Yankees can not win a championship without a healthy Didi Gregorius

The Yankees received some potentially terrible news on Sunday after an MRI revealed that Didi Gregorius has torn cartilage in his right wrist. The star shortstop suffered the injury Saturday night sliding into home to score the winning run that helped the Yankees clinch a spot in the postseason.

Following Saturday’s walk-off win Didi and the Yankees had no idea or any reason to believe there was damage in his rwrist. He and the rest of his teammates were busy celebrating with champagne in the home clubhouse. However, on Sunday morning he woke up with the wrist bothering him which led him to report the pain to the trainers.

The ensuing MRI showed a small tear according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com and whether or not the injury will keep Didi out for the rest of the season is anyone’s guess right now. Skipper Aaron Boone said Didi will be reevaluated in a few days to see how he responds to a cortisone injection he received in the wrist.

Boone said he was unsure if the injury will keep Didi out for the remainder of the season while Didi himself seemed optimistic about returning before the October 3rd Wild Card game.

“We’re going to take it day to day. We’ll see how far it goes, but I have some movement in there. They say things like this happen to other players. Some of them have played through it. We’re going to see how it goes. If it feels better, I’ll be back in there so we can still make that playoff decision.”

Knowing Didi he will do everything in his power to come back before the playoffs begin, especially if it’s a matter of managing and playing through pain. Although if the training staff doesn’t allow him to make an attempt to play through the pain the Yankees chances of winning championship #28 will take a massive hit.

You could make a strong argument that no player on this Yankee team is more important than Didi because of what he brings to the table on both sides of the ball. He’s a middle of the order left-handed bat who plays gold glove defense at a premium position. There’s just no replacing that even though the Yankees have solid plan backup options in Adeiny Hechevarria and Gleyber Torres to fill in.

Hechevarria’s defense is just as good as Didi’s and Gleyber can be just as productive offensively but neither one is the full package at shortstop that Didi is. Hech is a below average hitter and although Gleyber came up through the minors as a shortstop he’s been prone to make some unforced errors there this season. He also doesn’t have the range Didi does at this point in his young career.

Hech and Torres will likely split time based on the matchups over these final seven games while Neil Walker will get more playing time at second when Gleyber plays short. A Yankee lineup that essentially replaces Didi with Walker isn’t terrible, but whether it’s enough to make a deep postseason run remains to be seen.

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Personally, I don’t think it is which is why the Yankees have to hope and pray that Didi can make it back for next Wednesday’s AL Wild Card game. Because unless Gary Sanchez and Giancarlo Stanton start playing like the 2017 versions of themselves this Yankee offense is going to have a hard time scoring runs in October without Didi in the lineup.

With Aaron Judge still showing signs of rust since his return to the lineup, the Yankees don’t have a lot of guys clicking on all cylinders right now. Outside of Miguel Andujar and Luke Voit, nobody is hitting over .280 in September.

And along with Didi there the only three hitters slugging over .470 this month. Didi hit .250 this month before Saturday’s injury but he’s slugged a team-leading .659 with 5 home runs and 12 RBI.

Losing that type of production for the postseason would obviously sting a ton, but the overall leadership and experience Didi brings to the table would be missed just as much. No Yankee hitter was more clutch last postseason than Didi and when it comes to winning in October it helps to have players in your lineup who have been there before and have had success.

For as much talent as the Yankees have even without Didi there’s no denying that Sunday’s news could prove to be their downfall come October 3rd and beyond (if they can get past Oakland). Sure the Yankees could beat the A’s without Didi in a single elimination format, but after that, I have a hard time seeing them advance any further without #18 at shortstop.

The impact he makes in all facets of the game just can’t be replicated by anyone else on the roster. I hate to be negative but it’s as simple as this: If Didi can’t return we can pretty much kiss the Yankees hopes of winning another title goodbye.