The New York Yankees are just a few hours away from Opening Day against the Toronto Blue Jays at 1:05 PM. While the weather report calls for rain, the Yankees are expected to walk out ace Gerrit Cole against Hyun-Jin Ryu.
Cole, who finished his first season with the Yankees in 2020, is coming off the campaign where he hosted a 3.17 ERA, striking out 239 batters and allowing 63 runs. While Cole did have a few issues during spring training, he normally utilizes that time to develop some of his weaknesses, relying on his strengths the second the regular season starts and games officially matter.
However, the Yankees did experience a few negatives ahead of their first game of the season on Thursday afternoon. Several players are hitting the injured list, including depth infielder Miguel Andujar, who will sit out for 10 days with right wrist carpal tunnel syndrome.
In addition, Zack Britton was placed on the 60-day injured list, Luke Voit on the 10-day injured list with a left knee medial meniscus injury, and Justin Wilson on the 10-day injured list for left shoulder information.
What will the Yankees do with Andujar now?
An unfortunate bout for Andujar, who only experienced 15 at-bats this spring, earning a .133 batting average with just two hits. Miguel is fighting for a spot on the active roster but hasn’t found his spot defensively on the team, despite being given multiple opportunities. The Yankees view him as a supplement in the outfield and at third base, even at second if DJ LeMahieu were to go down. He’s essentially a below-average utility player with solid offensive prowess but struggled in 2020 to get going.
Luckily for the Yankees, they are primarily healthy going into the regular season, and while they did have a scare with Aaron judge and an illness, he’s expected to be 100% and ready to go against Toronto.
One exciting piece of news is that relief pitcher Lucas Luetge officially signed a major league contract and joined the team after proving to be an asset this spring. Lucas earned a 1.74 ERA over 10.1 innings this off-season, striking out 18 batters and allowing two runs. Overall, he was stellar and will likely fill in, in the absence of Justin Wilson and Zack Britton.