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Yankees Place Troy Tulowitzki On Injured List

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The Yankees announced Thursday that they’ve officially placed shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on the 10-day injured list. Infield prospect Thairo Estrada was recalled to take his place on the 25-man roster (as MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported would be the case).

Tulowitzki, 34, is the 11th player the Yankees have placed on the injured list already in 2019. The former All-Star and MVP candidate has been plagued by injuries to his lower half in recent years and missed all of the 2018 season recovering from surgery to remove bone spurs in both of his heels. He’s belted a home run and a double thus far in his 13 plate appearances with the Yankees but didn’t manage to stave off the injury bug for long. The team has yet to comment on how long he’ll be sidelined, though manager Aaron Boone was quick to suggest after yesterday’s game that an IL trip was quite likely.

The injury to Tulo opens the door for Estrada to make his big league debut. Ranked 19th among Yankees farmhands by MLB.com and 26th by Fangraphs, the 23-year-old Estrada has faced a more uphill battle in reaching the bigs than most players. He looked to be progressing toward a potential promotion heading into the 2018 season but was shot in the hip during a robbery attempt in his native Venezuela last offseason, which ultimately required a pair of surgeries. Both MLB.com and Fangraphs peg him as a potential utility infielder. His last full, healthy season in 2017 resulted in a solid .301/.353/.392 slash through 122 games in Double-A ball.

Estrada’s promotion to the Majors doesn’t necessarily lock him into regular at-bats while Tulowitzki is on the shelf. The Yankees have DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres both healthy, and that pairing will surely receive everyday at-bats at present. But with Miguel Andujar also on the injured list, Estrada and Tyler Wade should have ample opportunity for playing time — perhaps in a platoon setting, as Estrada’s right-handed bat complements the left-handed-hitting Wade.

Yankees To Recall Thairo Estrada

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  • The Yankees will recall infielder Thairo Estrada to replace Troy Tulowitzki on the active roster tomorrow, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (via Twitter). That all but confirms that Tulowitzki, who strained his left calf muscle in today’s game, will land on the 10-day injured list (as skipper Aaron Boone had already said was likely). Estrada, 23. missed much of the 2018 season after being shot in the hip during a robbery attempt in his native Venezuela prior to the season. The promising young infielder thankfully survived without serious damage and even returned to the field for 18 late-season games and another 19 games in the Arizona Fall League. Ranked as the team’s No. 19 prospect on MLB.com, Estrada hit .301/.353/.392 at the Double-A level in his last full season in 2017.

Tulowitzki Likely Headed To Injured List

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Yankees shortstop Troy Tulowitzki exited Tuesday’s game with a left calf strain and will “almost certainly” head to the injured list, manager Aaron Boone tells reporters (Twitter link via the YES Network’s Jack Curry). If and when Tulo does hit the IL, he’ll bring the Yankees’ total to a staggering 11 players on the shelf, including two left-side infielders in as many days. Third baseman Miguel Andujar went on the injured list due to a labrum tear yesterday, and with both him and Tulowitzki out of the picture, the Yankees will be relying on a mix of Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu and Tyler Wade around the infield. Young Thairo Estrada is already on the 40-man roster and could get a call to help provide some depth while Tulowitzki is out. There’s no firm timetable for Tulo just yet.

Miguel Andujar Hopes To Avoid Surgery For Shoulder Injury

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While the threat of surgery remains, Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar says he does not believe he’ll need to go under the knife, as Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports. Andujar has already been placed on the 10-day injured list.

Andujar, 24, says his shoulder still feels strong and that he has received promising results from initial physical tests. He’s slated for “physical therapy,” with a reevaluation due “in a couple weeks.”

Ackert chatted with a shoulder expert who provides some information regarding the typical rehab course for this sort of injury — what the club has characterized as a small labrum tear. It seems the likely process will be to establish range of motion in the joint and then begin strengthening.

There are still hurdles, but it seems there is a legitimate hope that Andujar will not require a procedure that would end his season prematurely. Throwing will likely be a loftier challenge than hitting, given the nature of the injury, so it’s also at least theoretically possible that Andujar will be able to return in a DH capacity before he’s fully prepared to man the hot corner.

Miguel Andujar Diagnosed With Labrum Tear

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The Yankees placed infielder Miguel Andujar on the 10-day injured list, as first reported by Jack Curry of the YES Network (Twitter link). He’ll be replaced on the active roster by Tyler Wade.

It emerged after testing that Andujar has suffered a “small labrum tear,” manager Aaron Boone conveyed to reporters including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (Twitter link). The injury, which was suffered when Andujar dove back to the bag on a pick-off attempt, could require season-ending surgery. While the club will first attempt non-surgical treatment, it’s clearly a significant injury that will need to be handled with care.

It’s the second injury-related loss of the day for the Yanks, who already put star slugger Giancarlo Stanton on the shelf. The organization does have some intriguing depth options, but it obviously would prefer to have its first-choice lineup on the field as much as possible in a highly competitive American League East. For the time being, solid veteran DJ LeMahieu will step in at the hot corner, but that’ll take him out of the rotation at the other infield spots.

The long-term repercussions are even more worrying. Andujar, 24, was one of baseball’s best rookies last year. While he’s a work in progress defensively, Andujar posted a healthy .297/.328/.527 slash and launched 27 home runs in his first full season as a big-leaguer.

Yankees Place Giancarlo Stanton On Injured List

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2:45pm: Manager Aaron Boone tells reporters that Stanton initially felt discomfort following a swing in Sunday’s game against the Orioles (Twitter link via James Wagner of the New York Times). A postgame MRI revealed a Grade 1 strain. While an exact timetable isn’t known, Stanton will be out longer than the minimum 10 days. The YES Network’s Jack Curry tweets that Stanton will be shut down entirely for the next 10 days. The organization’s hope is that he can return before the end of April.

10:05am: The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve placed outfielder/designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton on the 10-day injured list due to a left biceps strain. In his place, Clint Frazier has been recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. There’s no word yet from the team on the severity of Stanton’s injury or how long he is expected to be out of action.

There was no clear indication that Stanton was dealing with an injury early in the season. The slugger has a pair of hits in eight official at-bats so far but has also drawn a walk in seven of his 15 plate appearances on the young season, giving him a .600 on-base percentage through three games. The injury is a tough early blow to a Yankees club that already is already without Luis Severino, Aaron Hicks, Dellin Betances, Didi Gregorius and CC Sabathia to open the season. New York torched the Orioles in the season opener but dropped the next two games to lose the year’s first series. They’ll face the Tigers, the Orioles a second time (in Baltimore) and then the Astros (in Houston) over the next 10 days without Stanton in the fold.

With Stanton now shelved alongside Hicks and Jacoby Ellsbury, the Yankees will lean on Brett Gardner, Aaron Judge, Frazier and Mike Tauchman in the outfield mix for at least their next three series (barring any waiver claims or other additions). The injury to Stanton should allow the club to more easily work both Luke Voit and Greg Bird into the lineup at times, and it could also present some more at-bats for offseason acquisition DJ LeMahieu.

The 24-year-old Frazier, meanwhile, will get an early opportunity to rebuild some stock after a 2018 season that was marred by ongoing concussion symptoms. The longtime top prospect received only 41 plate appearances in the Majors, though he certainly held his own, batting .265/.390/.353. In 242 minor league plate appearances last season, Frazier posted an outstanding .305/.388/.562 batting line.

Diamondbacks Return Rule 5 Pick Nick Green To Yankees

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The Diamondbacks will return Rule 5 selection Nick Green to the Yankees, per a Yankees team announcement (Twitter link). After clearing waivers, Green, who turns 24 tomorrow, will rejoin his former club, having fallen short of the Diamondbacks’ Opening Day roster.

Green’s problems in spring training stemmed from a lack of control, as he walked 11 batters in 13 1/3 innings. Green was chosen by the D-Backs in the Rule 5 Draft after a successful season at High-A, in which he posted a 3.28 ERA in 115 1/3 innings. Green will now return to the Yankees organization, though the team is not required to place him on its 40-man roster.

Yankees Acquire Mike Tauchman From Rockies

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Per a team release, the Yankees have acquired OF Mike Tauchman from Colorado for lefty Phillip Diehl. Left-hander Jordan Montgomery was placed on the 60-day IL to make 40-man room for the outfielder.

Tauchman, 28, has just 69 MLB plate appearances under his belt despite a monster minor-league performance over the last two seasons. With AAA-Albuquerque in 2018, Tauchman slashed .323/.408/.571 with an outstanding 12.7% BB/14.9% K plate-discipline profile. ZiPS projects the lefty, who could see time at all three outfield spots for New York, to post a solid 96 wRC+/1.9 WAR season over 513 plate appearances in 2018.

Diehl, 24, moved to the bullpen full-time in the New York farm last season, to mostly excellent results. He didn’t crack the team’s top 30 prospects at either Baseball America or MLB.com, but if his 14.61 K/9 at high-A Tampa is any indication, the lefty’ll certainly be on the radar of the Rockies brass.

C.C. Sabathia Could Take Suspension At Start Of Season

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  • The Yankees are considering including C.C. Sabathia on their Opening Day roster in order to immediately get the veteran lefty’s five-game suspension out of the way, George A. King III of the New York Post writes.  Sabathia is already slated for a stint on the injured list as he recovers from an offseason angioplasty and a knee operation, though he would head to the IL after the first five games are up.  The downside for the Yankees is that they would have to play with just 24 active players during the course of Sabathia’s suspension, though there is an off-day within those first five games if any pitchers need some early recovery.

AL Notes: Gio, Armstrong, Herrera, Tepera/Axford

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Newly minted Yankees lefty Gio Gonzalez says it was an easy choice to join the New York organization, as George A. King III of the New York Post and MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch cover (Twitter links). The offer from the Yanks “was pretty much” the only one he got all winter long, says the veteran southpaw. It has been quite some  time since Gonzalez has had to fight for a roster spot and a big-league paycheck, but he says it’s “a pretty great opportunity” that he “can’t be ungrateful” for. If he cracks the roster, Gonzalez will play for a $3MM base salary and would also take home $300K for each game started.

Here’s more from the American League …

  • Mariners righty Shawn Armstrong is heading to the injured list with a grade 1 oblique strain, MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports. He says he’ll be patient in allowing thing to heal, but didn’t hide his anger at hitting the shelf just before the season began. (Anderson flew to Japan believing he would be ready to roll, but the issue was worse upon arrival.) Armstrong, 28, is still hoping that this’ll be the season he fully establishes himself in the majors. He has seen action in four seasons but has yet to be entrusted with more than 21 appearances in a given campaign. Armstrong turned in sub-2.00 ERA performances at both Triple-A (in 56 innings) and the majors (14 2/3 innings) in 2018.
  • The White Sox may not go long without new reliever Kelvin Herrera, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. The veteran hurler, who’s working back from a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot, hasn’t yet fully ramped things up but seems on track to get back to being a high-powered relief arm early in the new season. “I will probably be in full shape by April something or May,” he says.
  • It seems there’s some new potential for late-camp movement with the Blue Jays roster. Skipper Charlie Montoyo says that righty relievers Ryan Tepera and John Axford have turned up with elbow pain that is being looked at more closely, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports (Twitter link). Those injuries are among the factors that could leave the Toronto organization with more 40-man roster room to work with — but also more 25-man roster needs to address — than had been anticipated, MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm notes on Twitter.
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