The really good teams don’t make a big deal about injuries – they play through it and view the situation as an opportunity for a bench player to make his mark. SU says that over the years, the Yankees have adopted that approach. There is no hysteria, no gnashing of the teeth. The Red Sox usually do it the opposite way and focus on their bad luck.
The injury to Aaron Judge is bad but could have been worse. It sounds like a minimum of 3 weeks but likely longer as he will need time to to rehab a bit. So, what are the options for the Yankees?
- Timing is everything. Clint Frazier is the obvious choice but he is in another concussion protocol. Bad luck for this dude. Not sure how long he is out for but he just started this latest one last week.
- Next up would be Billy McKinney but they just traded him for Happ yesterday afternoon. Can you believe that?
- Then there is Jacoby Ellsbury who has still not resumed baseball activities down in Tampa. SU suspects that they have him mowing the practice fields down there and putting the baselines down each morning. He is not an option.
- Tyler Wade can play the outfield but he is still over-powered by Major League pitching.
- They added this guy Shane Robinson to the roster yesterday. He will probably get some at bats.
Bottom line: with both Judge and Sanchez out now, this is no longer a home run hitting machine. They need to hit and run, move runners along and hit against the shifts. It will be interesting to see how they adjust.
SU liked the Happ trade. Drury will likely become an every day player in Toronto but he was blocked in NY. McKinney has a lot of power but doesn’t hit for average and he never would have made it up here. Happ is a rental and has good career numbers against the Red Sox. SU doesn’t love him but you didn’t give up anything so worth the risk. Clearly better than Cole Hamels. That would have been a disaster.
We will see if the Yankees’ generational player, Stanton, now rises to the occasion and becomes “the man.” SU will be curious on that front. Sonny Gray was good again and you have to hope his thumb is ok. He is emerging now as hoped for when they got him last year. Btw, German was taken out of his minor league start yesterday and was holding the same spot on his arm where he had surgery previously. That’s too bad. But as they say, “next man up.”
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Gardner, Hicks, Torrez, Stanton, Didi, Andujar, Bird, Walker, Romine.
Look at all those lefties. I guess Tyler Wade and/or Tyler Austin MAYBE comes in against a lefty pitcher. There are still plenty of home run hitters on this team… but no the lineup seems to have more contact hitters.
Happ was a good pickup. We have 10 games left against the Red Sox. Hopefully, he pitches at least 2 of those game.
Please don’t get your hopes up on grey. he only does well against lousy teams…. and yesterday he only went 5 innings. really? Was he that gassed to have to come out?
What are we going to do with Sanchez when he returns? I say keep playing him but use one of the infielders positioned behind him.
Gray was hit on his pitching hand by a ground ball and that is why he came out. As a Yankee fan you have to support him and give him credit for figuring things out now. Agree he hasn’t faced the big boys in any of these starts but he seems much more confident and having Romine in there all the time is helping as well.