TORONTO — By the time last season was over and Aaron Judge had nearly won an MVP and Luis Severino a Cy Young, and Gary Sanchez had drilled home that he was the best-hitting catcher in the sport and the Yankees bullpen was close to a force of nature, well, it was pretty difficult to make a case about the value of Austin Romine and Ronald Torreyes.
They, after all, were the 24th and 25th men on the roster, a couple of backups who teamed to hit five homers with a .636 OPS.
Yet, when I begin a question about MVPs of last season, Aaron Boone — not even the manager of that team — interjects with Romine and Torreyes.