The New York Yankees faced off against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon, winning 5-1. A strong performance from Jhoulys Chacin, who lasted 2.2 innings and struck out two batters, fueled the victory. In addition, shortstop Gleyber Torres launched two homers, driving in three runs. Overall, it was a strong performance from the Bombers, who are trying to bounce back from losing three consecutive games and four of their last five contests.
The news as of late has been more negative than positive, especially with spring training injuries beginning to pile.
Injured players:
-Clarke Schmidt
-Luke Voit
-Zack Britton
Good news and bad news for the Yankees:
While the victory was a major positive coming off a string of losses, the Yankees learned that star first baseman Luke Voit would undergo surgery to repair a partial meniscus tear. The expectation is that he will miss a minimum of three weeks, so the Yankees want to get the surgery out-of-the-way instead of potentially letting him play through it and injure it more down the road. After he heals fully, Voit should be back in the lineup as an everyday player, and they are willing to give up the first few weeks of the season to make sure he’s 100% healthy for the reminder.
In exchange for Luke hitting the injured list, the Yankees signed Jay Bruce to a major league contract, and slugger Aaron Judge seems to be confident he can help them win a championship in 2021.
“We’re going to be missing Luke, but I know Jay Bruce is going to come in and do some special things for us,” Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said. “Luke is a big part of this team, big part of this offense. He’s a really vocal guy in the clubhouse who gets us motivated. I’m excited to have Jay Bruce on this team. This is why he came to this team, was to help any way he can and help us win a championship.”
Bruce hasn’t played the past few days but will finish the spring with a .194 average and two home runs. He was decent in his at-bats, but the Yankees are looking for him to contribute in the home run department more than activate him as an everyday fielder.
Luckily for the Yankees, Mike Ford went 4-for-4 on Saturday, including a line-drive home run in the seventh inning. Ford currently has a .259 average this spring and could very well be their Opening Day starter at first base following the injury to Voit.