Being a fan of New York sports teams required patience and tolerance. For the New York Yankees, it’s tolerating constant injuries, the Giants, terrible ownership (Knicks too), the Rangers, continuos rebuilding, and much more.
The Yankees couldn’t even manage to get through one game of Grapefruit League baseball before watching three of their best players pick up ailments. Luis Severino has a forearm issue, Aaron Judge suffered a sore shoulder due to overexertion, and James Paxton had a cyst removed from his lower back.
Paxton was expected to miss at least three months but is making phenomenal progress with his recovery. He’s expected to begin a throwing program in nine days, which is exponentially earlier than initially anticipated. A June debut seemed to be reasonable for the lefty arm, but some are saying May could be more likely after the most recent development.
New York Yankees’ Aaron Boone gives us an update:
Yankees skipper Aaron Boone stated via YES that they “feel really good about where [Paxton] is.†He mentioned that Paxton would begin throwing somewhere in the 7-10 day range and is hoping that the “nagging issues” that plagued his lower back would be alleviated in 2020.
Boone, on an interview with Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling, stated that “there is a really good chance that he’ll be ready sometime in May.†The Yankees were preparing to continue without Paxton, likely elevating Jordan Montgomery to the starting unit. After they lost Severino to a potentially significant injury, a younger option like Michael King could get the call as well.
Gaining Paxton back earlier than anticipated would allow them to eliminate any concern with their pitchers, especially with injuries continuing to mount. Expect to see rust from “Big Maple” once he makes it back, but he has plenty of time to work his way into playing form.
The Yankees have the firepower and talent in the starting rotation to survive any injuries. Signing $324 million-man, Gerrit Cole, will surely help int hat facet.