The Yankees are in Texas and faced Cole Hamels, and because of Hamels’ impending free agency, the fact he’s on a bad team and the Yankees need starting pitching, it only makes sense that everyone envisions Hamels as a Yankee by July 31.

Do I want the Yankees to trade for Hamels? I don’t know? Maybe? It really depends on the asking price. And if that asking price involves Clint Frazier, then no, I don’t want the Yankees to trade for Hamels. But if the asking price is a salary dump and/or lesser prospects, then sign me up.

Hamels will have a little less than $8 million left on his 2018 salary at the trade deadline, and with him having the power to block a trade to the Yankees, he might be looking for them to pick up his $24 million option for 2019 in order for him to allow a deal. (His option would have vested if he pitched 400 innings between 2017 and 2018, but he only pitched 148 in 2017, and certainly isn’t going to pitch 252 this season.) A demand like that would likely scare the Yankees away as that money would be better used on the upcoming free-agent class. If Hamels made a wild demand like that, then the Yankees should be out on him. But let’s say the Yankees want to trade for Hamels and he doesn’t want anything other than the chance to pitch for the World Series favorite …

This isn’t three years ago when the Rangers traded for 31-year-old Cole Hamels, and it’s not even two years ago when 32-year-old Cole Hamels was an All-Star and went 15-5 with a 3.32 ERA for the AL West champion Rangers. And even though it’s brought up in every mention of Hamels, this most definitely isn’t the NLCS and World Series MVP of a decade ago. This is a 34-year-old impending free agent, who has pitched to a 3.38 ERA with the best K/9 ratio (9.8) since his 2006 rookie season (9.9), and who went seven innings, allowing two earned runs (both solo home runs) to the Yankees on Wednesday night, handing them just their fourth loss in 25 games.

An oblique injury in 2017 kept Hamels out for two months, but aside from last season, the last time he didn’t pitch at least 200 innings in a season was in 2009 when he pitched 193.2. He has been as durable as any starting pitcher in the league over the last 10 years, and you won’t have to worry about injuries with him the way you would with Michael Fulmer or James Paxton. And you wouldn’t have to worry about wildly inconsistent starts from him the way you would with Danny Duffy or Chris Archer. And he wouldn’t cost nearly as much as any of those four, and he’s most likely better than all four as is.

The Yankees’ two biggest threats to winning the AL pennant are the Astros and Red Sox. This season Hamels has made the following starts against both:

March 29 vs. Houston: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 2 HR

April 13 at Houston: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ,ER 2 BB, 7 K, 2 HR

May 5 vs. Boston: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR

May 11 at Houston: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 0 HR

In four starts against the Astros and Red Sox, Hamels has pitched to the following line: 23.2 IP, 17 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 11 BB, 24 K, 5 HR, 2.66 ERA, 1.183 WHIP.

When you add in his start against the Yankees, Hamels has pitched to the following line against the three best teams in baseball: 30.2 IP, 21 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 13 BB, 31 K, 7 HR, 2.64 ERA, 1.109 WHIP.

Yes, that home run total is a little high, but again, this is against the three best teams in baseball. Those numbers are pretty freakin’ good.

The Yankees have given Domingo German a chance to take over Jordan Montgomery’s rotation spot, and he has turned in one great start and two A.J. Burnett-like starts. But if German can’t get on track, then turn to another in-house option, and if that doesn’t work, turn to another. Exhaust all in-house options over the next nine-plus weeks before deciding to go out and potentially trade a future star for a two-month rental or cost-controlled starter, who might not make a significant difference and might not make a difference at all.

The Yankees were good enough to come within one win of the World Series last season with the same team that now has Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar. That might be enough to get that win and four more after that, but if it’s not, getting a starting pitcher should be. Cole Hamels is the best option to be that starting pitcher.

The Yankees are 27-12 and no one wants to hear a Yankees fan complain, but I’m not really complaining. I’m trying to improve the Yankees as the best team in baseball because the second-best team in baseball plays in their division, and the difference between going right to the ALDS or having to play another one-game playoff might actually come down to one game. (I don’t think it will. I think the Yankees will run away with the AL East, but the Yankees front office has to think it will be a close race when making decisions.) I don’t want the Yankees to play in the wild-card game for the third time in four years. I can’t keep going through one-game playoffs. I can’t.

Are the Yankees currently putting out the best possible lineup every day? The answer to that is an easy no, and it’s not only because Greg Bird isn’t playing first base yet. It’s because Aaron Hicks continues to bat sixth, serving as Gary Sanchez’s protection, and bat fifth when Sanchez has the day off. I don’t necessarily think Sanchez needs protection as the best pure hitter on the team, but even so, Hicks has no business batting sixth, let alone fifth. In reality, Hicks has no business being a starter on this team.

Hicks is hitting .213/.330/.382 through Sunday with three home runs and 13 RBIs. He hit his third home run of the season on Saturday against the A’s, but prior to that, he hadn’t hit a home run since April 13 at Detroit, when he hit both of his home runs this season in that one game. The RBI that came on that home run against A’s was his first RBI since April 28. The home run was his eighth extra-base hit of the season, and he has one multi-hit game since April 20.

Hicks hasn’t had a good season. But this isn’t a player where you can say “It’s early!” or “He’ll heat up!” or “Give him time and he will play to the back of his baseball card!” Hicks is playing to the back of his baseball card. He’s a career .230/.316/.373 hitter in 1,759 plate appearances. And it’s not like he’s a spring chicken. He’s 28, which is old in baseball years, and at some point the Yankees are going to have to admit this is who he is as a player. The only reason they haven’t admitted it yet is because of two things: 1. Hicks was a first-round pick and first-round picks seemingly get infinite chances to figure it out even if he was selected in the first round based on how he performed when he was in high school playing with metal bats, and 2. April 2, 2017 to June 25, 2017.

April 2, 2017 through June 25, 2017 was the worst thing that could have happened to the Yankees from a judging Hicks standpoint. In 242 plate appearances during that time, Hicks hit .290/.398/.515 with 10 home runs and 37 RBIs, playing at an All-Star level. Then Hicks went on the disabled list, and when he returned on Aug. 10 through the end of the season, he hit .218/.319/.396 in 119 plate appearances, essentially his career numbers.

Those 242 plate appearances gave Hicks the starting center field job in the playoffs, where he hit .196/.260/.304 in 50 plate appearances. (I didn’t have a problem with him starting in center field in the playoffs because the alternative was Jacoby Ellsbury). Those 242 plate appearances gave Hicks the starting center field job this season. (Again, I didn’t have a problem with him starting in center field in the playoffs because the alternative would have been Jacoby Ellsbury if weren’t hurt.) Those 242 plate appearances have led to Hicks batting sixth (16 times), fifth (5), first, (3) and third (1) this season, never hitting lower than sixth despite his actual production.

Prior to those 242 plate appearances, Hicks had 1,289 career plate appearance. In those 1,289 plate appearances, he hit .223/.299/.346. Since the end of those 242 plate appearances, Hicks has had another 282 plate appearances (including playoffs) and has hit .213/.312/.371. So for 1,571 of plate appearances in the majors, Hicks has been a first-round bust, but for a 242-plate appearance stretch, he played like an All-Star. In Maury fashion, the results are in, and Hicks IS NOT the player we watched during those 242 plate appearances.

Maybe the Yankees are OK with that. Maybe Brian Cashman is fine with a starting center fielder who has a great arm and has improved his defense and routes to balls and doesn’t care that over 162 games, he averages a .230/.316/.373 line with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs. In a lineup that has Sanchez, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius and Bird coming back, maybe Cashman feels he doesn’t need another offensive presence in center field and can due with Hicks being an average player. The problem is there is an offensive presence waiting in Triple-A.

Clint Frazier, a former first-round pick himself, is hitting .333/.404/.643 with seven extra-base hits in 47 plate appearances in Triple-A. He has started to play games in center field to go along with his usual spot in left field, and while it always helps to have players that can play multiple positions, he’s doing so now for two potential reasons: 1. A lineup change is coming for the Yankees, and 2. The Yankees are increasing his value. No. 1 is unlikely, even though I wish it were the case. No. 2 is most likely the reason.

Gardner can play left and center, and if Yankee Stadium didn’t have such a big left field, he would likely always play center. Judge can play right and center. Stanton can play right and left, and Hicks can play anywhere. The Yankees wouldn’t need Frazier to play center, and if he were called up and used, I find it hard to believe they would ever actually use him in center unless there was an emergency. Frazier is playing center field in Triple-A to showcase his defensive range for the rest of the league for when the Yankees make a move this summer on a starting pitcher.

I wouldn’t trade Frazier. I mean I would for a true front-end starter that could pair with Luis Severino that would give the Yankees an actual 1-2 postseason punch and increase their chances at winning the division and getting through the ALDS to a seven-game series. But I wouldn’t trade him for an impending free agent whose no more trustworthy than CC Sabathia or Masahiro Tanaka. I wouldn’t want to trade him in a deal for a pitcher, who will need a personal catcher even if that personal catcher isn’t any good. I’m sure the Yankees don’t plan on trading him for anything other than the pitcher that I also want, but if injuries were to arise, and the market and demand were to change, who knows what might happen.

I also wouldn’t want the Yankees to trade Frazier and then be forced to watch his career develop from a far, while Hicks continues to be given countless chances to prove himself as a Major Leaguer. In a worst-case scenario, Frazier’s offense only ever becomes Hicks’: a .230/.316/.373 hitter. But that’s the absolute worst-case scenario and highly unlikely given what Frazier has done in the minors and what he did in his short stint with the Yankees last season.

Frazier deserves a chance to play in the majors for the Yankees right now. Hicks has had enough chances. He’s had five-plus seasons, 484 games and 1,759 plate appearances worth of chances to prove himself in the majors, and outside of a three-month stretch that represents 13.8 percent of his career playing time, he hasn’t proved himself.

After the way the Yankees came back against the Indians and then took the Astros to Game 7 and then got rid of Chase Headley and traded for reigning MVP Giancarlo Stanton, this is what I thought the 2018 Yankees season would be like. When I left Rogers Centre after the second game of the season, that’s exactly what the 2018 season felt like. But then, after falling apart in Games 3 and 4 and then losing three of four at home to the should-have-started-rebuilding-last-year Orioles and then getting embarrassed in two out of three in Boston and then getting embarrassed at home by the Marlins, I thought this season might end up more like the 2013-2016 seasons and not the way the 2017 season ended.

But since the lowest point of the season on April 17, the Yankees have won 13 of 15, including a nine-game winning streak. They have gone 13-2 in a 21-game stretch I said would decide if I had a baseball season to watch this summer. I have a baseball season to watch thanks to this run.

Exactly two weeks ago, the Yankees lost to the Blue Jays, fell to 9-9 and trailed the Red Sox by 7 1/2 games. Now they are 21-10 and trail the Red Sox by 1 game. I haven’t seen a division lead dissolve that fast since the Yankees blew a seven-game lead after the 2015 trade deadline.

The scariest part about the Yankees is that they aren’t even as good as they can or will be. Yes, a team with a .677 winning percentage that just won three in a row on the road against the defending champions can be better than they have been. Here’s how that’s possible.

1. Giancarlo Stanton hasn’t been anywhere close to his 2017 NL MVP self. Aside from Opening Day in Toronto and Wednesday night in Houston, Stanton has been bad. Like painfully bad. Four of his seven home runs have come in those two games and he’s batting .234/.314/.468 on the season. Stanton has been hard on himself, as he should be given his salary, but he did say after he single-handedly beat Dallas Keuchel that he needs to put together weeks of production, not just one night. Stanton is known as a slow starter, and if you think back to 2009 when Mark Teixeira, another slow starter, was batting .194/.315/.287 with three home runs and 11 RBIs through 31 games before going on a tear and finishing second in the AL MVP voting then there is promise that Stanton will get hot, and maybe Wednesday was the start of it. To think, this team is 21-10 without the reigning NL MVP playing anywhere near his abilities …

2. Gary Sanchez was basically an automatic out for the first two weeks of the season, or the equivalent of about one-third of the games the Yankees have played so far. Sanchez started the year 2-for-36 before becoming his usual self on April 11 in Boston. Since that night, Sanchez is batting .278 with a 1.040 OPS, seven home runs and 24 RBIs in 19 games. To think, this team is 21-10 despite the best catcher in baseball being non-existent for one-third of the season …

3. We’re getting very close to having a real conversation about Brett Gardner not batting leadoff anymore. I’m ready to have that conversation now, but any decision like that, especially with the Yankees, takes a long, long time to take place and for change to come. We’re talking about a team that played Stephen Drew at second base for an entire season despite not hitting his weight, and then finally deciding to bench him in a one-game playoff. Gardner is batting .194/.315/.250, hasn’t had an extra-base hit since April 13 and his lone home run came on Opening Day. He might be the longest-tenured Yankee and a veteran leader and a Gold Glove left fielder, but at some point you can’t give him the most possible amount of at-bats on this team. If Gardner were hitting .204, but still had a high on-base percentage then OK, but even that has has slowly faded to .315. Gardner seems to be safe for now since the team is winning, but if things get back to the way they were for the first half of April, the topic of him batting leadoff will grow in popularity. To think, this team is 21-10 with their leadoff hitter having a lower on-base percentage than Austin Romine …

4. If Neil Walker’s first name weren’t Neil, I would be much harder on him. How much harder? Well, he would basically be getting the Chase Headley treatment. But because Walker has the best first name in baseball, I take it easy on him. The rest of the Yankees fans seem to be picking up my slack and destroying him left and right, and deservedly so. Walker is batting .171/.233/.195 this season. Those are numbers of a backup catcher, who is only in the majors because the two catchers ahead of him on the minor-league depth chart got hurt at the same time as the actual backup catcher in the majors. Those aren’t numbers of a career .270/.339/.431 hitter making $4 million this season. At that price, Walker was supposed to be the steal of the offseason. Instead, it’s making a lot more sense as to why he was still available so late in the offseason. Roster spots are going to be hard to come by soon with Greg Bird starting to take at-bats, Miguel Andujar raking, Tyler Austin playing well and Brandon Drury on his way back. If Walker doesn’t start hitting soon, he will be this year’s Chris Carter. To think, this team is 21-10 with 90 plate appearances going to a player who isn’t hitting or slugging his weight (210) …

5. Sonny Gray getting a personal catcher is a ridiculous story for another day, but Gray being bad is the story right now. The Yankees’ only two losses in the last 15 games were both Gray starts as he has pitched to a 6.67 ERA and 1.926 WHIP this season. The Yankees are 2-4 in his starts and 19-6 in their other games. It was nice to see Gray pitch well in Houston this week (6 IP, 2 ER), and maybe that start was what he needed to become the pitcher he was for the Yankees last season (3.72 ERA) or the pitcher he was for A’s from 2013 until he became a Yankee (3.42 ERA). To think, this team is 21-10 with their No. 3 starter not lasting more than 4 2/3 innings in four of six starts …

6. Last season, Greg Bird was the team’s No. 3 hitter on Opening Day. Then he missed nearly the entire regular season before returning as a force in the postseason. This season, it would have been Bird, not Didi Gregorius as the left-handed hitter between the Big Three in the heart of the order, except he hasn’t even played yet. Aaron Judge has called Bird the team’s best hitter, which means the Yankees have gotten off to this start without possibly the team’s best hitter. To think, this team is 21-10 with their everyday first baseman having played zero games …

6. For as good as the bullpen has been of late, it was that bad early on. Well, it was that bad and Aaron Boone managed it in a way that made it worse. (How was Jonathan Holder allowed to ruin two of the team’s first eight games?) Before this run, when the team was 9-9, five of those losses were charged to the bullpen. What was the supposed to be the team’s strength, even more than their offense and the best in baseball, was bad and no one was excused. Holder was flat-out awful; Tommy Kahnle was bad before getting hurt; Chasen Shreve let every inherited runner score; Adam Warren looked the way he did on the Cubs; Chad Green was suddenly no longer unhittable; David Robertson couldn’t complete his famous escape acts; Aroldis Chapman couldn’t find the strike zone at times. Thankfully, the bullpen has become what was expected of it and now when the Yankees have a lead and the bullpen door opens, the game is over. To think, this team is 21-10 even though the bullpen couldn’t be trusted for three weeks …

7. The injury bug hasn’t been as bad as it has been for the Dodgers, but the Yankees have already used 17 position players and 17 pitchers this season. The injuries have forced Shane Robinson and Jace Peterson to not only be Yankees, but to start games for the Yankees, and for the team to trade for A.J. Cole off the Nationals’ scrap heap. Aaron Hicks and CC Sabathia have both been on the disabled list, Jordan Montgomery, Adam Warren, Tommy Kahnle, Luis Cessa, Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney are on it now and Greg Bird, Clint Frazier and Jacoby Ellsbury (who cares?) haven’t played this season because of injury. To think, this team is 21-10 with so many injuries in just one month …

The 2018 Yankees have finally become the team I envisioned they could be in the offseason and the team I watched them be in Toronto in the first two games of the season. This is going to be one fun summer.

Dec. 12, 2013 was a sad day. That is the day the Mariners signed Robinson Cano to a 10-year, $240 million contract. The Yankees’ best player had been lowballed by the only team he had ever known, the richest team in baseball, while the front office was spending the money that should have been used on Cano to sign Jacoby Ellsbury.

Since that day, the Yankees have used the following players at second base:

Brian Roberts
Stephen Drew
Martin Prado
Brendan Ryan
Yangervis Solarte
Jose Pirela
Dean Anna
Kelly Johnson
Rob Refsnyder
Gregorio Petit
Dustin Ackley
Starlin Castro
Ronald Torreyes
Donovan Solano
Tyler Wade
Chase Headley
Pete Kozma
Neil Walker

That’s 18 players, and a lot of bad players, that have played second base for the New York Yankees since Cano left. It’s been a long four-plus seasons.

But on Sunday that all changed. On Sunday, 21-year-old top prospect Gleyber Torres started at second base, nearly 13 years (May 3, 2005) since I was sitting in my freshman dorm room in Boston watching a 22-year-old Robinson Cano make his Major League debut for the Yankees on what was the earliest version of MLBTV (it was actually very good quality even for 13 years ago). Like Cano was with Tony Womack, Torres was also needed because of a production problem, and like Cano, Torres went hitless in his first game. Even without having that ball tossed into the dugout for Gene Monahan (then) or Steve Donahue (now) to place a piece of tape around and write down the first hit of a rookie’s career, there was a breath of fresh air knowing that the position was now stable.

I hate platoons and I hate constant lineup changes. I understand the need for a day off here and there and for a DH day here and there as well, but running out the same lineup and defensive alignment nearly every day (something the 2018 Yankees haven’t done at all), is the goal. The Yankees are close to that goal now, and once Greg Bird returns in a few weeks, they will have achieved (barring on any other injuries … knock on all the wood possible). Once Bird returns, the Yankees are looking at these nine players playing nearly every day:

C Gary Sanchez
1B Greg Bird
2B Gleyber Torres
3B Miguel Andujar
SS Didi Gregorius
LF Brett Gardner
CF Aaron Hicks
RF Aaron Judge
DH Giancarlo Stanton

That is a beautiful thing. Take a minute to just stare at that. OK, take a few minutes to stare at that.

Maybe Andujar cools off so much that Brandon Drury takes over for him, and Drury moves to second and Torres moves to third. Either way, the Yankees have a set nine players. This mean Ronald Torreyes can go back to his utility role, moving around the field to give players days off, Tyler Austin can spell Bird when needed (and knowing the way the Yankees baby their players returning from injury, it will be a lot) and Neil Walker can go to the bench and do whatever someone hitting .172/.232/.203 in 69 plate appearances does. I don’t want to say that Neil Walker is the new Chase Headley, but if his name weren’t Neil, I would definitely be saying that. His first name is the only thing keeping him from such ridicule.

Gleyber Torres cruised through the minors, playing just 370 games there before reaching the majors. And if it weren’t for the freak injury at home plate last season, he would have been a Yankee for the stretch run with Headley watching from the bench. (Instead, Todd Frazier was a Yankee for the stretch run and Headley watched from the bench, and that worked out too.) He’s a star in the making and whether his career unfolds at second, short or third, and whether that changes in a few weeks, for now, Torres gives the Yankees something they haven’t had since Game 161 of the 2013 season: stability at second base.