The Yankees Have an Injury Problem

Edited by Liz

It's very hard to win games in the MLB. It is even harder to win games when you have injuries and eftfter last night’s Yankees game it is safe to say that injuries are a problem.

Clarke Schmidt took the mound for his 4th start of the 2023 season and went as well as his previous 3, he didn’t make it out of the 5th inning.

Schmidt is only starting because of injuries to three of the Yankees original five starting pitchers.

Luis Severino is out until May 1 with a low grade LAT strain. Carlos Rodon, who the Yankees just gave a 6 year, $162 million contract to, is out until April 24 with a forearm injury and now Aaron Boone has revealed that Rodon’s “back is barking”.

And then there is Frankie Montas who was working through an injury when the Yankees traded for him last year. Montas had shoulder surgery in February and is expected to miss most of the season.

In his 4 starts, Schmidt has pitched 14.1 innings, less than 4 innings per game (most starting pitchers go for 5-7 innings) and has an ERA of 8.79 while giving up 4 home runs.

Not to mention 4 of the Yankees top bullpen relievers are also out, Jonathan Loaisiga, Tommy Kahnle, Lou Trivino, and Scott Effross are all out until at least the end of April, with Effross being out for the entire season.

The Yankees have zero depth when it comes to pitching and it will cause more problems eventually than just Clarke Schmidt not being able to make it past the 4th inning. Every baseball fan knows that when your bullpen gets tired, the hits start happening.

And that doesn’t even take into account the on field injuries the Yankees have. Harrison Bader, the centerfielder the Yankees acquired from the Cardinals last year is out until April 24 with an oblique injury. The Yankees have been alternating Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Cabrera, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa in center field.

Josh Donaldson, the former MVP who the Yankees are paying $25 million for this season, got injured early in the season and is out indefinitely.

Then there is the case of Giancarlo Stanton, who has had a weird Yankee tenure, getting injured during the regular season but then performing like Babe Ruth in the postseason. Stanton has a .260 batting average with 25 hits, 11 homers, 24 RBIs and 16 runs scored in 27 games for the Yankees in the playoffs.

Stanton was hitting the stitches off the ball this year. It seemed like every time he made contact it sounded like it was going to leave the stadium and that was the case when Stanton ripped a double to deep centerfield in the 7th inning during a 6-1 victory against the Twins on April 16.

Stanton, as well as everyone including announcer Michael Kay, thought that it was homerun. The ball however bounced off the wall and it was a double. The change of speed, while running, caused Stanton to suffer a Grade 2 hamstring strain for Stanton, meaning he will miss 4-8 weeks.

Stanton has missed close to 40% of his games since becoming a Yankee in 2018 and is set to make $150 million over the next 5 seasons with the New York Yankees. Stanton has already made $135 million during his Yankees tenure.

Yankees fans are rightfully annoyed at all the injuries but as long term Yankees radio announcer always says, “That’s baseball, Suzyn”

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