Monday, April 14, 2014

Monday Evening Injury Update Roundup (UPDATED)

There was a swirling torrent of injuries yesterday.  Here's the latest on all of them from today:

- Via Dan Barbarisi, last night's MRI revealed a Grade II strain of Francisco Cervelli's right hamstring.  He's been put on the DL and is expected to miss at least 4-6 weeks.  Shane Greene was optioned to Triple-A and Austin Romine likely will be called back up to take Cervelli's spot.

- Brian McCann had an x-ray done on his right ring finger after having that HBP ball hit him late in last night's game, and luckily that one came back negative.  He'll be fine.

- Apparently Yangervis Solarte took an inadvertent shot to the man region on that play at first base last night, hence the limp and pained reaction.  Nothing wrong with his groin.  He's good to go.

- Haven't heard anything on Jeter or Roberts, so I'm assuming Jeter is still playing tomorrow.  My guess is that Roberts will not and the Greene send down was to clear another roster spot for his non-40 man replacement.

** UPDATE 8:26 PM- Via Barbarisi again, it's actually John Ryan Murphy getting the call up instead of Romine.  Guess the Yankees really want to see what this kid can do. **

Random Thoughts & Afterthoughts From The First Two Weeks

(Gotta be the early leader for play of the year, no?  Courtesy of Getty Images)

The opening 2 weeks of the 2014 regular season have come and gone, and there's already an abundance of things to talk about in Yankeeland.  The Bombers woke up this morning atop the AL East, albeit as part of a 3-way tie with the Blue Jays and Rays.  Considering all the injury problems they've had to deal with and the slow start the heart of their order got off to, I'm more than happy to see them where they are with a 7-6 record.  The starting pitching has been very good (1st in MLB in IP, 2nd in BB/9, 10th in K/9, tied for 9th in fWAR), the offense is starting to heat up and really hasn't been as horrible as their run total might indicate (.335 team wOBA is 6th best in MLB), and they've gotten just enough from their makeshift bullpen (specifically Kelley, Warren, and Betances) to not have the loss of D-Rob be a total disaster.

While the team rests up and ices down in preparation for their interleague series with the Cubs tomorrow, here are some of my thoughts on what we've seen in the first 2 weeks.

Yanks Limping (Literally) Into Their First Off-Day

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Very often in sports, commentators or writers like to say that something "couldn't have come at a better time" to help a struggling team.  In the Yankees' case, this first scheduled off-day of the year really could not have come at a better time after last night's injury casualties.  If the Yankees had to play a game tonight, it's doubtful they'd have enough healthy bodies to fill out the starting infield.

Game 13 Wrap-Up: NYY 3 BOS 2

(Courtesy of the AP)

It didn't come without some stress and further infield injury problems, but I got the win I wanted last night.  The Yanks took the first series of the season with the Sawx last night, creeping back over .500 in the process and moving into a much needed first scheduled off day of the year.  The finer details of last night's affair can be found in the live blog from last night below.  After the jump, the notable players and their stat lines.