The Yankees Can’t Catch a Break on Injuries!
With several Yankees players slowly starting to make their way back off the IL (Injured List), whatever glimmer of hope Manger Aaron Boone and Yankees fans had, has died. Catcher Gary Sanchez returned to the line-up against the Angels on April 24, 2019, and there is a good chance we may see other position players such as Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Troy Tulowitzki, and possibly Miguel Andjúar returning sooner than we think. But the Yankees can’t seem to catch on break when it comes to injuries, outfielder Clint Frazier reportedly sprained his left ankle sliding back into second base in Monday’s win against the Angels. Frazier was sent for an MRI, which confirmed he suffered a partial tear, which in basic terms means an ankle sprain.
Frazier missed pretty much all of last year, and has made it very clear he does not want to be back on the IL. Unfortunately, Frazier can’t avoid the IL with a sprained ankle. He may try and speed his recovery to get back out on the field, but with our team slowly getting picked off and placed on the IL, I would rather see Frazier take his time with this recovery and come back fully recovered. We know what Frazier is capable of, and I highly doubt a short lived stint on the IL will affect his (in my opinion) permanent spot on the roster for the Yankees.
So what does this mean for the Yankees? With only two outfielders on the roster, Brett Gardner and Mick Tauchman, a move needs to be made. There are several options for the Yankees, and we’ve already seen the Yankees make one big step in trying to help this recurring nightmare.
First, they can use Tyler Wade in the outfield. Personally, I would rather see Wade playing the utility man for the infield as that is where he is more comfortable. We did see Wade attempt the outfield during Spring Training, and he reportedly played some outfield in the minor league on several occasions. Although he did fine, I would like to compare this situation to when we had previous Yankees utility man Neil Walker play in the outfield. Although Walker is an exceptional athlete, you could tell he was out of his element playing in the outfield for any amount of time. Wade is more than likely playing better than Walker did in the outfield, but his position is second base and at this point it would be smart for the Yankees to play their players in positions where they are strongest. Why risk it at this point?
Second, the Yankees can bring up another minor league player. With relief pitcher Chad Green getting sent back down to the minors, it opened up a spot for the Yankees to bring someone up. Reports are going around that reliever Joe Harvey will take that big-league roster spot from Green, so it’s pretty clear that the Yankees are not going to go that route.
Third, the Yankees can try and pick up an outfielder. If you follow any sort of Yankees reports, you were quick to learn that is exactly what the Yankees did. Reports circled early April 25, 2019 noted that the Yankees acquired Cameron Maybin, who was playing Triple-A with the Cleveland Indians. Taking a quick look at his average numbers over 12 years in the league (.254 batting average, .322 OBP, .368 SLG, .690 OPS), Maybin can be a huge help for the Yankees until more players start to trickle back.
