, to bat for himself, after running out of position players. At the time, the Yankees were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

After working a 2-0 count, things were looking fortuitous. One would think Girardi had to signal third base coach Joe Espada to make sure Kozma was aware of continuing to take pitches until he got a strike, right?

WRONG! Kozma, who forgot he’s 1-for-8 this season, and is, well, Pete Kozma, unceremoniously swung at Pirates closer Tony Watson‘s offering — weakly grounding out to third base to end the game.

Skeptics love to point out hindsight as their counter argument for everything, but give me a break. Are you really going to tell me you felt Kozma had even the slightest chance of playing the hero card if he swung the bat?

There’s no way Kozma should have been thinking about anything but drawing the walk. I don’t care if the Pirates allowed him to hit off a tee — he still would have meekly grounded out.

Blame Aaron Hicks for striking out moments before all you want — at least Hicks has shown the pedigree to excel when the opportunity presents itself.

Yes, the Yanks are still 11-7, a game and a half back of the Orioles for first place in the AL East, but as we found out early last season when the Yankees started off a horrendous 8-15, every ballgame counts — even the ones in April.

If the Yanks miss a playoff spot by a measly two games, you can look to when Kozma made the team and a guy like Wade didn’t.

Next: Didi Is Almost Back

Yeah, hindsight is nice, but it works both ways.