The Yankees couldn’t get through the first week of spring training without an injury, shutting down top pitching prospect Clarke Schmidt. Then they barely went two weeks without another injury, announcing their top reliever Zack Britton would need to undergo surgery to remove a bone chip in his elbow.

It could have been worse. The Yankees could have announced Britton needs a much more intense, career-changing surgery, and that he wouldn’t pitch again for them until sometime during the 2022 season. So the result of his left elbow soreness isn’t the worst-case scenario, but it certainly isn’t the best-case scenario either.

There was no way Britton reporting elbow soreness to the team was going to result in him getting an MRI and then picking up where he left off a few days later. An MRI on a 33-year-old who has thrown as hard as he has for as long as he has was always going to find something, and for Britton, who knew something was off enough to report it because he didn’t feel right, the MRI wasn’t going to come back clean. Even if the MRI showed nothing (which it was never going to), the Yankees were going to proceed with caution and shut down Britton for some amount of time anyway.

So now the Yankees are without their best reliever for some unknown amount of time. There has been a lot of speculation based on others who have had a similar surgery, like Gio Urshela, who underwent the same surgery and is just now getting back to playing, even so, he’s a position player. There have been estimates of two months and three months and the All-Star break and September. There have been fears of Britton not pitching again this season because he pitches for the Yankees and because it’s hard to find an injury or diagnosis or rehab the Yankees haven’t botched like a routine ground ball to Gleyber Torres at short over the last few seasons. No one knows exactly when Britton will return, and the Yankees certainly aren’t going to give an expected return date considering how well that has gone for them ever since Aaron Judge’s broke his wrist in July 2019. All we know is Britton is unavailable and will be for a while.

The Yankees planned for something like this. Not as well as they could have, but they still somewhat planned for it. They turned Adam Ottavino into two relievers in Darren O’Day and Justin Wilson, giving them an additional bullpen arm and more depth. But if not for the imaginary salary cap, they could have kept Ottavino and signed O’Day and Wilson, giving them more depth and more insurance in the event someone like Britton went down, which he now has. Instead of paying Ottavino $9 million and some luxury tax fees for this season’s payroll, the Yankees will pay Ottavino $850,000 to pitch for the Red Sox and against the Yankees and their all-right-handed lineup up to 19 times this season. (Most likely, the expected-to-suck Red Sox will move Ottavino at the trade deadline to a contender and get themselves a few prospects to expedite their rebuild. The Yankees hurt themselves in the short term and the long term with the trade.)

Britton’s injury makes the Yankees weaker at a position of strength, and it means Aroldis Chapman can’t be walking the park in the early part of the season, and it means Chad Green can’t have the type of early part of the season he had in 2019 when he allowed 14 earned runs and a 1.228 OPS against in 7 2/3 innings and was sent down. The injury means everyone moves up one spot in the bullpen pecking order, and because the Yankees love set bullpen innings, that means Green is now the eighth-inning pitcher for the Yankees. O’Day and Wilson go from the fifth and sixth innings (depending on the handedness of the batters in those innings) to the sixth and seventh innings. The domino effect caused by Britton’s absence means the Yankees will rely more heavily on Jonathan Loaisiga (not ideal), Luis Cessa (oh no) and even Nick Nelson (I don’t feel so good) and Michael King (I think I’m going to be sick). The small bullpen circle of trust is forced to increase it’s circumference and the Yankees are weaker because of it.

“I think we have a very strong bullpen on paper, but we have to wait and see how it plays out,” Brian Cashman recently said. “And if it’s not, we’ll have to make adjustments along the way like any team fighting for something has to do.”

The bullpen is strong, in theory. Like the Yankees’ rotation. It’s strong until something like this happens.

To use Cashman and Boone’s favorite word, “ultimately,” the Britton injury isn’t going to ruin the Yankees’ season. It makes them weaker, though it’s not going to keep them out of the postseason. The Yankees are going to go to the postseason, and as they have proven in the past, they don’t care how they get in. Whether they have to play in a one-game playoff, or play mores games in the ALCS in Houston or play a best-of-3 in Cleveland, they don’t care. They just want to get in. Britton’s injury won’t keep them from getting in, but getting in as the No. 1 overall seed or division winner is a different story.

If Britton misses the first month of the season, that’s six games against Toronto and six games against Tampa Bay he won’t be available for. Immensely important games against the Yankees’ two division threats. Not to mention a pair of games against the Braves. If Britton misses two months, he’ll miss those games in addition to three games against the Astros, another four games against Tampa Bay, three games against the White Sox and another three games against Toronto. If he comes back at the end of June, he’ll miss another three games against Tampa Bay and another three games against Toronto. If he returns after the All-Star break, add in another three games against the Astros.

Any missed time is a problem, and that amount of missed time is a big problem because right now, the assumption is Chapman, Green, O’Day and Wilson can combine to get the outs Britton would have gotten if he were available. That’s assuming Chapman, Green, O’Day and Wilson stay healthy themselves and are as effective as possible.

The Yankees have lost their top pitching prospect to an elbow injury and their top reliever to an elbow injury in spring training. There’s three weeks left in spring training. Three weeks of spring training games, batting practice, simulated games and bullpen sessions. Three weeks too many for the 2021 Yankees to continue the injury trend started by the 2018 and 2019 Yankees.

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If you thought the Yankees could go two straight weeks without an injury, you’re a fool. Zack Britton will undergo an MRI on his elbow soreness and all Yankees fans now await word on the health of the team’s best reliever. The Yankees still have to three-plus weeks until Opening Day and that’s a lot of games and innings and batting practices and bullpen sessions for things to go wrong.

Brian Cashman recently spoke about the state of the Yankees and the health of his new-look rotation at the halfway point of spring training, and when Cashman speaks I listen since he’s the most important voice in the organization.

On the health of Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon.
“Still kicking. It’s early. Everybody is getting their work in, and so far so good is all I can say.”

Cashman’s joke was a good joke, but it was also the truth. Still kicking in early March is a good sign for them. Still kicking after pitching in spring training games and simulated games is a good sign for them. Cashman is also right when he says “It’s early” because it is. The Yankees still have a little more than three weeks to leave Florida in one piece and not suffer any injuries to the expected Opening Day roster. As Cashman said, “So far, so good.”

On the rehab of Luis Severino.
“I’m sorry I don’t want to give the wrong information. I know it’s going really well. I don’t want to give you the wrong information.

You could hear in Cashman’s voice that he knows how many times he and his manager and the organization have looked foolish over the last three seasons by giving incorrect injury timetables that he wasn’t about to venture down that road when it comes to Luis Severino. Especially since it was Severino who Cashman admitted wasn’t thoroughly checked out before being allowed to throw following a spring training injury back in 2019. Everything does seem to be going well with Severino and he seems to be on track for the mid-summer return, which was anticipated when Cashman said he would undergo Tommy John surgery a little more than a year ago.

On trading Adam Ottavino.
“I remember when I had to talk to Otto on the phone and give him the surprise news that not only were you traded, or being traded, but you’re going to our arch-rival. As you all know, were completely right-handed lineup for the most part and we play, obviously, Boston within our division more times than you want so it’s going to create great lanes for him.”

Cashman didn’t want to trade Ottavino. I know he didn’t. He was forced to by the mandate from ownership to get below the imaginary salary cap and not spend a single penny over the luxury-tax threshold. Ottavino ending up in Boston means the Red Sox were the Yankees’ only option.

Cashman laid out my biggest fear: Ottavino dominating the Yankees’ right-handed in the late innings of close games. The Yankees and Red Sox play 19 times, which means there will be plenty of opportunities for Ottavino to come in to face DJ LeMahieu or Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton or Luke Voit or Gary Sanchez or Gleyber Torres or Clint Frazier or Gio Urshela. Thankfully, the Yankees have Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner to combat left-handed pitching!

On the depth of the bullpen.
“I think we have a very strong bullpen on paper, but we have to wait and see how it plays out. And if it’s not, we’ll have to make adjustments along the way like any team fighting for something has to do.”

Well, so much for that “very strong bullpen on paper” after the news that Britton was sent for an MRI due to elbow soreness. Britton is 33 and knows when something doesn’t feel right, and for him to need an MRI, something is clearly not right. Even if the result of the MRI is to rest, a shutdown will be implemented and Britton will eventually have to redo spring training. Very rarely does a pitcher undergo and MRI and nothing is found and they pick up where they left off. When it comes to the Yankees and the handling of injuries, you can forget about that option.

The bullpen might be strong, but just think about how strong the 2019 bullpen was supposed to be with Britton, Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, Chad Green and Ottavino. Betances appeared in one game, Green had to be sent down in April and Chapman was as wild as ever before throwing the season on a hanging slider. The Yankees were fortunate Tommy Kahnle bounced back after a down 2018 and that Ottavino lived up to his $9 million salary. The 2021 bullpen isn’t as good as that bullpen was supposed to be, and it will be a lot worse if Britton’s soreness is something serious.

On re-signing Brett Gardner.
“We didn’t bring him back as a reward for what he’s done in the past. We brought him back because we think he can impact us in the present. We know he can and we know he will as long as he stays healthy he’s going to help us a lot.

I’m still very scared about Gardner continuing to wrongfully stunt Frazier’s growth. Boone claims Frazier is the team’s starting left fielder, but I don’t buy it. Boone didn’t start Frazier over Gardner in the playoffs, and what has changed since then? Nothing.

I would say maybe Boone was talked to by the front office during the offseason and instructed to play Frazier over Gardner, but then that would go against what Cashman said at his end-of-the-season press conference when he said:

“In terms of the lineup and in-game strategies, those are the manager’s. It always has been and as long as I’m the general manager, it never will be different.”

Or when he said:

“I know there’s that narrative about the manager being a puppet and none of that’s true. I’ve never ordered a manager to do anything specifically and Aaron would be able to testify to that as well as Joe Girardi and Joe Torre. They’ve never been directed at any time by me or our front office to do something they didn’t want to do.”

It’s going to be Boone’s call as to who plays left field and when. Frazier being in the starting lineup only against left-handed starting pitching isn’t enough. Gardner needs to be what he was re-signed to be: the fourth outfielder who plays infrequently.

On Derek Dietrich or Jay Bruce being on the Opening Day roster.
“They were brought in to get a legitimate shot to try and find a way to make this roster, and it’s a strong roster. But so far the early returns are strong. They look like they are going to make us have decisions. That’s what we want. We want to be in a position to make tough calls.”

There seems to be a general consensus that Mike Tauchman is going to make the Opening Day roster. I’m not sure why. The Yankees have outfielders in Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Clint Frazier and Brett Gardner. (We’ll leave Giancarlo Stanton out since Cashman said at his end-of-the-season press conference that Stanton is only a DH now.) Tyler Wade has also played all three outfield positions in his career. Keeping Tauchman would mean keeping yet another outfielder, and even though he’s left-handed, he isn’t very good. His entire career is being kept up by a six-week stretch in 2019. That shouldn’t be enough to have him on the team over Derek Dietrich, who is also left-handed hitter, but can play the infield in addition to the outfield, or Jay Bruce, who is also left-handed and has had the best career of three. I expect Tauchman to be on the Opening Day roster with the other two either no longer in the organization or at the alternate site.

Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New episodes every Monday and Thursday during the offseason.

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!