Welp……whatever was in the water in the Bronx last year that led to one of the most ridiculous injury riddled seasons ever apparently is still sticking around, because the Yankees just keep taking hits left and right.
Last week, we chronicled Giancarlo Stanton’s hamstring issue, and a week later, the Yankees are now down two more stars, as DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge have both landed themselves on the IL. Judge has a calf issue that SEEMS minor, but this is Aaron Judge and the Yankees we’re talking about here. The hope is that he’ll only miss a couple of weeks, but these things have a tendency to snowball in this training room. With LeMahieu, it looks like he’ll be able to avoid surgery after an initial scare with his thumb injury. His timeline is also 2-3 weeks at the moment. So all three big Yankee hitters are slated to come off the IL in 2-3 weeks. Until then, we gave you Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier last week, but adding Tyler Wade and Thiaro Estrada in deeper leagues makes sense as fill ins for LeMahieu. Guys like Miguel Andujar and Mike Ford should also see some boost to their value with an OF and DH spot opening up full time.
Ronald Acuna was, in fact, placed on the IL with a sore wrist after being scratched from a few games last week. He also looks like he’s going to avoid surgery, as his MRI just showed some inflammation. In his stead, the Braves are calling up uber prospect Christain Pache….go get him. Nick Markakis was also placed on the IL with Covid related issues, so there’s plenty of OF time to go around. Ender Inciarte and Adam Duvall are the other targets here for playing time.
Continuing the “really awesome player gets really depressing injury” theme of the day….Bo Bichette is going to be out until mid-September with a grade 1 knee sprain. Bichette was raking before this blow, so it’s really deflating to see his first full big season go down like this. Joe Panik will fill in at SS, but you probably only want him in an emergency.
Yordan Alvarez and George Springer still are till trouble for the Astros. Springer was scratched again this week with a wrist injury but still hasn’t hit the IL. Alvarez’s situation is more worrisome, as his knee flared up again after only a couple games back in the bigs. Alvarez fought this knee issue most of the spring, so it’s a bad sign that this issue just seems to be sticking around despite the time off. Tests were negative for any kind of structural damage, but this seems like it’s going to be a lingering issue all season. Myles Straw, Josh Reddick, and Abraham Toro are the main beneficiaries of the OF/DH playing time.
In positive news for the Astros, Justin Verlander started a throwing program this week in a long shot bid to return this season. He’s still a long way off, but we’ll keep tabs on his progress.
Stephen Strasburg will not be doing any throwing for a little while. He’s hit the IL with a nerve issue in his throwing hand. This has been a recurring issue for Strasburg, who tried to work through it recently. However, he only got through 15 pitches in his last start. Erick Fedde came in to relieve Strasburg and pitched well enough to earn himself a start this week. He seems like the immediate option for Strasburg’s innings right now.
The Padres were the no fun capital of the MLB world this week. In between dragging Fernando Tatis through the down square chanting “SHAME, SHAME” and ringing his bell, Jayce Tingler is dealing with some major injury issues. We discussed Kirby Yates last week, and now we’ve got more color on his situation. An MRI revealed that he’s dealing with bone chips in his throwing elbow. He’s likely done for the season. I hope you had a chance to grab Drew Pomeranz, but if not, you can grab Emilio Pagan who’s waiting in the wings. Tommy Pham is also hitting the shelf for a while, at least 6 weeks, with a broken hand. Pham was off to a pretty rough start, but was swiping bags whenever he did get on base. Josh Naylor has been getting some more ABs with Pham out, but the name that you want here is Edward Olivares. His breakout in the spring was a big part of what led to the Franchy Cordero trade.
