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Yankees Fans: Don’t vote for Didi, send the guy from Boston to Miami

BySteve Contursi|
Xander Bogaerts (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Xander Bogaerts (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

The Yankees are sending five of their precious commodities to the All-Star Game in Miami next week. The have an opportunity to send a sixth player. Don’t vote for him, instead, cast your vote for the guy from Boston.

The Yankees, at least on the surface, received a nice compliment from fans and Major League Baseball when it was announced last night that Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez, Starlin Castro and Dellin Betances will be participating in the 2017 MLB All-Star Game in Miami, next Tuesday.

The Yankees also have an opportunity to send a sixth player, Didi Gregorius, depending on the results of a fan-based Final Vote that is taking place now and will end at 4:00 P.M. on July 6. Gregorius is listed along with Elvis Andrus (TX), Logan Morrison (TB), Mike Moustakas (KC), and Xander Bogaerts (BOS).  Only one will be voted in.

I’m here asking you to not vote for Didi. Instead, cast your ballot for the guy from Boston. And here’s why.

Trust me, it’s not heresy

Our guy needs a rest. Since Gregorius returned to the Yankees lineup on April 28, the Yankees have played 59 games. Gregorius has played in all but two of them. And with all the shuffling going on in the Yankees infield, manager Joe Girardi has been unable to rest Gregorius as often as might have wanted to. Three days to clear the mind and work out the kinks is what the team needs. And it’s our job to make sure Gregorius gets it.

A vote for Bogaerts is a vote for the Yankees, even though it sounds like heresy.

Three days to clear the mind and work out the kinks is what the team needs. And it’s our job to make sure Gregorius gets it. Let’s be practical. Send our friend from Boston, Bogaerts, instead.

Let Bogaerts hop on a shuttle following Boston’s game on Sunday to get to Miami, scramble around fielding last-minute pleas and phone calls from high school buddies long forgotten for tickets. Let him field all of the inane questions that are destined to begin with, “So tell me, Xander, how does it feel to be an All-Star?”

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And leave him to Kevin Gregg, the Red Sox PR man so that he can be showcased for the fans back home and the Boston media, in between batting practice, the obligatory appearance during the Home Run Derby, and finally, the red-eye flight back following the game or one the next morning.

The All-Star Game is an annual spectacle giving baseball the national stage for a few days in the middle of a season. It’s also a notch in a player’s belt during arbitration or contract talks. And there is probably not one player who would rather be anywhere else but in Miami next week.

Didi can take one for the team

I get all that. But, we’re talking about the banged-up and sputtering New York Yankees here. And to his credit and because he knows what lies ahead, Joe Girardi has been doing somersaults trying to find ways to give Judge and Sanchez some much-needed rest before the circus arrives.

And for Judge, I can only shudder at what he’ll be facing next week.

Hopefully, Castro can get a pass based on his hamstring injury, but for that to happen, the Yankees will need to finagle a way to “stretch” things out a bit within the new rules. Or, Girardi just pleads with Joe Torre, “he ain’t quite right yet.”

Which brings us back to much hyped Final Vote. A vote for Bogaerts is a vote for the Yankees, even though it sounds like heresy.

Didi, get some rest, have fun and come back strong when the Yankees resume their season facing those same Red Sox on July 14 at Fenway in a critical series.

And in the meantime, Xander, have fun.

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