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River Ave. Blues » Miguel Andujar » Page 2

The injury bug and a flashback to 2007

April 16, 2019 by Derek Albin

(Presswire)

Twelve Yankees currently reside on the injured list. Twelve! It’s put a pretty big damper on the start of the regular season, to say the least. Sure, a few players on the shelf aren’t surprises: Didi Gregorius and Jordan Montgomery, to name a couple. The Yankees had time to plan for their absences. However, they could have never anticipated the myriad of injuries that have happened since spring training began. It’s a bit reminiscent of 2007, when a handful of Yankees suffered hamstring strains early in the season. This year, there have been various health issues, but a fair amount of them have been muscle strains, stiffness, or soreness.

Prior to 2007, the Yankees hired Marty Miller as the team’s director of performance enhancement. He lost his job by early May. Injuries piled up within a month of the season beginning and it proved to be Miller’s undoing. Hideki Matsui, Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang, and Phil Hughes all suffered hamstring strains. Johnny Damon played through a calf strain and Andy Pettitte powered through back soreness from a weight lifting mishap. This season, there have been two calf strains (Troy Tulowitzki and Gary Sanchez), Giancarlo Stanton’s biceps strain, Aaron Hicks’s back stiffness, and Luis Severino’s lat strain. Those seem to be related to strength and conditioning issues. To add insult to injury, there have been some bad luck and pitchers break issues too. Miguel Andujar tore his labrum sliding back into third, Severino had shoulder inflammation before his lat strain, and Dellin Betances has a shoulder impingement and bone spurs.

Aside from the litany of maladies, communication has been a problem as well. Hicks, Betances, and Severino have all had setbacks. How many times have we heard that Aaron Hicks is close to ramping up baseball activities? He was suppose to get back into the swing of things before camp ended. The Yankees downplayed Betances’s velocity in spring training, and now we find out that he’s had a bone spur for years. There was no mention of that when he was initially diagnosed with an impingement. Severino, somehow, suffered a new injury (lat strain) while trying to recover from shoulder soreness.

Matt Krause has been the team’s director of strength and conditioning since the 2014 season. Are all of these muscle injuries his and his team’s fault? Who knows. One thing’s for sure: the optics are bad. Back in 2007, the way things looked almost certainly contributed to the team cutting Miller lose. Even so, Cashman declined to blame Miller for the parade to the disabled list:

Last month, when a rash of muscle-related injuries felled five key players in four weeks, Cashman did not blame Miller or his assistant, Dana Cavalea.

“I’m constantly evaluating everything we do,” Cashman said in a telephone interview at the time. “But do I blame Marty and Dana for this? No.”

Cashman had said there were many reasons the injuries to key Yankees could have occurred, apart from Miller’s new strength and conditioning program, in which some players had declined to participate.

That last sentence is telling, though. Players declining to participate in a team’s strength and conditioning program is not a good look! If that wasn’t the final straw, it was definitely alarming.

This year, Cashman hasn’t placed blame on the training staff. Nonetheless, his reaction to Severino’s lat strain makes it easy to wonder if its starting to become the subject of his ire.

Severino just lost force on flat ground throws one day to next. Cashman: “There’s nothing that I can provide to you that can explain how he wound up with a Grade 2 lat strain. The protocols that he was going through would not provide that. We are trying to piece that together.”

— James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) April 13, 2019

Cashman certainly sounds annoyed that the team has no idea how the ace succumbed to a new injury. On one hand, I could see him questioning if Severino did something extraneous to the “protocol” that caused the injury. That would be a hefty and damning accusation to make, though. On the flip side, it’s the training staff’s responsibility to get players back on the field as soon as possible. The fact that they’re in the dark about how this happened, or perhaps the idea that it was never caught in the first place, is significant. Not only is it a physical issue, but it is also a communication deficiency. These kind of mistakes can (and already have) throw the season way off course.

To give the conditioning team the benefit of the doubt, a few of the players who have gotten hurt have a reputation for being injury prone. Tulowitzki and Hicks, in particular. Further, maybe Severino’s ailments are just a symptom of being a pitcher. Whoever or whatever is to blame, it’s been nothing but bad news all around. Fortunately, like that 2007 team, all of these instances have happened very early on in the season. That squad still won 94 games when it was all said and done. For this team to accomplish that, it needs to get its house in order. Part of that is some better fortune moving forward, but also identifying the source of the numerous muscle strains, setbacks, and communication breakdowns.

Filed Under: Injuries Tagged With: Aaron Hicks, Dellin Betances, Gary Sanchez, Giancarlo Stanton, Luis Severino, Miguel Andujar, Troy Tulowitzki

Game 13: The Yankees just got swept and everyone’s hurt, but at least it’s going to rain tonight

April 12, 2019 by Mike

(Presswire)

Somehow the Yankees got even more injured today. Gary Sanchez was placed on the injured list with a calf strain and Dellin Betances suffered a setback during yesterday’s simulated game. The Yankees have 12 players on the injured list — that includes five of their nine starting position players — and I count no more than four with a realistic chance to return this month. Everyone else is further away.

“It’s our reality right now. The bottom line is we feel like — unlike any other team, maybe — we are equipped to be able to still have success through this. That’s our expectations. It is next guy up,” Aaron Boone said this afternoon. “… Even though we’re in a little bit of a storm right now and have some adversity with these injuries, the expectation doesn’t change because the guys we still have in that room are capable of getting it done. That’s our focus.”

Ultimately, injuries are part of the game, and the Yankees have more resources to cover for those injuries than any other team. I mean, how many teams will field a lineup worse than what the Yankees are running out there tonight? Has to be at least half the league given how many teams are tanking. Well, whatever. Here are tonight’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Brett Gardner
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. DH Luke Voit
4. SS Gleyber Torres
5. 1B Greg Bird
6. 2B DJ LeMahieu
7. LF Clint Frazier
8. 3B Gio Urshela
9. C Austin Romine

LHP J.A. Happ

Chicago White Sox
1. RF Leury Garcia
2. SS Tim Anderson
3. 1B Jose Abreu
4. DH Yonder Alonso
5. 3B Yoan Moncada
6. LF Eloy Jimenez
7. C James McCann
8. 2B Jose Rondon
9. CF Adam Engel

RHP Lucas Giolito


As the headline says, it’s supposed to rain tonight. There are on-and-off showers in the forecast throughout the game window, and the heaviest stuff is supposed to arrive around 10pm ET. Once it arrives, it’s not supposed to stop raining until sometime tomorrow morning. Make sure you have a lead after five innings, guys. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET and you can watch on WPIX. This is the first WPIX game of the season, right? I think so. Enjoy the game.

Injury Updates: Sanchez (calf) has a “slight” strain and the Yankees considered keeping him active this weekend (there’s an off-day Monday), but decided to play it safe with the injured list. He’ll be shut down this weekend and resume baseball activities Monday … Miguel Andujar (shoulder) swung a bat today for the first time since being placed on the injured list. He took 25 dry swings and 25 swings off a tee with 50% effort. Andujar also played light catch again. Throwing is the primary concern. Apparently the injury won’t impact his swing much … Giancarlo Stanton (biceps) hit off a tee and soft toss again today, and everything went well … Aaron Hicks (back) is close to ramping up his baseball activities. He’s hitting off a tee and soft toss right now, and could start hitting in the cage and on the field next week … Troy Tulowitzki (calf) took swings today and is feeling better. There’s no word yet on when he could be activated. He’s eligible to be activated Sunday, though that’s not going to happen.

Misc. Notes: CC Sabathia starts tomorrow and Masahiro Tanaka starts Sunday with an extra day of rest. That lines up James Paxton and J.A. Happ for the two-game Red Sox series next week. Domingo German is available out of the bullpen this weekend and will start the Royals series opener next Thursday … Boone indicated this afternoon that Joe Harvey will get a chance to carve out a role in the bullpen, though he might’ve been speaking in general. Who knows, maybe Harvey won’t be the guy sent down when Sabathia returns tomorrow.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Aaron Hicks, Gary Sanchez, Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel Andujar, Troy Tulowitzki

Game 12: Escape from Houston

April 10, 2019 by Mike

(Presswire)

Two games against the Astros, two blown late-inning leads. The lead disappeared in the seventh and Houston took the lead in the eighth in both games. How annoying. Even more annoying is the way the Yankees screw up the most basic stuff each game. Every game there’s an dopey error or a bad baserunning decision. Every single game.

“It’s got to be better, especially when you’re playing a really good team, and you’re up against a really good pitcher. You’ve got to do the little things that allow you to win ballgames,” Aaron Boone said to Coley Harvey following last night’s loss. “The bottom line is, we’re really close to playing a good brand and a complete game.”

WELL ACTUALLY, the Yankees played their sloppiest game of the season last night, and all the mistakes contributed to the loss. If you have to keep saying you’re really close to doing something, you’re not actually close to doing it. The Yankees have to clean up the sloppy mistakes to beat teams like the Astros. It is imperative. Here are tonight’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Brett Gardner
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. DH Luke Voit
4. SS Gleyber Torres
5. 1B Greg Bird
6. 3B DJ LeMahieu
7. LF Clint Frazier
8. C Austin Romine
9. 2B Tyler Wade

LHP James Paxton

Houston Astros
1. RF George Springer
2. 2B Jose Altuve
3. LF Michael Brantley
4. SS Carlos Correa
5. 3B Yuli Gurriel
6. DH Tyler White
7. 1B Aledmys Diaz
8. C Max Stassi
9. CF Jake Marisnick

RHP Collin McHugh


Another warm and sunny day in Houston, and the Minute Maid Park roof is open. Tonight’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:40pm ET and you can watch on the YES Network locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy the ballgame.

Injury Updates: CC Sabathia (knee, heart) will start Saturday’s game. That is the first day he is eligible to be activated off the injured list … Giancarlo Stanton (biceps) has started taking swings now that his ten-day shutdown period is over … Aaron Hicks (back) has started swinging a bat. He’s doing tee and soft toss work in addition to throwing and running … Miguel Andujar (shoulder) played catch today for the first time since being shut down. Here’s video. As you can see, it was not the most intense throwing session. Twenty-five throws at 60 feet. Andujar said he felt better than expected, and he is tentatively scheduled to throw again Friday. He might even swing a bat that day as well … Gary Sanchez is out of the lineup with calf tightness. He first felt it following Monday’s game and the Yankees put him through some tests, which came back fine. They’re giving him two straight days off (tomorrow’s an off-day) as a precaution. Sanchez is available tonight.

Roster Move: The Yankees optioned Jonathan Loaisiga to Triple-A Scranton following last night’s game and they called up right-hander Joe Harvey today, the team announced. It is Harvey’s first big league call-up. He is a short reliever, not someone who can soak up innings in long relief. I imagine Harvey is going back to Triple-A when Sabathia is activated Saturday.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Aaron Hicks, CC Sabathia, Gary Sanchez, Giancarlo Stanton, Joe Harvey, Jonathan Loaisiga, Miguel Andujar

Game 11: Bounce Back in Houston

April 9, 2019 by Mike

(Getty)

Gosh, did last night’s loss stink, or what? That’s a game the Yankees really have to close out. They emerged from the Masahiro Tanaka vs. Justin Verlander duel with a two-run lead after six innings and the bullpen couldn’t hold it. Everyone did their part except the team’s supposed strength. Annoying.

“(Tanaka) worked pretty hard in the sixth. We were pretty convicted that was it, and set up there to roll out (Zack) Britton there, and obviously (Adam Ottavino) with their righties at the top of the order and then (Aroldis Chapman). So it set up pretty well for us,” Aaron Boone said to George King and Kevin Kernan following the game. “… Yeah it stings a little bit.”

Oh well, can’t do anything about last night’s game now. The Yankees have a chance to even the series at a game apiece tonight and win for the fourth time in their last five games overall. All they have to do is win a game in which their seventh starter is matched up against one of the five best pitchers in the American League. What’s that they say about baseball, Suzyn? Here are tonight’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Brett Gardner
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. 1B Luke Voit
4. DH Gary Sanchez
5. SS Gleyber Torres
6. 2B DJ LeMahieu
7. LF Clint Frazier
8. 3B Gio Urshela
9. C Austin Romine

RHP Jonathan Loaisiga

Houston Astros
1. CF George Springer
2. 2B Jose Altuve
3. 3B Alex Bregman
4. DH Michael Brantley
5. SS Carlos Correa
6. 1B Yuli Gurriel
7. RF Josh Reddick
8. C Robinson Chirinos
9. LF Tony Kemp

RHP Gerrit Cole


Nice warm night in Houston. Warm enough that the Minute Maid Park roof is closed and the air conditioning is on. Tonight’s game will begin at 8:10pm ET and you can watch on the YES Network locally and ESPN nationally. Enjoy the ballgame.

Injury Updates: Luis Severino (shoulder) had his MRI late this afternoon and the Yankees don’t have an update yet. They’ll probably have one after the game … Miguel Andujar (shoulder) will play catch tomorrow for the first time since behind shut down. That’s a significant test given the nature of the injury … Dellin Betances (shoulder) faced hitters yesterday and he’s tentatively scheduled to throw a simulated game Thursday.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Dellin Betances, Luis Severino, Miguel Andujar

Game Nine: Finish the Sweep

April 7, 2019 by Mike

(Rob Carr/Getty)

Even though it kinda sorta feels like the Yankees are barely staying afloat this season, they go into this afternoon’s series finale against the Orioles with a chance to win their third straight game and sweep the series. Considering all the injuries and sloppy play, I’ll take it.

“We gave away too many outs tonight, defensively and on the bases,” Aaron Boone said to George King following last night’s win. “One thing our guys do well is compete, and we did that really well … Lot of good things, but definitely little small things, especially when it is a little hard right now, you have to be on top of.”

The bullpen is a bit taxed today (here’s our Bullpen Workload page) so it sure would be nice to see Domingo German pitch deep into the game. Will it happen? Probably not given German’s track record. I reckon Luis Cessa will get a few innings worth of action this afternoon. Here are today’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Brett Gardner
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. 1B Luke Voit
4. DH Gary Sanchez
5. SS Gleyber Torres
6. 2B DJ LeMahieu
7. LF Clint Frazier
8. 3B Gio Urshela
9. C Austin Romine

RHP Domingo German

Baltimore Orioles
1. CF Cedric Mullins
2. LF Dwight Smith Jr.
3. SS Jonathan Villar
4. RF Trey Mancini
5. 3B Rio Ruiz
6. DH Renato Nunez
7. 1B Chris Davis
8. C Jesus Sucre
9. 2B Hanser Alberto

RHP David Hess


It is a spectacular day in New York and an overcast day in Baltimore. There’s no rain in the forecast though and that’s all I care about. Today’s series finale will begin at 1:05pm ET and the YES Network will have the broadcast. Enjoy the game.

Injury Updates: Giancarlo Stanton (biceps) is seven days into his ten-day shutdown period. He’ll be reevaluated following the Astros series and could start swinging at bat when the Yankees return to New York at the end of the week … Miguel Andujar (shoulder) is doing strengthening exercises and the next step for him is throwing. Given the nature of his injury, throwing will be the biggest test, not swinging a bat … CC Sabathia (knee, heart) is making a minor league rehab start with High-A Tampa this afternoon. If all goes well, he’s expected to join the Yankees next weekend.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: CC Sabathia, Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel Andujar

Game Eight: Beat the Birds

April 6, 2019 by Mike

(Getty)

All the home opener nonsense is over. The Yankees are through the celebratory portion of their schedule and can now, finally, begin the daily grind that is the regular season. They’ve had a bumpy start to the season, to be sure, but they won Thursday and tonight they have a chance to win back-to-game games for the first time this year.

“Had a little bump in the road on our opening homestand and getting hit obviously with injuries here early, but such is the nature of the big league season,” Aaron Boone said to George King on Thursday. “We just happened to get hit with a little bit early. We will be better for having gone through this and we will come storming out of this.”

Tonight J.A. Happ will make his second start of the season and his second start against the Orioles, and gosh, it sure it would be nice to see him keep the ball in the park. He’s allowed eight homers — eight! — in 15.1 innings this year between Spring Training and the regular season. Here are today’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Brett Gardner
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. DH Luke Voit
4. 1B Greg Bird
5. C Gary Sanchez
6. SS Gleyber Torres
7. 3B DJ LeMahieu
8. LF Mike Tauchman
9. 2B Tyler Wade

LHP J.A. Happ

Baltimore Orioles
1. 2B Jonathan Villar
2. RF Joey Rickard
3. 1B Trey Mancini
4. DH Renato Nunez
5. LF Dwight Smith Jr.
6. 3B Hanser Alberto
7. C Pedro Severino
8. SS Richie Martin
9. CF Cedric Mullins

RHP Dylan Bundy


After raining all day yesterday, it is partly cloudy and mild in Baltimore today. There’s no more rain in the forecast and that’s the most important thing. Today’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET and the YES Network will have the broadcast. Enjoy the game.

Injury Updates: CC Sabathia (knee, heart) will make a rehab start for High-A Tampa tomorrow, and as long as he makes it through okay, he will join the Yankees next weekend. He’s eligible to be activated off the injured list Saturday … Luis Severino (shoulder) is still long-tossing and is getting closer to throwing off a mound. He’s throwing at distances greater than 120 feet … Dellin Betances (shoulder) will face hitters Monday for the first time since being shut down. I’m assuming it’ll be live batting practice or a simulated game rather than a minor league rehab appearance … Aaron Hicks (back) is progressing with his throwing program and will begin swinging a bat in the coming days … Miguel Andujar (shoulder) is taking grounders. He has not swung a bat or thrown yet, which are the big tests.

Rotation Update: Domingo German starts tomorrow, then it’ll be Masahiro Tanaka, Jonathan Loaisiga, and James Paxton in Houston in that order. The Yankees flipped Tanaka and Loaisiga, though Tanaka will still make that start with one extra day of rest. Thursday’s an off-day, which sets Happ up to start Friday’s series opener against the White Sox and Sabathia to take German’s spot Saturday. Or it could be that German stays in the rotation and Loaisiga goes back to Triple-A. We’ll find out soon enough.

Misc. Notes: In case you missed it earlier, the Yankees called up Gio Urshela and sent down Thairo Estrada. “(Urshela’s) a guy — with our roster situation right now — is going to play. He’ll play a lot of third base for us. Probably in there tomorrow. I would say he’ll be in there quite a bit while he’s here,” Aaron Boone said to Bryan Hoch. That presumably means LeMahieu goes to second base and Wade goes to the bench.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Aaron Hicks, CC Sabathia, Dellin Betances, Luis Severino, Miguel Andujar

Miguel Andujar placed on 10-day injured list with shoulder injury

April 1, 2019 by Mike

(Presswire)

9:33pm ET: Andujar has a “small” tear in his labrum, Aaron Boone said following tonight’s game. The Yankees and Andujar will take the conservative approach and try to rehab the injury, but season-ending surgery is a possibility. Either way, he’s going to miss several weeks. Sigh.

6:07pm ET: Nine! Nine injured Yankees, ah ah ah. The Yankees have placed Miguel Andujar on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder strain, the team announced. Tyler Wade has been recalled to fill the roster spot. The Yankees lost Giancarlo Stanton to a biceps injury earlier today.

The Yankees say Andujar will undergo tests and, considering Wade was in Scranton for the Triple-A team media day earlier today, this was a last minute decision. Jack Curry says Andujar suffered the injury diving back into third base yesterday. I assume it happened on this play:

While with the Yankees both Mason Williams and Dustin Ackley suffered shoulder injuries diving back into bases that required season-ending surgery. That is worrisome, to be sure, but we don’t have any real information about the Andujar injury. It’s serious enough to require an injury list stint and tests. That’s all we know.

The Yankees have a quality replacement third baseman in DJ LeMahieu, which means Wade will get playing time whenever Troy Tulowitzki rests. That will be fairly often. Over the weekend Aaron Boone said they don’t want to play Tulowitzki three straight days just yet. The Yankees have nine guys on the injured list and somehow Tulowitzki and Greg Bird are not among them. Go figure.

Right now the Yankees are without their ace (Luis Severino), starting shortstop (Didi Gregorius), starting third baseman (Miguel Andujar), starting center fielder (Aaron Hicks), starting designated hitter (Giancarlo Stanton), ace setup man (Dellin Betances), and various depth players (Jacoby Ellsbury, Ben Heller, Jordan Montgomery). The depth is being tested early. That’s for sure.

Filed Under: Injuries Tagged With: Miguel Andujar, Tyler Wade

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