The Yankees have had the worst injury luck to begin the 2019 season so far, so who would win, the IL Yankees or the current healthy Yankees?
What terrible luck the Yankees have had to start the season. Over the course of the past three years, they have had some injuries that hurt the performance of the team, but none like this at the start of the 2019 campaign.
The 7-9 Yankees face a struggling 6-11 Boston Red Sox who haven’t regained their championship form. Both teams cannot be happy with their start, and fans are starting to get worrisome and rightfully so. The Sox have their own issues, but the Yankees issue is directly related to injuries.
Greg Bird goes on DL with left plantar fascia tear. Mike Ford recalled from AAA. @Jomboy_ was on this news
— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) April 16, 2019
With the news of Greg Bird hitting the 10-Day IL, the Yankees are now even more short-handed at every position in the infield. Even if Bird wasn’t producing at a respectable level, the likelihood of him stringing together a couple of good games over the course of the early season seemed plausible and would’ve helped this team tremendously. Baseball may be individualized in certain aspects, but with everyone being stashed on the IL, no one in the lineup can be protected and the pitching staff doesn’t have their ace to rally around.
The Yankees and Red Sox Begin an Important Series Tuesday Night
All of this leads me to the question I’ve been asking myself over the course of the season, can the IL Yankees beat the current Yankees?
Drum roll, please…. YES! There is no doubt in my mind this collective group of talent could trot out a more formidable lineup than this current Yankees squad. Right off the bat a lineup featuring Andujar, Gregorius, Hicks, Sanchez, and Stanton has proven to be a force and getting those guys at 100% health could make this team get hot. Happ has been roughed up in every start so far. This IL lineup would mash on these pitchers trying to get into the swing of things.
Having Betances shut down yet again has made this bullpen vulnerable. This current bullpen has actually been kind of terrible aside Ottavino and Chapman. Betances is the set-up man, the eighth inning guy. As Yankee fans, the majority of his five years have been nothing short of amazing and he has proven to shut-down any lineup that comes in his way. If Betances is facing the Yankees current 1-2-3, he could get the job done nine out of ten times.
As Yankee fans, nothing was more satisfying than getting a quality start out of Severino. The first half of 2018 was incredible, it seemed as if whenever he was on the rubber, the Yankees were going to win. Confidence is key, and Severino could shut this lineup out with his three-pitch mix, especially with his high-octane fastball.
Yankees: Blame Aaron Boone and Larry Rothschild For Disappointing Start
The 12 players the Yankees have on the IL have accumulated an earning of $8,338,719 since the season started per Spotrac. That is an enormous amount of cash for the first 15 games of the season. Yankees fans are all wondering the same thing; when are they all coming back?
Having to deal with all of these injuries is tough for Boone. Even though it is early, throughout the offseason Boone and Cashman praised the depth of this team. The silver lining is that once these players start to trickle into the everyday lineup and rotation, this team will look fantastic. Right now that is only a dream and everyone must keep watching and supporting this team because Yankees Universe has never been stronger.