First off, I’d like to thank Scott for pinch hitting for me last week. Quick aside: I was traveling for work (papa’s got to make the cash) and had no time to write. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I forgot the Yankees games were starting because it was 4:00pm and by the time I realized they had started it was the 3rd inning and I was standing on the outside of an inside joke. The moral of the story is that I’d have to take up another hobby if I lived on the west coast because following east coast baseball is impossible. Seriously, fake life out there.
Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming…
Among all the runners left on base, Aroldis Chapman’s return, Aaron Hicks starting to hit, and Chase Headley continuing to not hit, the Yankees have caught the injury bug…again.
ARod’s trip to the disabled list on May 4 started a ripple-effect that shot down the Yankees lineup. CC Sabathia hit the DL on May 5. Jacoby Ellsbury has been day-to-day since May 6, and Mark Teixeira missed 2 games starting May 9. If you’ve been a fan of the Yankees in recent years, this kind of physical break down is nothing new.
This onslaught of injuries to four big names is making it even harder for the Yankees to turn their season around.
Alex Rodriguez: 15-day DL with strained right hamstring, earliest return May 19
ARod hit the DL at the worst possible time because he was starting to heat up. Despite the Yankees losing their Sunday night game in Boston, ARod put on a power display that showed he was ready to bust-out in a big way.
Eight of ARod’s 14 hits this season have gone for extra bases, and 5 of those for home runs. His right-handed bat changes the dynamic of the Yankees lineup – something that is clearly absent when he’s not there.
What’s worse is that the injury is to his hamstring, which is always a tricky situation. I don’t want to get all sports radio caller on you, but I pulled my hamstring when I was 18 and have not been right ever since (that was 10 years ago). I am, as I’m sure the Yankees are, concerned ARod’s injury will nag him for much longer than the 15 days he will have missed.
CC Sabathia: 15-day DL with a groin injury, earliest return May 20
Shout-out to Mrs. CC for this injury, which came out of nowhere. The hefty lefty was placed on the 15-day DL right on the heels of his best start of the season, when he shut out Baltimore over 7 innings on May 4.
Sabathia won the 5th starter job from Ivan Nova in spring, which made many fans upset. CC was justifying the Yankees decision through his first 5 starts by posting a 3.81 ERA over 28.1 IP. Shockingly, CC had been the Yanks second most consistent starter in 2016 before his injury.
CC hasn’t let up more than 3 earned runs in any of his 5 starts. Granted, two of those starts were for less than 5 innings, but CC is the only Yankees starter who can make that claim. Fans have to remember that this is not 2009-2012 CC. Seven-plus innings every start is no longer possible. He’s the Yankees 5th starter. The 5th starters job is to give the team a chance to win, not shut the other team down. CC does that, and seems to be learning how to pitch with a fastball that could barely travel through time.
The good news is that CC is expected to be back next week and his injury was not serious. The two weeks off will probably help CC in the long run, so I’m not overly upset, but there is the fear that his old, overgrown body can break down at any minute.
Jacoby Ellsbury: day-to-day with tight right hip, could return this weekend
Typical Jacoby Ellsbury; just when he’s starting to get on my good side he comes up with a nagging injury like hip tightness. Ells had reached base safely 10 times in the 4 games he played prior to bowing-out of the starting lineup. The top of the Yankees order was starting to take form, but much like last season, a Jacoby Ellsbury injury derailed things.
I don’t want to, but I must, for the 50th time on this website, express how much I disagree with the $153M contract the Yankees gave Ellsbury. Not only do his lack of baseball skills (weak arm, aging legs, disappearing power) not justify $153M, but Ellsbury is not a durable player and its injuries like these that prove my point. For every stretch like last week he has an injury that sidelines him for a series or two.
Mark Teixeira: day-to-day with neck stiffness, returned on Thursday
The Yankees released their Thursday lineup with Mark Teixeira batting third and playing first base just as I was writing this, but my point below still stands.
Mark Teixeira is Jacoby Ellsbury 2.0, or is it the other way around? Either way, Tex is just as injury-prone as Ellsbury is fragile. Yes, I know a lot of his injuries are flukes, but eventually when the fluke occurs often enough, it is no longer a fluke.
Teixeira only missed 2 games, which is not a huge deal especially because he has not hit all year. A lot of attention has been placed on Chase Headley, but Teixeira only has 4 extra base hits this year, 2 of which came during the first week of the season. Just because the Yankees didn’t miss offensive production, Tex’s injury hurts the team in other ways.
Dustin Ackley is not a first baseman. We saw it in Detroit and saw it again Wednesday night when he cost Michael Pineda and the Yankees runs with poor defense.
Not only does Teixeira, Swisher, and maybe even Giambi make the play, but certainly Greg Bird does. Bird’s injury seems like a distant memory at this point, but will be felt every time the Yankees bench is thin because Mark Teixeira, or anybody else, is unable to play.
