NEW YORK — Next Man Up!
That was the motto of the 2019 Yankees team and it is turning into one in 2021. Without even playing a game Wednesday — it was postponed by inclement weather — the Yankees lost two key players.
Corey Kluber was diagnosed with a sub scap strain in his right shoulder and Luke Voit is heading to the injured list with a grade 2 strain of his right oblique muscle.
Kluber, who is getting a more invasive imaging and second opinion, will miss at least eight weeks with the initial diagnosis of the strain of the muscle in his rotator cuff.
The Yankees will have right-hander Deivi Garcia make a start this weekend in Detroit, which had been planned before the Kluber news. They also have Michael King available to fill in.
“Obviously, this creates an opening and an opportunity, and (Garcia’s) gonna get some chances and some looks here. And hopefully he can capitalize on those,” Boone said. “Michael King certainly has pitched very well, for us and we’re excited about his continued progress. He would figure in the mix. He’s not built up obviously, like a starter right now. But, he definitely can give us some length. And he’ll probably factor in and figure into the mix, possibly this weekend also in Detroit.”
Clarke Schmidt, the once top pitching prospect who made his big league debut last season, has still not thrown off a mound since straining the exterior flexor tendon in his elbow the first week of spring training.
Voit will likely also miss several weeks. In 2019, Aaron Judge suffered a Grade 2 strain of his oblique muscle and ended up missing 54 games.
The Yankees have a lot more flexibility within the infield.
“We have Mike Ford here. DJ (LeMahieu) who obviously plays first — and was in the lineup at first base tonight. We’ll just kind of mix and match,” Boone said. “(Miguel Andujar) could factor in a little bit over there. But obviously, he’s playing more of a role right now in the outfield and so we’ll just kind of piece it together and try and put our best foot forward to try and go out and win games every day.”
The Yankees are also a little short in the outfield with Aaron Hicks out and have been using Andujar and Tyler Wade to cover out there. Centerfielder Aaron Hicks was scheduled to have surgery on his left wrist Wednesday.
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Giancarlo Stanton ran the bases and hit before Wednesday’s game was postponed and is likely to come off the injured list by Friday. Boone said the slugger, who went on the IL May 14 with a left quad strain, is very close.
“We’ll probably wait until Friday. But he was down hitting. I actually just got to talk to him briefly about 10 minutes ago, everything went really well,” Boone said. “He’s doing his hitting now in the cage and everything. So probably two more days. But I don’t want to rule out (Thursday). But I’m kind of eyeing Friday and in Detroit.”
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Wednesday’s rain forced the Yankees to postpone their game against the Blue Jays. They will play a straight doubleheader on Thursday with first pitch at 4:05 p.m.
According to the Yankees, tickets for the originally scheduled game (Wednesday, May 26) may be exchanged for a similar 2021 regular-season game. For complete information about the Yankees’ rain check policy and how to exchange tickets, including those purchased via the secondary market, please visit www.yankees.com/raincheck.
