The New York Yankees have fallen to last place in the A.L East, and have continued to go downhill. It started when they suffered their first series loss against the Toronto Blue Jays. Since then they’ve had a record of 5-8, and sit just one game above .500.
A huge contributor to this has been the injury bug, which seems to get worse every season. The Yankees rotation along with their bullpen has been dismantled. The acquisition of Frankie Montas continues to hurt the organization, as he will most likely miss the entirety of 2023.
Luis Severino has been progressing well and is close to returning in the coming weeks once he completes a rehab assignment. The staff has made sure to not rush him in any way, so he doesn’t experience any setbacks.
Carlos Rodon seems to have another injury every other week, and I don’t expect him to pitch this season. He initially suffered a forearm injury against the Atlanta Braves in spring training. Now, it has been reported he has chronic back pain which will keep him out for months.
The rotation has been falling behind due to a struggling Clarke Schmidt, along with the lack of run support from the offense.
Latest Injury Updates
Starting off with Aaron Judge, who is very close to a return. Judge was placed on the injured list on May 1st due to a hip strain. It was reported that he’s recovered, has done fielding drills, participated in BP, and will be activated on Tuesday.
Moving onto Giancarlo Stanton, who is still a long way from returning. When asked how Stanton’s progressing, Aaron Boone said he will begin discussing a rehab assignment over the next two weeks. He is expected to return sometime in June.
Josh Donaldson has been on the injured list since April and will begin to ramp up baseball activities this week. As long as everything continues to go smoothly, he will start a rehab assignment next week with a return timeline of mid-to-late May.
Tommy Kahnle, one of the most exciting signings in the off-season is also starting to begin his return. He has been throwing bullpens without any complaints and will continue to progress over the coming weeks.
Luis Severino is doing great so far, and he will continue to make multiple more starts. He is expected to start on Wednesday for the RailRiders and continue with other minor league affiliates.
Carlos Rodon’s injury situation is very interesting. His forearm is fully healed, but he is now dealing with chronic back pain. Boone told the media that Rodon will receive a cortisone shot which will hopefully resolve the discomfort. If it does help, he could return in July.
Lou Trevino, who was included in the Frankie Montas trade, is now out for the season. He suffered an elbow strain in spring training and will now undergo Tommy John surgery.
Continuing with the bullpen we have Scott Effross, who is also expected to miss the 2023 season. The plan is for Effross to take it slow in his recovery and be ready for the start of spring training.
Ending with Jonathan Loáisiga. He underwent elbow surgery just under a week ago to remove a bone spur, and will not throw for at least three weeks. Ideally, he would return sometime in August.
What needs to happen?
The biggest thing that needs to happen is improving managerial decisions. Aaron Boone has cost the Yankees games this season because of his in-game choices. It showed yesterday against the Rays when he left Cole in, which led to a six-run lead being blown.
Besides this, there’s truly nothing else the Yankees can do other than potentially explore the trade market. They just need to wait until players on the injured list are fully healed, which will bolster the lineup.
