The satisfaction of writing Miguel Andujar's name back in the lineup for the first time since March 31 was short lived. Hours after the third baseman came off the injured list and the Yankees started to winnow down their major-league leading injured list, they had to add James Paxton to the IL before Saturday's 7-3 loss to the Twins at the Stadium.
The left-hander exited Friday night's game after just three innings with a sore left knee. After an MRI on Saturday, he was diagnosed with inflammation in the knee and placed on the 10-day IL. That makes it 16 players the Yankees have had to place on the IL so far this season. Currently, they lead the league with the most players on the IL.
"It's just some inflammation, so I got an injection of some cortisone. We're thinking in five to seven days I'll be able to start throwing again," Paxton said. "We'll see how it goes."
Paxton said the knee had been a nagging injury since the start of the season which he had been managing. He said he had a cortisone shot Saturday and will treat it with anti-inflammatory medicines.
He joins a list that is pretty impressive.
Their lineup is missing some of their biggest sluggers in Giancarlo Stanton (biceps/shoulder), Aaron Judge (oblique), Aaron Hicks (lower back) Didi Gregorius (Tommy John rehab). The bullpen is without Dellin Betances (shoulder).
The rotation was already without Luis Severino (shoulder).
In the first month of the season, the Yankees lost a combined 1.20 WAR from players on the injured list, according to Man-Games Lost, which tracks the impact of injuries on teams.
The Yankees recalled right-hander Jake Barrett to take Paxton's spot on the roster, likely just as a quick help for a bullpen that had to get 18 outs after the lefty's early exit.
Boone said it will likely be Jonathan Loaisiga slotting into the rotation.
"We'll just figure out if we want to insert him in that slot, that Wednesday slot," Boone said. "He's actually scheduled to throw tomorrow in Triple-A. We'll probably change that, whether we want him to throw short or have him throw a side, or whether we want to insert him at some point. We'll talk through, but for right now, we'll just expect him to slot in where Paxton's spot was."
Paxton had been the Yankees' best starter to date. He was 3-2 with a 3.11 ERA 1.195 WHIP. Acquired from the Mariners this winter, Paxton came with great potential and some risk. The 30-year-old has a long history of injuries. To date, however, knee problems were not one.
