PHOENIX — What if we had it wrong?

What if the group of position players who fizzled with the Yankees actually overachieved with the team rather than underachieved?

What if the business of baseball this offseason is screaming that the Yankees actually maximized this group not minimized them — however, briefly? That their worst offense was believing in the best of the offense? Thus, they held onto meteors too long or — in one problematic decision — gave long-term dollars to one they thought was a rocket ship?

The game reveals the truth, and the transaction page this offseason has been nothing short of an honest test about these players:

Miguel Andujar, who turned 28 last week, was designated for assignment by the Pirates and signed back on a minor league deal.

Greg Bird, still just 30 and most recently in the majors in 2019, is not playing professional ball.

Clint Frazier, 28, was designated for assignment by the Cubs last June and signed as a minor league free agent by the Rangers in January.

Didi Gregorius, who turned 33 last month, was released by the eventual NL champion Phillies last August, remains unsigned and is playing for The Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic.

Aaron Hicks, 33, is the presumptive Yankees starting left fielder because he is the rocket ship that crashed after signing a seven-year, $70 million contract.

Gary Sanchez, 30, wants to play but remains unemployed with the regular season three weeks away.

Gleyber Torres, 26, resides in a familiar vortex for the Yankees — held onto beyond his greatest trade value while they try to reconstruct that value.

Luke Voit, 32, traded last spring to the Padres, then traded again to Washington within the Juan Soto deal, then non-tendered by the team with the majors’ worst record, then unsigned until a week into spring training when he inked a minor league deal with the Brewers.

Every member of that group had their best major league moments for the Yankees and seemed key parts of the future — often in conjunction with one another. All remain in their primes or just beyond. Yet, the only two on major league contracts belong to Hicks and Torres, whose Yankee statuses are tenuous.

Of the others, Voit has the best chance to make a team. He said he had the potential for major league deals elsewhere, but the Brewers offered the clearest road to rebuild his value and play for a winner. Except Voit is no roster lock. He can trigger an opt-out next Thursday if he is not put on the 40-man roster by that point. But for a team with Milwaukee’s payroll parameters, the Brewers only want to guarantee Voit’s $2 million if they believe he will stick all year. And they have options present or coming who could convince them otherwise.

“We have a decision to make there,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “But I think the good Luke Voit is absolutely going to find a [roster] spot.”

And Voit said he remains of full belief that he can be the impact power bat he briefly was for the Yankees.

Voit, like Gregorius and Hicks, was the overlooked player elsewhere who was acquired by the Yankees and made instant good. In Voit’s case, like Bird and Sanchez, he delivered reams of homers upon arrival. From his acquisition midway during the 2018 season through leading the AL in homers in the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season, Voit delivered power that made his defensive/base-clogging issues more tolerable. But in 2021 he landed on the injured list three times, twice notably for a left knee that has remained worrisome.

The Yankees obtained Anthony Rizzo in his absence. Voit had no regular job so was traded to the Padres last spring. He then was included last August in the Soto mega-deal. Playing for a losing team for the first time (Washington) only worsened Voit’s most miserable season in which, he says, he fell into bad habits trying to compensate for the knee and learning to handle so much DH time.

He called it all “self-inflicted.” So, he spent the offseason, he says, losing weight, trying to get more explosive and attempting to rediscover his swing. He felt once Josh Bell signed with the Guardians in early December that his market would define and was “surprised” how quiet it remained, as the sport continued to pull away from the non-athletic and strikeout prone. The Brewers were looking for righty power — before acquiring catcher William Contreras from Atlanta they even talked to Sanchez.

Though he hit .226 and had the second-worst strikeout percentage (31.5 percent) among qualified hitters, Voit still hit 22 homers, and the Brewers went with him because, “He is a very interesting upside guy, and we think there’s a chance to get back to what he’s been,” Milwaukee GM Matt Arnold said. “So far he’s looked good in camp, so we will have some tough [roster] decisions.”

To make the Brewers roster, Voit has to convince the organization he will do what no one from this recent group of Yankees positional meteors has — glow brightly again.