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Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela Removed From Game With Injuries

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12:30AM: Eusebio Torres, Gleyber’s father, tweeted (hat tip to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch for the translation) that his son is headed to Baltimore with the team, and “everything is fine” following his release from hospital.  Urshela also told Hoch and other reporters that he was traveling with the team, though Hoch noted that Urshela’s legs were both wrapped in bandages.

11:33PM: The injury-riddled Yankees are once again having to hold their breath about some health situations, as infielders Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela both made early exits from Sunday’s 7-4 win over the Red Sox.

Torres left the game after the seventh inning with what manager Aaron Boone described as “a core issue” in his postgame talk with media (including the YES Network).  Boone was “not sure” when the injury occurred, and Torres was undergoing tests to further explore the problem.

Urshela’s issue was less mysterious, as he fouled two different pitches off his right knee area and left shin within the same at-bat in the sixth inning.  Despite an on-field visit from team trainers, Urshela remained in the game through the next two frames, before finally being replaced in the field prior to the top of the ninth inning.  In positive news, Boone said x-rays were negative on Urshela.

Torres and Urshela are two of the few Bronx Bombers who have avoided the injured list this year, and Torres is New York’s team leader in games played (103 of 111 contests).  Torres is enjoying another excellent year, hitting .286/.353/.514 with 23 homers over 432 plate appearances.

Urshela isn’t far behind, with a .314/.359/.522 slash line and 12 homers over 320 PA.  It’s been an astonishing breakout performance for a player who hadn’t shown anything remotely close to this level of offensive production in 499 Major League PA prior to this season, or over his 11 professional seasons in the major and minor leagues.

It’s been because of unheralded bench players like Urshela that the unbreakable Yankees have surged to a 72-39 record this season, despite losing almost every single member of their roster to the IL at one time or another with injuries ranging from minor setbacks to season-ending concerns.  If either Torres or Urshela had to go on the IL, DJ LeMahieu would likely be shifted away from first base (as he was covering the position since Luke Voit and Edwin Encarnacion are both sidelined with injuries) and Breyvic Valera is on hand as the utility infielder.  Tyler Wade and Thairo Estrada are on hand both at Triple-A for further depth.

Gary Sanchez Expected To Return From IL This Week

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  • Gary Sanchez is tentatively scheduled to return to the Yankees’ lineup during their series with the Blue Jays from August 8-11, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweets.  Sanchez is on the verge of beginning a rehab assignment, in the wake of a left groin strain that sent him to the IL on July 24.  At the time of the injury, Sanchez was suffering through a brutal slump that had seen him post only a .370 OPS over his previous 93 plate appearances, which dropped his season slash line to .229/.299/.508 over 328 PA.

Yankees Place Aaron Hicks On IL, Activate J.A. Happ

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According to an official team release, the Yankees have placed center fielder Aaron Hicks on the 10-day injured list with a right flexor strain and have returned left-handed pitcher J.A. Happ from the paternity list.

For the Yankees, the injury woes continue unrelenting, with Hicks making his second trip to the injured list this season. The outfielder, playing out the first year of a seven-year extension signed this spring, has been limited to just 59 games this year. With an apparent elbow issue, his departure from last night’s game certainly inspired some nervousness in New York. However, as James Wagner of the New York Times notes, the silver lining in the situation is that there’s no damage to the ligament, meaning that Hicks will avoid Tommy John surgery. He’ll be shut down from throwing, with the Yankees hoping that a 2019 return is still in the cards.

Happ will be activated in time to start Sunday’s series finale against the Red Sox, with the Yankees seeking a sweep. He’ll be opposed by David Price, who was likewise activated from the paternity list on Sunday.

In this equation, another name that bears mentioning is Clint Frazier’s. Evidently, he isn’t the immediate replacement for Hicks, but he could get another shot down the stretch, depending on the extent of Hicks’s injury. As it stands, it’s hard to find room for the promising 24-year-old on the Yankees active roster. With Hicks out of commission, it appears that Brett Gardner will assume the center field duties, with Mike Tauchman slotting into left field and leaving Cameron Maybin as the team’s fourth outfielder. Both Tauchman and Maybin have been revelations, making it hard to justify demoting either.

Aaron Hicks Scheduled For MRI

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A doubleheader of games, a doubleheader of injuries for the Yankees today, as Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports that outfielder Aaron Hicks injured his elbow in Saturday’s nightcap with the Red Sox. Hicks will undergo an MRI tomorrow (Twitter link).

Of course, this news comes hand-in-hand with the news that Edwin Encarnacion will miss 3-5 weeks with a fractured wrist suffered in the first game of today’s double-tilt with Boston. Though it’s important to note that the extent of Hicks’ impairment isn’t yet known, followers of New York’s 2019 campaign have surely already been conditioned to expect the worst in regard to player prognosis.

Hicks–who already spent more than a month as an injured list resident this year following a preseason back injury–would not qualify as the 25th New York player to hit the IL this year, but his apparent injury is surely enough to cause handwringing for manager Aaron Boone. The outfielder, who is earning $8MM this season in the first year of a just-dried seven-year, $70MM pact, has been roughly league-average at the plate this year, with a 98 wRC+ in 251 at-bats (.229/.319/.440 slash line).

Yankees Place Encarnacion On 10-Day Injured List

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10:36pm: Encarnacion relayed to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that he hopes to be back in 3 weeks; doctors informed Encarnacion that his injury has a recovery timetable of 3-to-5 weeks (Twitter link).

5:13pm: Yankees slugger Edwin Encarnacion has landed on the 10-day injured list with a right wrist fracture, per James Wagner of The New York Times. Mike Ford has been called up from Triple-A to take Encarnacion’s active roster spot.

Encarnacion will earn the dubious distinction of being the 24th Yankee to hit the IL this season. The veteran was hit by a pitch in the first game of a double-header with the Red Sox; though initial X-rays came back negative according to reports, a subsequent CT scan revealed a fracture. Encarnacion underwent surgery in 2013 to his left wrist while a member of the Blue Jays.

For a first-place New York club, this is yet another obstacle suffered by a seemingly impervious group. The Yankees 70-39 record is astounding when considering that the squad has seen maladies both large and small sideline key contributors: Encarnacion, who has hit .223/.312/.489 since being acquired from Seattle on June 15th, will join names like Miguel Andujar, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez on an exceedingly crowded New York injured list.

For Ford, Encarnacion’s misfortune may represent a limited opportunity. The longtime New York farmhand has posted a 149 wRC+ in 349 Triple-A at-bats this season. Though he didn’t excel in a small eleven-game sample with the big club this year, he may–when considering the lengthy time off often required for wrist injuries–have a more extensive opportunity this go-around.

Yankees “Didn’t Get Close To Anything” At Trade Deadline

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Contrary to expectations, the AL East-leading Yankees held pat on deadline day. GM Brian Cashman says the club “knocked on all doors” but ultimately “didn’t get close to anything” when push came to shove, as ESPN.com’s Cole Harvey was among those to cover.

In the build-up to July 31st, the Bronx Bombers were connected to a laundry list of pitchers, especially of the starting variety. Robbie Ray, Mike Minor, Madison Bumgarner, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler … there were many rumored connections, and likely other possibilities as well. Ultimately, none of those hurlers ended up changing hands, but the Yanks did watch as other orgs snapped up Zack Greinke (who almost certainly wasn’t an option in New York), Marcus Stroman (who was, but landed across town), and Trevor Bauer (perhaps the most obvious match, who somewhat curiously went to the Reds).

What happened? Per Cashman, in some cases the Yankees simply “didn’t match up” with a rival on a given pitcher. In others, players “weren’t really available even though they’re widely talked about in a public setting” owing to “contract status issues or medical issues.” In the end, he said, “it’s just a lot of different individual circumstances that basically put us in a position to not be able to complete anything.”

It’s obviously fair to wonder whether the Yankees were too focused on value and not attentive enough to the present. The game’s preeminent franchise is a decade removed from its last World Series crown and hasn’t won the division since 2012. While the AL East is all but in hand, there are still scenarios where the Yanks are nipped by the Rays (who added multiple pieces) or Red Sox (who didn’t). And then there’s the postseason, an inherent minefield that is sure to include a powerhouse Astros club that just made the single biggest addition of any team in Greinke.

It’s not as if Cashman wasn’t aware of all that. But ultimately, the veteran exec said, “the best play was we did nothing.” While the goal was to add more, after prior deals brought in slugger Edwin Encarnacion and late-season speed demon Terrance Gore, “the fallback has always been we know we have a good club already.” At the end of the day, Cashman preferred to hold fast rather than going well beyond the team’s own valuations. While he expressed an “understanding that as a buyer, you have to step up and pay,” the long-time Yanks’ GM suggests the asks were simply unreasonable. As he put it, “these were prices that were making things way out of reach — way out of reach and way out of line.”

Details On Yankees’ Pursuit Of Robbie Ray

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7:35PM: The Yankees were willing to give up Clint Frazier and another prospect for Ray, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets, though talks fizzled out after the Diamondbacks requested more prospects.  As per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, the D’Backs wanted a four-prospect package that included Frazier and right-hander Clarke Schmidt, who was the 16th overall pick of the 2017 draft and rated by MLB Pipeline as the fifth-best prospect in New York’s system.

1:16PM: The Yankees’ talks with the Diamondbacks regarding left-hander Robbie Ray are “dead” for now, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. Ray’s name has become increasingly prevalent on the rumor mill in the past week, though there’s no firm indication that the club is sure to move him. Ray is controlled through the 2020 season via arbitration.

New York’s rotation hasn’t performed up to expectations in 2019, as Luis Severino hasn’t thrown a pitch. Lefties James Paxton and, in particular, J.A. Happ have struggled to uncharacteristically high ERAs, as has CC Sabathia, who is currently on the injured list. The Yankees have been connected to virtually every starting pitcher on the trade market, but to this point those negotiations have obviously yet to bear fruit.

Ray, 27, has a 3.91 ERA with 12.1 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, 1.60 HR/9 and a 38.4 percent grounder rate in 2019. He averaged 12+ K/9 in both 2017 and 2018 with sub-4.00 ERAs, FIPs and xFIPs, cementing himself as one of the game’s premier strikeout pitchers along the way. He’s earning $6.05MM this season and will command one more arbitration raise this winter, possibly to the $10MM range, before becoming a free agent upon the conclusion of the 2020 season.

The Diamondbacks, with a .500 record, aren’t necessarily embarking on a full-scale tear down but are nevertheless listening with an open mind on some of their more desirable short-term assets.

Rockies Acquire Joe Harvey

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In a minor move completed prior to the trade deadline, the Rockies acquired right-hander Joe Harvey from the Yankees for minor league left-hander Alfredo Garcia, as per a Yankees media release.

Harvey, 27, was a 19th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2014 draft.  The righty has worked as a reliever in 118 of his 124 professional games, while posting some impressive numbers — a 1.96 ERA, 10.3 K/9, and 2.98 K/BB rate over 170 innings in the minors.  This performance, in particular some good numbers at Triple-A over the last two years, earned Harvey his first Major League promotion, and he delivered a 4.50 ERA over 10 relief innings for New York this season.

Despite these solid results, Harvey was something of an expendable piece on the Yankees’ depth chart, and opted to move him for a younger arm with perhaps more long-term upside.  Garcia, who just celebrated his 20th birthday on July 22, has a 4.85 ERA, 8.6 K/9, and 2.58 K/BB rate over 200 1/3 minor league innings, none above the A-ball level.  Originally signed for a $1MM bonus at the start of the 2016-17 international signing period, Garcia has worked as a starter in 38 of his 42 games in the Rockies’ farm system.

Ken Giles Still “In Play” In Trade Talks

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12:53pm: The Yankees are “considering” Giles, Jon Heyman of the MLB Network tweets. New York lined up on a deadline deal with division-rival Toronto last season when acquiring J.A. Happ.

12:20pm: Blue Jays righty Ken Giles may not be at full health, but he’s still “in play” in trade talks, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). That seemed increasingly unlikely when it emerged yesterday that the closer had undergone a cortisone shot to treat an elbow issue.

The 28-year-old Giles was clearly among the game’s best trade candidates before his recent elbow woes arose. He’s earning a reasonable $6.3MM this year with another arbitration season left to go. Long known for his talent, Giles also had returned to producing exceptional on-field results to begin the 2019 campaign.

When he came to Toronto, Giles was a bounceback asset. He has done exactly that. In his 35 innings this season, he owns a 1.54 ERA with a hefty 14.9 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. Unlike many pitchers, Giles has successfully limited the long ball, allowing just a pair.

Teams considering an investment of this type want as much certainty as possible. In that regard, the elbow issues are worrying, even if they’ve been deemed non-structural.

That said, the upside is tremendous. Giles carries a monster 20.3% swinging-strike rate this year. He’s averaging 96.9 mph on his fastball, which is down from his peak but still strong. And Statcast thinks he has been a bit unlucky on batted-ball fortune, crediting him with an exceptional .232 xwOBA that’s quite a bit lower than his still-excellent .253 wOBA.

Yankees, Astros Pursuing Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler

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The Yankees and Astros, two American League superpowers, continue their pursuit of high-profile starting pitchers. Both teams are in on Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner and Mets righty Zack Wheeler, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. The Astros are also “focused” on Diamondbacks southpaw Robbie Ray, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Ray has been on the Yankees’ radar of late, too.

The Astros and Yankees are among the teams on Bumgarner’s limited no-trade list, but that doesn’t mean the pending free agent would block a deal to either club. Of course, it’s not a sure thing the playoff-contending Giants will even move Bumgarner, a franchise icon, by today’s deadline. They’ve been telling teams that they plan to keep him and closer Will Smith, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports.

This is the second time this week the Astros have been prominently connected to Bumgarner and Wheeler. As is the case with Bumgarner, Wheeler’s a 29-year-old soon-to-be free agent. While Wheeler may be the top trade candidate in baseball, the Mets aren’t guaranteed to part with him. They’ve made something of a charge up the standings of late, and seem prepared to retain Wheeler if they don’t get the type of return they’re seeking for the flamethrower. And whether the Mets would even trade Wheeler to the hated Yankees is also in question.

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