Yankees Hot Corner – The injury bug has bitten the Yankees in a serious way

At least this is all happening during Spring Training, but it’s not a good sign when half your rotation is out of commission, one of your best relievers is on the shelf to begin the season, and your starting shortshop is coming off Tommy John Surgery and isn’t expected back until after the All-Star break.

However, due to the Yankees’ incredible depth at all positions all is not lost.  Didi Gregorious is out until August but they have a very capable but injury prone shortstop in Troy Tulowitzki.  His backup, the starting second baseman Gleyber Torres, is a natural shortstop and may start the season in Tulo continues to struggle in Spring Training.

As for the injuries to Luis Severino and C.C. Sabathia, well the Yankees finally decided to sign Gio Gonzalez.  Even though it’s a minor league deal, don’t be surprised to see Gio starting a game in late March to round out what’s already a lefty heavy rotation.  It’s a blessing in disguise that the Yankees went out and traded for James Paxton in the offseason because it strengthens what was already a strong pitching corp to begin with.

Dellin Betances will be a big loss for the Yankees but he’s only going to be out for a few games to start the season, and the Yankees bullpen does also boast the newly signed Adam Ottavino, Zach Britton and Aroldis Chapman.  As long as they can mix and match those three and use Chad Green in long situations, they’ll be just fine.

It’s tough to have so many injuries to start the season but the Yankees still have one of the most talented rosters in Major League Baseball without their injured compadres.  As long as they can ride the wave until Severino comes back and give work to each of their top bullpen guys, there’s no panic in this locker room.  The road to 28 begins in a little over a week.  Are they ready?