While the injury bug continues to fluster the Nationals attempt at contention in 2019, the Yankees are undeterred by its laundry list of injured players as it reshapes (time and again) their active roster. In storming back late to beat the Rays last night, the Yanks took control of the AL East despite an unfathomable seventeen players spending time on the injured list. The reality is that injuries will continue to be part of their 2019 story, even as players return to the field. Star right fielder Aaron Judge, at least, is resigned to being less than 100 percent for the duration, as “you don’t have time to get all the way there,” says Judge, per Dan Martin and Peter Botte of the New York Post. Though he acknowledges the aches and pains as par for the course during a 162-game major league season, it’s disheartening, if difficult to quantify the impact of Judge’s statement for the Yanks moving forward. Regardless, the towering 27-year-old will don the pinstripes once again as soon as he is ready to play, full healthy or not. The rest of the injured Yanks are doing their best to do the same, so let’s check in on a couple of those updates…
- James Paxton’s ten days on the injured list are just about up, but that doesn’t mean their ace lefty is quite ready to return. Per Martin and Botte, Paxton will throw another bullpen session on Sunday, while the Yankees plan to make do with an opener or bullpen game. Paxton is as critical to the Yankees success as Judge, if not more so, as he was racking up strikeouts by the dozen when he went down with knee inflammation. While he won’t be back on Sunday, his return to the rotation does not appear too far off.
- Didi Gregorius, meanwhile, is on his way to extended Spring Training with the hopes of being ready to make his major league debut sometime in June, per James Wagner of the New York Times (via Twitter). Gregorius, of course, is making his way back from Tommy John surgery. Though they’ll no doubt welcome the gregarious Gregorius with open arms whenever he is ready, the infield trio of Gleyber Torres (117 wRC+), DJ LeMahieu (110 wRC+) and Gio Urshela (142 wRC+) have more than held their own in his absence. Urshela, especially, has exceeded any and all expectation, as the 27-year-old journeyman boasts a .347/.398/.500 slash line through 108 plate appearances. Gregorius would boost the infield’s overall defense, however, as Torres, with five errors on the season, is just one shy of matching the sure-handed Gregorius’ total over 132 games last season. Still, given the upward-trending state of affairs in New York, there’s no reason to rush Gregorius back to the diamond, even if he doesn’t need a full Spring Training to prepare, as Aaron Boone suggests.
- Boone also says that Giancarlo Stanton’s comeback trail could begin with a rehab stint this Sunday. Giancarlo has been out since April 1 with a left biceps strain after playing in just three games to start his sophomore season in New York. Stanton racked a .266/.343/.509 line in his first season in pinstripes with 38 home runs and an even 100 RBIs. Though his production took a step down from his MVP season in Florida the year prior, Stanton remains the co-face of the Yankees’ two towers offense, and his return will only deepen an already-productive lineup. It’s been a revolving door of injured sluggers following Stanton in the DH slot, with Kendrys Morales the latest to man the spot ashe slugged his first home run as a Yankee in last night’s win.
Proving all the doubters wrong every day. Gio is going to be an MVP candidate by the end of the year.
JJ,
Don’t forget all the doubters that poked fun, especially at Camerin, at every single player Cashman brought in..u whatta job, whatta team, and what chemistry!
Judge Judy is a famous troll.
Everyone this is coming from a Mets fan trying to stir crap.
Diehard O’s fan here but hard not to appreciate what the Yanks are doing without so much injured talent. Respect.
Severino and Betances are really needed back!
I’m not counting on Severino at this point. Assume the worst, try and trade for another starter in July, perhaps Bumgarner, and bolster that rotation. Even if Severino comes back we aren’t sure which Severino they will be getting. Will it be the 2018 first half or second half Sevey, or more likely somewhere in the middle.
Take a look at Bumgarners no-trade list.
He listed every contender who might want him on there for leverage. I’m sure he would waive if he gets what he wants
Are you familiar at all with Mad Bum?
He wants a new contract and while that will not happen, he wants Atlanta first but if not, he’ll get compensation to waive the no trade.
He’s on the record saying he hated the East Coast, and especially expressed disdain for NY. What kind of compensation would you say?
You could be right Cereal but none if the RECENT articles I read or broadcasts I listened to mentioned the east coast as an issue. Only his preference is Atlanta. His list certainly seems to gain leverage. He won’t get a new contract so perhaps another $1m or so.
If it was really about disdain for the east coast teams he would have had them on his no-trade list from the start, not just editing it before this season. Can’t see him turning down a chance to go for a championship for half a season and then re-signing where he wants after the season. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong and I’ll admit it at the time, but plenty of players have said they didn’t like a city/region and played there.
Madbums no-trade list was just a ploy for Madbum to renegotiate his contract unless your foolish enough to believe Madbum doesn’t want to be traded to any competitive team. The way it works is say the Yankees or Cubs want to trade for Madbum they make deal with Giants then Madbum says I will only go if you renegotiate my contract by either giving me more money this year or extending me with a desirable contract. He or his agent saw the writing on the wall and came up with a good way to cash in unless you think Madbum the greatest big game pitcher in history except maybe Bob Gibson decided he definitely doesn’t want to compete this year. Also consider if the Giants abide with this list they’d be trying to trade an expiring contract to a non competitive team.What non competitive team would ever take on an expiring contract. Does that make any sense.
I still believe the rays or red sox will walk away winning the al east over the yankees, when it comes down to cruch time.
Based on what?
Probably Rays having a plethora of arms hopefully coming back.
Honeywell Banda De Leon etc looking to return June or July. Getting those guys- who the rays will limit their workload but fits what the rays are doing anyways with their pitching- will be more of an impact down the stretch.
Rays could potentially have up to 5-6 fresh arms coming back, which could be a huge advantage in July August and September having fresh guys to call on.
There are just so many ifs with those. Probably none of them will make much of a dent in the bigs till 2020.
True. But there’s also ifs about Yankees guys returning and continuing to produce like they have.
We won’t know anything until it actually happens.
Until then its hope for best case scenario. Pray worst case scenario doesnt happen.
Humongous difference in recourses between the Yanks and Rays to get what is needed.
I never trust anyone’s opinion that goes out of their way to use the word “plethora”. You have to jump all over the keyboard to type it and several shorter words work just as well. Using a word that doesn’t belong outside academia doesn’t make you look smart. It makes you look desperate.
You could have just said
“I don’t know what plethora means”
Being snarky over 1 word in an entire comment that you have no clue what it means makes you look pathetic. Sorry, stupid. Since you seem to have issues with big words.
I seriously cannot believe You took the time to write that long of a comment over the word “plethora”. Pathetic. Sorry, stupid.
You heard em folks. Dont use big words around coffin. 2nd grade vocabulary only.
LOL. Plethora bad
Humoungous and recourses ok though lol.
Yankee butt buddies at their finest.
*resources* excuse the misspelling smart guy. “Yankee butt buddies at their finest” Using homophobic slurs is extremely classless thebighurt619. FYI humongous wasn’t misspelled genius, but you trying to be funny failed. Lol
Well, nobody accused yankee fans of being educated or smart, least not based on these comments.
Plethora is a big word that hurts someones feelings. WOW
They think someone was making fun of their spelling.. Missed the entire point of the comment completely, by a ridiculously wide margin.
Point of the comment clearly was some yankee homer having an issue with plethora but not academic words like humongous and recourse; you’d say big or large not humongous and option(s) or alternatives rather than recourse.
You used recourse correctly; had you known what the word actually meant, means source of help in difficult situations, you’d have known they weren’t making fun of your spelling.
Congrats, you played yourself.
Congrats sir, you just made a knucklehead post.
By that argument the Yankees have Severino Montgomery and Paxton coming back as fresh arms as well as Betances in the bullpen which would represent a decent top 3 for almost any team plus a top line reliever. The argument is ridiculous unless you think Honeyweii Banda Leon etc are better.I do hear that etc is real good though as is 5-6 unnamed fresh arms so I see your point
Looking up who the rays have injured pitching wise.
Banda
Honeywell
Glasnow
De Leon
Yarbough
Dude named 3 guys……glasnow went down during the season and Yarbrough got injured twice during spring training and is sorting things out in AAA.
Information is.out there. Google exists and you choose to be uneducated.
Yankee butt buddies gonna yankee butt buddy apparently.
L
Last three years Fiber. Until another team wins the division, the Sox have to be considered the team to beat. it’s still May and the way they started on the road and are just 3.5 out is a miracle. What the Yanks have done us equally amazing. I also had to laugh at the article. The Yankees took “control” of the division? It’s still May and the Yanks and Rays are tied in the loss column. Control???
He doesn’t have to have a reason. He hates the Yankees so he can just spout blatant anti-Yankee stupidity. It’s he rule.I looked it up.
Funny how Padres and Angels dweebs are chirping about who finishes first in the AL East. Those are some truly saaad fan bases.
As an Angels fan you should probably be more concerned about your own team. Yankees at full strength will be the best team in the AL East by far
That’s what so many said last year…
Paxton and Lemahieu weren’t on the team, the rotation wasn’t this good, and Boone isn’t making as many mistakes as he did last year. I’m very confident that once Judge, Stanton, Didi, Severino, and Betances come back the Yankees will be a juggernaut
It’s sovl earlybin the season. Kudos to Cashman and the team but their starting staff come August is the issue to me. Madbaum would look good in pinstripes on 07/31 (despite his no trade list including the Yanks). If the rotation is strong then, this could be their year to win the division. Sox will though be right there regardless.
has anyone ever made a laundry list?
Several times on cruise ships…..the pre-printed kind, not the fully hand written kind that was prevalent in the mid 1800’s
I can’t be the only one scared for minor-league infielders when Stanton goes on a rehab assignment. Right?
Urshela as an MVP candidate I would say most likely not. Although he might get a couple of votes when all is said and done. Yankees fans getting behind him and voting him into the AS game? As a baseball fan I wouldn’t mind seeing that at all.
It’s only May. If he continues this way through game 162 and he will get votes. A lot of votes.
I gotta give the Yanks credit. This is where that level of depth is so important. Very few, if any, other teams are deep enough to deal with this.
No one seems concerned about Judge. He has yet to get though a full season with a Major injury that sapped his production. I love him, but the guy has to figure out how to keep his huge body from getting injured. He’s not as young as people think. So, our window is shorter as he was 5/ 6 years or so older then Jeter when he came up. He plays great D, which is outstanding as Harper and Frazier on yanks are young, lean and play crap D. Judge needs to work on his swing to prevent core injuries. The torque he creates is going to leave him open for injury now that he already got a oblique strain. I had them, they linger a longgggg time. Hicks has core muscle problems throughout his career so take him and add the extra size of muscles he has and it’s more to damage and harder to recover from.
Stanton if u watch him, has a more fluid stroke. Judge needs to stop looking at Stat cast (all players actually do) and hit doubles instead of going for a HR and SO. All his swing and misses-200+ a year is not good for his core. We need him In OF as Stanton it seems will never play left. I don’t know why as he can probably handle 3-4 years out there. Maybe not LF at YS with it being big and we don’t want Hicks covering CF and Left too. But on road with smaller left fields he should play. I think it will help his hitting. I read countless articles over years by everyday players who DH and hate it. They don’t feel part of Game and #’s drop.
I think for the health of both players they need to platoon RF. Stanton will stay I shape (DH’s tens to thicken up) and maybe a guy like morales can add some offense, spell Voit at first and give sanchez some time there. But, he needs to play. Posada wasn’t a great defender but, he didn’t get 1-2 days a week at DH. Not in his 20’s.
This is common sense. I think analytics say something else. But, old school baseball worked. Analytics is toooooo soon to say its better. We need 10-20 years to may h the 120+ years of non computer used baseball.
Correlation between the bronx bombers- HR Kings and all their injuries?
The team will win or lose with Judge and Stanton. Stanton needs to match or improve 2018 stats(not bad #’s- hundreds of guys would kill for them) and judge playing a full year with no Major injury. If this does no happen, say goodbye to another dynasty. Unless we get 2-3 Ace pitchers and keep bullpen stacked we need to score runs and play good D.
I’m happy about guys coming back- But Judge will miss a lot of time, maybe reinjure it or over compensate and hurt another muscle. But, don’t expect HR power. Double power. And I think that’s will help his SO’s. He may have learned or will learn when he gets back swing and misses are harder on your body then hits. And maybe he uses more legs, change in stance or shorten swing more after 2 strikes and read the ball better as he is not getting many balls over plate. He chases. He said he has a new approach do we will see.
But, if you ever had core muscle injuries (I was a trainer for 10 years and lifting hardcore weights for 25 years. I had to back it up a bit in my 30’s- too many minor tweaks but I didn’t play a sport so didn’t affect me but, I got injured). I think with players now lifting heavy that yoga should be part of training. Focus, concentration and keeps muscles loose and stretched. Even Pilates. As a guy, I hate doing yoga at the gym but, it has helped my serious back issues. It’s not manly!! But who cares. It’s been around forever and works. It’s time to put away the laptops and focus on the real world up in the FO at YS. Players used to want to play 140-150 games. Less for catchers. Who plays 162 anymore? U can’t win without your top players. Yankees are super lucky right now. But, regression from the fill ins can come anytime.
I hope they come into 2020 more prepared with better conditioning programs and players focused on hits, not HR happy. The HR’s will come. But our RISP stats last 5+ years stink!!! All our clutch guys retired.
Chris what exactly are you talking about? 2017 He played 155 games. Yes he injured his shoulder in the HR hitting contest, played through it hit 52 HRs. How do you train for getting hit on the wrist by 100 MPH fastball? Let me break your wrist and see if you come back in 2 days.
Every baseball player goes through oblique injuries. Does Aaron Hicks swing for HR’s on every at bat?? Yet he has had like two oblique injuries? Did you read the comments from Carlos Beltran? He had one of the most beautiful swings in baseball and tore an oblique?
If you want to say the Yankees guys are all bulked up and need more flexibility in their off season programs …I agree. Hicks, Judge, Stanton, Severino, Betances, all big dudes all except Dellin with some degree of tissue injuries.
If you want to say Judge has injury history…fair. But using your analytical analysis to criticize our best player for not being in shape and injuring himself over his swing is ridiculous.
He strikes out 200x and hits .280 hasn’t been done before in baseball. This guy is not Rob Deer, and over the last two years their has been significant improvement in his K’s. Stanton & Judge & Gary are who they are power hitting sluggers, who are going to have high slugging percentages with high strike outs.
You can send them to Yoga classes all you want, but when they have pulls, and muscle tears, what are you gonna say then?
Respect your points, but trying to use analytics to reason why guys get hurt, is a strectch