Access the Yankees beat like never before

Don’t miss Greg Joyce’s text messages from The Bronx and beyond — he’s giving Sports+ subscribers the inside buzz on the Yankees.

We hear all the time what a tough, unforgiving town this is, especially for baseball players, especially for Yankees.

One of the silliest traditions of the past few decades, for instance, is patiently waiting for — and then pouncing on identifying — a new Yankee to have his “Yankee Moment,” a rite of passage in which an ethereal set of pinstripes is handed to a Tino Martinez/Jason Giambi/Alex Rodriguez/Carlos Rodón from the ghosts of Monument Park.

So yes, there is a level of instant expectation around here.

But here’s a quiet secret: When Yankees fans want a player to do well, especially a kid, they are willing to wait. They are willing to root on spec. Sometimes it’s a fool’s mission: Greg Bird, Clint Frazier, Gary Sánchez. Sometimes it’s a frustrating one when a player in whom so much was invested picks the moment they escape the Bronx Bubble to blossom — we’ll call this the Gleyber Torres Postulate.