It may be early, but injuries becoming real pain for Yanks
TAMPA — Welcome to CSI Camp Concern. Spring training continues to go from bad to worse for the Yankees. Is this an omen?
The Yankees put another building-block pitcher on the injured list Tuesday when four-time All-Star Dellin Betances was sidelined with right shoulder inflammation. Now we know why he said he felt like “crap’’ 10 days ago and his velocity is down.
Brian Cashman made the announcement as the Yankees were wrapping up a 6-2 win over the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Cashman did his best to put a hopeful spin on the injury, but shoulder inflammation is always a major concern.
Until he proves he is over such an ailment, this cloud will hover over the 6-foot-8 Betances.
“It’s right shoulder impingement, that’s another word for the inflammation,’’ Cashman said. “It’s like he’s working against himself, it’s inflammation that’s preventing him from being fully loose and engaged so we need to call a timeout. We feel it is resolvable. The worry is only that we don’t have him from the beginning. There’s not a worry past that.’’ At least not now. This comes on top of the news that ace Luis Severino is out until at least May with right rotator cuff inflammation and center f ielder Aaron Hicks still hasn’t picked up a bat because of what has been diagnosed as “chronic back pain.’’ Top outfield prospect Estevan Florial fractured his right wrist, so this has been a terrible spring training in the health department for the Yankees. And CC Sabathia will have the start of his season delayed by either a five-game suspension or hi s recovery from right knee surgery and having a stent inserted into a blocked heart artery.
“We’ve taken hits,’’ Cashman said, “but they also are things you expect, too. It’s not the way you would draw it up but at the same time it’s part of the playing season when you are going to be down a period of the time. These are resolvable [hits.]’’ Perhaps. Teams always want to come out of the spring healthy, that is No. 1 on the list. And with the regular season starting late next week, this is bad news.
It is a good thing the Yankees are starting the season against the tomato can portion of their schedule (which is much of the American League this season) featuring the likes of the Orioles, Tigers, White Sox, Royals and NL chump Giants the first month.
Just by showing up, the Yankees should win most of those games, that’s why they are not in a state of panic. At some point in the season though, they will have to play some actual major league competition, and the holes in the starting rotation, Betances’ shoulder and Hicks’ bad back could be major road blocks to success.
The Yankees were hopeful this inflammation would disappear, but Betances just could not get over the hump. The Yankees have the deepest bullpen around, so they can absorb such a blow. But make no mistake, if this lingers they will be in trouble.
The Red S ox have essentially neglected their bullpen issues, so the Yankees still have a major advantage there. This also makes the Adam Ottavino signing an even more important move.
Still, if you didn’t know better, you would think this was all happening in Port St. Lucie to the Mets.
Betances is all about the strikeout, and is the first reliever in baseball history to post five straight 100-strikeout seasons.
Those 607 strikeouts from 2014-18 have come at the price of appearing in 349 games over those five seasons. Pitchers wear down and sometimes wear out. At some point the appearances catch up to a reliever.
“I’m not concerned at all,’’ Betances said. “At times I have had a kind of fatigued shoulder, and the more I throw the better I feel. Just kind of running out of time here.’’
Cashman said Betances did not have an MRI taken for “over f ive years’’ until Tuesday’s testing.
“That last outing was an example of it’s not getting better,’’ Cashman said. “It’s actually maybe getting a little bit worse and we are inflaming the situation by running him out there. …. You start trying to do the CSI The Bronx and recreate, all right how’d we get here. … We need to give him a timeout and hit it with an anti-inflammatory.’’
The bad hits keep coming at CSI Camp Concern.