TAMPA — The competition that is not really a competition but is — of course — a competition begins Monday. And all that is at stake is whether the Yankees botched the recent past and complicated their near future. 

Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe will be part of the first full-team Yankees workout of 2023 — a true “short” story that will go a long way to determining the composition of the club. 

If Kiner-Falefa emerges from this camp as the starter, it will be the first loss for the 2023 Yankees. Without injury as the explanation, if Kiner-Falefa is in the lineup Mach 30 versus the Giants, then either Peraza or Volpe are not what the Yankees told us they were while shunning two starry shortstop free-agent classes and/or Brian Cashman couldn’t pull off a roster-opening trade of Kiner-Falefa and/or Gleyber Torres to make it happen. 

Which is why I asked Cashman whether the best man will be the Opening Day shortstop. 

“I think we will make the selection that we think is best for us, period,” the Yankees general manager said. “Normally whatever is best for us, is who’s the best person.” 

That was not exactly the best man wins. And that is why this is the competition that isn’t really a competition but is a competition. 

Except it shouldn’t be a competition. Because spring training is as much illusion as explanation. Kyle Higashioka was second in MLB homers last spring. Dom Smith batted .423 and slugged .846. And for this Yankees competition, it is worth recalling Derek Jeter had a poor spring, but the Yanks stuck with the rookie and, well, you know what happened. 

That was the last time the Yankees went with a rookie as the regular at short. They should again this year. They should name Peraza because his defense projects as far superior to Kiner-Falefa’s and his offense almost certainly won’t be worse, plus he has more upper-level experience than Volpe, including a strong late-season MLB cameo last year. 

Plus, the Yankees should have learned a Gary Sanchez lesson. They determined he was not mentally/physically up to holding the starting catching job in the 2020 playoffs, yet detrimentally brought him back the next year. The Yanks are trying to win a championship and if they lose faith a player can handle that time of year, then that player has to go. Last year, this happened with Kiner-Falefa when both Peraza and Oswaldo Cabrera also started within a daily October game show of Who’s The Shortstop? 

So why are the Yankees not naming a shortstop? They probably feel it is unnecessary to do so now. They probably do not want Peraza or Volpe to think they are having something handed to them. Perhaps naming someone else would further lower Kiner-Falefa’s trade value. Maybe they do not want to just elevate Peraza because they have so much belief in Volpe on and off the field that perhaps Volpe will just blow them away and take the job this spring despite playing just 22 Triple-A games. 

Both Cashman and Aaron Boone posited that who starts at shortstop on Opening Day does not guarantee that status for the season, with Cashman saying, “Whoever wins it, in theory, will have to defend it all year.” So, you know, the opening to stick with a veteran, especially if Cashman doesn’t actually already know where he can trade Kiner-Falefa, Torres and maybe a chunk of Donaldson’s dollars. 

But when challenged whether contract size or optionability or — in Volpe’s case — not even being yet on the 40-man roster will impact whether someone clearly earns the opening job, Boone said, “We’re in it to win it. And if we feel like a guy is absolutely ready, then we’re going to do that.” 

Yet, how do you avoid the ecosystem around Peraza/Volpe? Torres (due $9.95 million this year) and Josh Donaldson (owed $27 million) are, respectively, the starting second baseman and third baseman presently. DJ LeMahieu (four years at $60 million still owed) will be a regular moving among first, second and third. Kiner-Falefa is owed $6 million. Oswaldo Cabrera can play outfield, too, besides mixing in the infield and the Yankees don’t want to option him because the switch-hitter provides a much-needed lefty bat. 

So where are the at-bats/roles for Peraza and/or Volpe if they leave Yankees decisionmakers with the feeling they are the best alternatives? Especially at a time when no extreme shifts are going to emphasize range on defense and bigger bases and fewer pickoff throws allowed are going to increase the need for stolen-base threats, and Peraza and Volpe project to be valuable amid the new rules. 

“We’ll see how this shakes out,” Cashman said. “There’s a lot of different things that will play out in the competition in placing people in the right place. We also recognize in spring training it is not a big sample. So you’re gonna stress your scouts’ assessments. And trust the metrics to some degree and then make decisions at the end of camp. Sometimes it sorts itself out. Sometimes someone just seizes it and runs away with it like Secretariat.” 

The most important horse race in Yankees camp begins in earnest Monday.