The 2013 New York Yankees

[howboutthoseos]

New York Yankees ‏@Yankees

Derek Jeter has been scratched from today's #Yankees lineup with left ankle discomfort, reports @adamdberry.

[weams]

From the sounds of it, surgery appears to be the best long-term option. But, given the nature of the surgery requiring a 5-6 month recovery, it makes sense to at least give rehab a chance. Obviously, the Yankees and Teixeira don’t want to simply throw out 2013.

Is rehab a realistic option for full recovery? Bautista, Mark DeRosa (twice), Nick Johnson, Rickie Weeks, and Sam Fuld have all had this rare injury, and all had surgery. Despite the small sample, completing a successful rehab seems optimistic. One player to avoid going under the knife with the same injury was David Ortiz in 2008. But why?

Admittedly, a six player sample from a very uncommon injury is hard to draw any conclusions from. Nonetheless, I was curious to find some sort of reason that Ortiz’ rehab was more successful. Ortiz missed nearly all of June and July in 2008, yet came back to post a 133 wRC+ in 245 PAs during the second half.

Is there some sort of commonplace between the other players’ injuries that Ortiz didn’t have? The only thing that caught my eye was the hand each player experienced the injury. For all five players who had surgery, the particular damaged wrist was the bottom hand of the two that hold the bat. For illustration, the righty-swinging Jose Bautista‘s injured wrist was his bottom left hand. In contrast, the southpaw Ortiz’ wrist injury was on his top hand (the left hand). Is this significant? Not only am I not a doctor, but it’s also hard to say given the small sample. Nonetheless, maybe there is something to it.

The bottom hand is the one that guides the swing through the zone, while the top hand is known to be the “power hand”. Many players let go at some stage of their swing, finishing the motion with the bottom hand alone. Is it possible that the swing’s bottom hand ECU tendon endures more stress than the top hand? If so, such may have been the reason Bautista, DeRosa, Johnson, Fuld, and Weeks opted for surgery. Knowing that Ortiz always finishes his swing with a one hand grasp, perhaps he was able to recover without surgery because his right wrist wasn’t affected. If this theory held true, Teixeira would be compromised one way or another because he is a switch hitter. With perhaps two-thirds of Teixeira’s plate appearances from the left side, the fact that it is the right ECU tendon is particularly disconcerting.

I would be remiss not to note that Ortiz still felt a “click” in his wrist in August of 2008 after his return, so there’s certainly more to it than simply which wrist was injured. Not everyone is going to have the exact same severity of injury, natural recovery, or a slew of other factors. However, considering the unique motion of a baseball swing, I think the particular wrist that gets injured is worth noting.

Surgery or not, we already can be assured that Brian Cashman is on the lookout for help.

http://pinstripepundits.com/2013/03/a-potentially-concerning-trend-pertaining-to-teixeiras-injury.html#comment-415

[weams]

Outfielder Brennan Boesch was scratched from Friday afternoon’s game against the Minnesota Twins after complaining of oblique soreness. He also had oblique tightness at the start of spring training, when he was with the Detroit Tigers, though, General Manager Brian Cashman said it was in a different area. The Yankees will keep Boesch out of any game activities through Saturday. … Pitcher Phil Hughes, who has been slowed this spring with a bulging disk, pitched in a minor league game Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Class A team, and was roughed up by them. Hughes threw 57 pitches over three innings, yielding six hits, three runs, two of them earned, while striking out three and walking none. … Cashman said left-handed reliever Clay Rapada, who has had shoulder bursitis, will go on the disabled list.

NYTIMES

[weams]

Catcher rankings.

53. Chris Stewart (NY-A)

Year G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS

2013 Projections 104 277 31 64 15 0 4 27 1 2 26 38 .231 .302 .329 .630

Stewart was a solid backup catcher for the Yankees in 2012, providing very little at the plate,

[Crazysilver03]

Jeter is opening the year on the DL. Blow, after blow, after blow.

[Lester Freamon]

Jeter is opening the year on the DL. Blow, after blow, after blow.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130324&content_id=43215696&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

Jeter will not play in any ML spring training games to allow for a back dating of his DL stint that would allow him to return to the Yankees on April 6. Of course, if there are no setbacks.

Also, it is not 100% that he starts the year on the DL but it is definitely Cashman's opinion that he will at this point. Jeter would have to be able to play back to back games at SS with NO soreness afterward for Girardi to even consider taking Jeter north on April 1st, and that is not looking very possible at this point.

[Blizzard1090]

$84 millon of their payroll will be on the DL opening day,heh!

[paulcoates]

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/mlb/2893/vernon-wells

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Yankees are in trade talks with the Angels regarding Vernon Wells and a deal "could be done today."

Passan adds that "lots of money would go back to New York" in the deal, which, of course, is a given with Wells having $42 million left on his contract. Wells has a full no-trade clause and has embraced a backup role with the Angels, but perhaps he'd be willing to waive it for what would be an uptick in playing time. The 34-year-old would figure to play pretty regularly in left field until Curtis Granderson returns. Wells has batted just .222/.258/.409 over the last two seasons.

Mar 24 - 3:32 PM

Source: Jeff Passan on Twitter

[Spirus]

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/mlb/2893/vernon-wells

Wells has apparently looked good this spring. Let's hope its an illusion and not a 2011 Lance Berkman 'You all thought I was dead but now watch me come back from the dead and compete for MVP" type thing.

[crissfan172]

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/mlb/2893/vernon-wells

I guess they needed another overpaid scrub.

[Crazysilver03]

What a desperation move if true. Can't see how it is though. Even if the Angels send 42M back it still counts against the Yankees payroll for next year and that's the year they are trying to get under 189M. LOL

This.

This one move will completely undo their entire attempt to get under the luxury tax unless they dump ARod or Tex on someone.

[weams]

This.

This one move will completely undo their entire attempt to get under the luxury tax unless they dump ARod or Tex on someone.

And it's hard to dump guys who may not play all season.

[Can_of_corn]

What a desperation move if true. Can't see how it is though. Even if the Angels send 42M back it still counts against the Yankees payroll for next year and that's the year they are trying to get under 189M. LOL

This.

This one move will completely undo their entire attempt to get under the luxury tax unless they dump ARod or Tex on someone.

Actually they are at around 82 million in commitments for next season without Wells. They should still be able to get under even with this ridiculously bad contract. It might make retaining Cano difficult.

[weams]

This.

This one move will completely undo their entire attempt to get under the luxury tax unless they dump ARod or Tex on someone.

Maybe Cashman's pain meds got the best of him and he forgot.

[Crazysilver03]

Actually they are at around 82 million in commitments for next season without Wells. They should still be able to get under even with this ridiculously bad contract. It might make retaining Cano difficult.

So now they will only have $86M to play with? With no closer, 2B, nor a starting rotation (Pettite, Kuroda, Hughes are FA).