Injury Report: August, 2022

According to himself, this will not be the last of Matt Carpenter's we see this season. How're the rest of the Yankees healing up?

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Short-Term Injury List Players:

Player/Position: Anthony Rizzo (First Baseman)

Injury/List: General Back Spasms; Active Roster

ETA: As soon as August 9th, though likely towards the weekend

Originally coming back on Friday, August 5th- which took Anthony Rizzo out of the line-up for the entire series against the St. Louis Cardinals- this is not the first time that these back spasms have appeared this season. Previously, Rizzo sat out 4 games in early July with the same issue. As of now, there are no plans for Rizzo to go on the IL, yet there are also no immediate plans to get him back into the lineup. It's a day-to-day situation where Rizzo could be back as soon as tonight but I'd personally expect his return would come closer to the weekend. Rizzo, in talking about the injury this week, stated that he'd rather be cautious now than risk amplifying the issue

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Player/Position: Giancarlo Stanton (Outfielder/Designated Hitter)

Injury/List: Left Achilles Tendonitis; 10-Day IL (Retroactive to July 24th)

ETA: Late August

The Yankees placed Giancarlo Stanton on the 10-Day IL with left Achilles tendonitis on July 26th, coming just one week after being named the 2022 All-Star Game MVP. He was eligible to come of the IL on August 3rd, but the Yankees are taking it slow with Stanton. He was cleared for and has returned to baseball activities as recently as yesterday, but a timetable for return is still not yet clear. A minor league rehab assignment could be expected for Stanton if the injury persists over the next week or so, which would further delay his return. My guess would be that he gets put on a MiLB assignment at the end of next week and returns to the Yankees at the end of the month.

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Long-Term Injury List Players:

Player/Position: Matt Carpenter (Outfielder/Designated Hitter)

Injury/List: Broken Left Foot; 10-Day IL (Retroactive to August 9th)

ETA: Late September

Matt Carpenter was removed from the game after fouling a pitch off of his left foot last night in the first inning during the game against the Seattle Mariners. The Yankees later during the game posted a tweet to state that Matt Carpenter had been diagnosed with a left foot fracture and according to reports, he was already in a boot and crutches by the end of the game. Carpenter himself stated to reports after the game that he is, "...holding out hope that it'll be a situation where I could come back in the middle of September and can contribute towards the stretch run". The general quickest he could recover is about 6 weeks, which could place him in line to rehab for the final stretch with the Railriders and then into the postseason with the Yankees. Think about it: Mustache (Check), Foot injury (Check), Ability to hit Home Runs (Check). Is Matt Carpenter the next Kirk Gibson?

UPDATE: During the writing of this post, Matt Carpenter was added to the 10-Day IL as the Yankees recalled Miguel Andujar from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

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Player/Position: Harrison Bader (Outfielder)

Injury/List: Plantar Fasciitis; 10-Day IL (Retroactive to June 27th)

ETA: Mid-September

Ignoring the oddity of the trade to acquire Harrison Bader, the outfielder is currently recovering from and dealing with plantar fasciitis. He was originally place on the IL by the St. Louis Cardinals on June 27th with the injury, and he did have a 1-game "rehab stint" with the Memphis Redbirds at the end of July before being shut down again. There is no set timetable for his recovery, though the Yankees are hopeful that he can return (or start with) the team in September. However, I cannot fully believe that he is really expected to come back as there was a clause as part of the trade with the Cardinals where they will send a player-to-be-named-later if he does not return this season (as reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). These type of stipulations are not considered in deals if the trading team believes that the player will 100% return. Though, it is also important to note that many outlets are reporting that the PTBNL is a part of the base portion of the deal with no mentions of this stipulation. It'll be something to follow more intently in a month or so when Bader could, maybe, return.

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Player/Position: Luis Severino (Starting Pitcher)

Injury/List: Low grade right lat strain ; 60-Day IL (Retroactive to 15-Day IL stint starting on July 14th)

ETA: Mid-to-Late September

Most recently in his recovery from his lat strain, Luis Severino began a throwing program with the Yankees on August 1st, the same day he was transferred from the 15-Day IL to the 60-Day IL. This move to the 60-Day IL confirmed that Severino will not be joining the team until mid-to-late September at the earliest as he will now be unable to come off the IL until at least September 13th. Add in some minor league rehab and we get our expected date range of return. How the long the rehab stint lasts is up to the Yankees as they may opt to use Severino as they did in the 2021 postseason: as a reliever. This would shorten his time to get "lengthened out" and back to the Major League club.

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Player/Position: Zack Britton (Relief Pitcher)

Injury/List: Left UCL Repair/Tommy John Surgery; 60-Day IL (Retroactive to March 13th)

ETA: Mid-September

It was seen as a long-shot that Zack Britton could realistically return to pitch for the New York Yankees before his contract ended after a season-ending UCL injury in 2021, yet here we are. Zack Britton, in recovery from Tommy John Surgery, is set to return to the Yankees and (hopefully) provide some much needed bullpen help going into the final few weeks of the season and into the postseason. As recently as Wednesday, August 3rd, Britton threw to live hitters while down in the Yankees Florida training complex. He had been throwing bullpens for the past few months through the months of June and July, so this is a nice next step forward. I'm still cautiously optimistic of a return in general and have little to no expectations on what performance could look like.

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Player/Position: Miguel Castro (Relief Pitcher)

Injury/List: Right Shoulder Strain; 60-Day IL (Retroactive to July 13th)

ETA: Mid-September

Transferred from the 15-Day IL to the 60-Day IL with Luis Severino on August, 1st, there has been very little on Miguel Castro since. He is still in the middle of a 4-week complete shut down ranging back to July 16th, so expect news to come on his recovery to come as soon as this weekend.

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Player/Position: Stephen Ridings (Relief Pitcher)

Injury/List: Right Shoulder Impingement; 60-Day IL (Retroactive to April 5th)

ETA: End of 2022?

It is unclear if Ridings will even have a spot (which is unlikely) with the Yankees roster if/when he returns from the IL after being out all season with a right shoulder impingement that he suffered in Spring Training. However, as recently as this past Thursday, Ridings himself announced that he had begun to start throwing off the mound again with a bullpen session. I'd bet against him returning to the big league club this season in general, but he could be a dark horse candidate to eat some innings in September.

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End of Season Injury List Players:

Player/Position: Chad Green (Relief Pitcher)

Injury/List: Right UCL Repair/Tommy John Surgery; 60-Day IL (Retroactive to May 21st)

ETA: 2023 Season

The latest update on Chad Green was his successful Tommy John Surgery on June 4th. There is nothing else to share as of now, which is to be expected.

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Player/Position: Michael King (Relief Pitcher)

Injury/List: Right Elbow Repair; 60-Day IL (Retroactive to July 23rd)

ETA: 2023-2024 Season

Michael King recently underwent successful right elbow surgery on July 27th. He will be reevaluated towards the end of September/mid-October on the condition of his UCL to determine if the next step is Tommy John surgery (which will likely cause him to miss the 2023 season) or if he will be able to avoid TJS (which would place him on a comfortable timetable to return for Spring Training 2023). Lots of questions still remain for the break-out relief pitcher for the Yankees this season.