The Yankees announced eight injured list placements on Wednesday afternoon. Clarke Schmidt (rotator cuff tendinitis), JT Brubaker (rib fractures), Clayton Beeter (shoulder impingement), Ian Hamilton (virus), Scott Effross (hamstring strain) and Jonathan Loáisiga (rehab from elbow surgery) all landed on the 15-day injured list. As position players, Giancarlo Stanton (elbow epicondylitis) and DJ LeMahieu (calf strain) went on the 10-day IL. All placements were retroactive to March 24, the earliest date for 10-day or 15-day stints.
None of the moves come as a surprise. Loáisiga has been rehabbing last April’s UCL procedure and will be out at least into May. Stanton didn’t participate in Spring Training and faces an uncertain recovery timeline because of injuries to both elbows. Beeter has been throwing side sessions but didn’t see any game action in camp due to the shoulder issue. LeMahieu, Schmidt, Brubaker and Effross all suffered injuries in Spring Training. Hamilton isn’t hurt but didn’t make his Spring Training debut until last Thursday after being delayed by illness. He needs a couple weeks to continue his build-up.
The only surprise is that the Yanks did not place Jake Cousins on the 15-day IL this afternoon. He was delayed by a forearm strain and did not pitch in games this spring. Cousins has been throwing side sessions but it seems unlikely that the team would throw him directly into regular season action without any Spring Training appearances. It’s possible they’ll make another move when they officially set their Opening Day roster tomorrow.
One player who’ll certainly be on that roster: catcher J.C. Escarra. The Yankees announced over the weekend that the 29-year-old (30 next month) made the team, providing social media video of manager Aaron Boone informing him of that decision. Escarra secures the backup job behind Austin Wells and will make his major league debut once he gets into a game. The Yankees placed him on their 40-man roster at the beginning of the offseason so he wouldn’t reach minor league free agency.
A left-handed hitter, Escarra combined for a .261/.355/.434 line with nearly as many walks as strikeouts across 493 minor league plate appearances last season. The Yankees cleared a path for him to grab the backup job by trading Jose Trevino and Carlos Narváez over the winter. The spot was Escarra’s to lose entering camp, and he solidified it by hitting .302 with three homers in 19 games. Escarra was playing in the independent ranks and in Mexico as recently as 2023. Two years later, he’s breaking camp with an MLB team.
Escarra’s a great story, I suggest looking him up.
Boone talked about how emotional he got when Escara called his mom when he made the cut.
That is so cool to hear.
NYY looks D+/C- at best. I hope Escara take the starting role from Wells. All Wells has to do is hit as poorly as he did last year and if Escara can hit better he’s the starter.
178 iq my ass
Today I learned that a 103 WRC+ for a catcher is apparently “hitting poorly”
F***ed
Too many injuried players…
Definitely turning into a trend.
who doesn’t love a $300M scrappy underdog?
I’m an old man and not Gen Z, but I wish I could give you a laughing face LOL emoji
😂
They have $100M in salary commitments on the shelf if you include Cole and Gil. More than two Anthony Rendons but less than three.
they’ll need stroman/warren/carrasco to outperform expectations
i expect them to make the postseason but there’s definitely a disaster scenario
If Rodon or Fried misses time, it’s wild card aspirations than winning the division. The A’s and Angels will be tougher now and won’t rollover.
The Yankees are not optimizing their roster for sustainability.
Holy snap craps, the Yankees are gone droppin like flies! Whatever are we, lol, are we gonna do? I have a good idea!…
…Everyone panic! Run for your lives!
Gerrit Cole and those 8 injured players would win 2 out of 3 over the Pirates.
Old King Coal throwing left handed? I don’t think so.
Pitching left handed and not fielding his position.
It’s been a long season already, and it hasn’t even started. Stanton is a big loss of a bat. Can he get back after the all star game? Or even play his season? Pitching may need to be addressed at all star break. Gill will be an important player hopefully coming back from injury in a few months…
Schmidt’s multiple injuries hint at a very long absence. Like until the All Star break.
He’ll be back in the rotation by the end of the month barring any setbacks
He’s healthy now and ramping back up. No need to push him.
Initially it was mentioned as a lat issue, but now it’s is reported as an elbow thing on Schmidt. Which one is correct?
The lat injury was last year
It’s why I recommend turning off injuries in The Show. Stanton and Cole have been dominating in my mini league.
It’s going to be tough to thread through all those injuries, but they have depth in young pitchers, they can potentially showcase some young studs and see if they stick?
Yankees overachieved last season. I liked the team the built this offseason better than the team they had last year. It’s a long season but how do they not come out flat with such a terrible spring ?
Exactly how do you “overachieve” when you have the generational Soto batting 3rd in your lineup which boosts the offensive output almost immediately…..if anything, this is a different roster than last year, with Soto gone and the addition of some youngsters from the minors….and the Spring is for testing, getting timing, improvement, that you hopefully take into the regular season…..not about winning Spring records….
As if there is only one way to build a winning team. Last year’s weaknesses were defense and baserunning and they’ve improved in both of those areas. Williams will blow less saves than Holmes. Trevino couldn’t throw any runners out and Gleyber was Gleyber. Negative outputs from 1B on both sides. Verdugo’s contributions were neutral.
Should be “eight MORE players,” as Cole and Gil are already on the 60-day IL.
And if memory serves me, didn’t the Dodgers have massive starting pitching injuries last season they had to work around and they did win the WS right?
The yankees are an absolute mess. Good.
No more a “mess” than many other teams who have injuries that 10, 15, 60 day Il’s solve……
Great lineup if this was 2019
JD Martinez 1/10 let’s go.