As each day of spring training passes, frustration builds as the New York Yankees organization deals with injuries, both small and large.
The most significant blow to the team is that Luis Severino has undergone Tommy John Surgery, which will keep him away from the field again for the entire season. James Paxton had back surgery and will miss at least the first month or so of the season. The injuries are not limited to pitchers, centerfielder Aaron Hicks is still recovering from his own Tommy John surgery and outfielder, and DH Giancarlo Stanton suffered a calf strain last week. Also of concern is discomfort that Aaron Judge is feeling that has kept him for taking outdoor batting practice.
Judge has been having nagging discomfort near his right pectoral muscle. Judge arrived days ahead of the reporting date and has said that the discomfort has lingered since then. Last week it seemed better, and Manager Aaron Boone said he expected Judge to take batting practice with the team over the weekend. However, on Friday after indoor hitting, Judge again experienced the discomfort. Boone said that he was then sent for more tests, including an MRI, all of which came back negative.
“I’m a little frustrated for him, just not being able to get our arms around exactly what’s going on and why it’s been slow moving,” Boone said. “The biggest thing right now is trying to get answers.”
Boone will be sending Judge for even more tests on Monday, as they need to get to the bottom of what is preventing Judge from taking part in spring training conditioning and taking part in the team’s spring training games. Judge is still throwing and performing conditioning and defensive drills. When Boone was questioned yesterday at George M. Steinbrenner field about what is holding Judge back; “It was more when he went to hit again yesterday; throwing wasn’t an issue,” Boone said. “It was more getting through a second day of cage BP yesterday. It just wasn’t quite right.”
Boone was drilled on whether Aaron Judge would be ready for opening day when the Yankees face the Baltimore Orioles at Orioles Park at Camden Yards. Boone responded that he said that he continued to believe that Judge would be ready.
“Time-wise, we’re still fine,” Boone said. “I don’t know what we’re dealing with here in the next several days. If he starts playing in games a week or 10 days out, he’d be technically fine, but first things first is getting up to that point. And I don’t know when that is.”
Both General Manager Brain Cashman and Field Manager Aaron Boone hope that the Yankees will be limited to the injuries they already have and have taken steps to that goal, by completely revamping their Medical/strength and conditioning departments in the offseason. Hopefully, they will prevent the unprecedented number of injuries to the team during the last season.
With the questionable reliability of both Judge and Stanton, and while they await the return of Aaron Hicks, the team will rely on their depth. Brett Gardner will be solid in the centerfield.
For the other outfield positions, they will have Clint Frazier, Mike Tauchman, along with Tyler Wade and Zack Granite, while still hoping Judge and Stanton will be ready for the regular-season start. So far, early in spring training Clint Frazier is showing great offense at the plate and appears to have improved his outfield performance as he worked on his footwork during the offseason.  Manager Boone is also impressed with the fieldwork of Miguel Andujar, who may also be used in the outfield if they choose to put him there. Andujar also has impressed at the plate after a year recovering from shoulder surgery.