The New York Yankees signed Darren O’Day late in the offseason with the hope of covering some important, high-leverage innings. They hoped his recent success outweighed his advanced age (38), allowing him to stay healthy and effective.
So far, that hasn’t been the case. When he has been on the mound, he has been good, with a 3.38 ERA in 12 games, and a 1.22 WHIP. The problem is that he has hardly pitched because of injuries.
This week, the Yankees placed O’Day on 10-day injured list with left hamstring strain. It’s still not clear when he suffered the injury, but all signs point at the moment being on the weekend, in the series against the Mets.
“I think (it cramped up) a little bit when he was getting ready to potentially come into the game late in Game 2,†Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, per NJ Advance Media. “I had him in there originally (Tuesday), but he’s still feeling it a little bit, and so just decided to hold him out.â€
The Yankees could use O’Day’s reliability
On Sunday, he pitched 0.2 innings, allowed a home run and two walks while striking out just one. It was clear something was not right with the submariner.
Sunday marked his second appearance since returning from a right rotator cuff strain on June 29. That injury ended up taking significantly more than the minimum 10 days to heal.
Judging by Boone’s words, it doesn’t sound like this injury will take more than a couple of weeks to heal, but hamstrings are extremely tricky, so the team will likely give him all the time he needs.
Fellow reliever Zack Britton also injured his hamstring recently and is currently out, so the Yankees’ bullpen is a bit shorthanded right now.
As far as other injuries, the team didn’t have shortstop Gleyber Torres yesterday, also with left hamstring cramping. He is not expected to hit the injured list at the time but it will all depend on his evolution in Wednesday afternoon.
Â