The Horse Gets 15 Days Out To Pasture

Obviously, the biggest news to come out of Joe's postgame presser today was the announcement that A-Rod will be put on the 15-day DL after his latest setback in his return from his strained calf.  Now he can't trick the training staff into thinking he's fully recovered and will have plenty of time to rest all his calves and hooves and get his coat brushed and tail braided.

The good news in this situation is that the Yanks are 11-0 this season without The Horse in the lineup, and Eduardo Nunez will now get a legit shot to show what he can do and not just be a mid-summer cup of coffee type of call up.  Between he and Ramiro Pena, the Yanks should be able to piece it together at the hot corner for the next couple of weeks while A-Rod gets back to 100% in time for the stretch run.

The other good news is that the free roster spot means Ivan Nova finally gets the call up he's deserved for weeks.  It's not the ideal situation, since A-Rod is on the DL instead of Javy Vazquez, but Nova will get his shot on Monday, and if he impresses he could take over Vazquez's spot in the rotation.

Normally it's a catastrophe when your RBI leader goes down, but in this case I'm not that worried.  This works out for A-Rod because it forces him to get completely healthy and not rush back into the lineup before he's ready, and it gives the Yankees a chance to stabilize their rotation for this year and audition for a spot in the rotation in 2011.  Is this the best calf strain in the history of baseball?  It just damn well might be.