Blogs – Page 93 – Keefe To The City

Mar 11, 2020

Spring Cleaning: What’s Wrong with the Yankees?

Add starting catcher to the list of Yankees unvailable as Gary Sanchez tested positive for the flu and is now out.

The Yankees are without their starting left fielder, center fielder, right fielder, No. 2 starter and No. 3 starter, and now you can add starting catcher to that list. Gary Sanchez tested positive for the flu, and now he’s also out. When will the injuries (and now illnesses) end? I’m really asking. When will it end?

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees as usual.

1. The Yankees’ mishandling of injuries is an embarrassment. Right now, the team will start the season without their entire starting outfield and No. 2 and 3 starting pitcher, and they won’t get their No. 2 starter back until 2021. The injuries to Luis Severino, James Paxton and Aaron Judge were all sustained last season and went untreated the entire offseason. Judge injured himself in mid-September, Paxton in late September and Severino in October and now all three will miss time in 2020 because of 2019 injures, and Severino will miss part of 2021 because of an injury from 2019. Even Aaron Hicks’ elbow injury which needed Tommy John surgery was delayed enough that he would miss somewhere around half this season, which didn’t have to the case. This can’t go on. It’s gone on since February 2019 and now just over two weeks from Opening Day 2020, the Yankees will field a starting outfield made up of depth players and a rotation that will likely feature an opener as the fifth starter. Over the last month, without real, meaningful baseball, the Yankees have severely watched their postseason and World Series odds take a massive hit because of injuries which could have been dealt with over the winter.

2. It’s Gary Sanchez’s turn to be out now. After complaining about back soreness following catching two games on back-to-back days, Sanchez has now tested positive for the flu. It was only a matter of time until illness was the reason for an expected Yankees starter to go down, and here we are.

That graphic is from April 20, 2019, and not much has changed. Severino, Sanchez, Stanton, Hicks and Judge are all injured. The only non-injured player in the graphic who is still a Yankee is Miguel Andujar and he’s returning from a shoulder injury and surgery that kept him to only 12 games played a year ago.

3. Without Severino, Paxton, Stanton, Hicks and Judge on the Opening Day roster, five roster spots will go to players/pitchers who weren’t going to be Yankees to begin the season or essentially one-fifth of the roster. That’s a big deal. It’s not like the five roster spots are going to bench players or mop-up bullpen arms or the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th or 25th roster spots. They’re going to the entire starting outfield and the second- and third-best starting pitchers on the team.

4. It’s becoming more evident the Yankees are going to use an opener as their fifth starter to begin the season until either James Paxton comes back, a true fifth-starter option emerges or the opener plan fails. Given the way Chad Green was so successful as the opener last year and the amount of games the Yankees were able to win with the strategy they stole from the Rays, I’m all for the opener as the fifth starter. It’s better than Chad Bettis or Nick Tropeano going out and giving up five runs in three innings. If the Yankees are going to overwork their bullpen, they might as well actually have a chance to win the games they are going to do it in.

5. Brett Gardner is going to bat in the top third of the lineup against right-handed pitching early in the season. I’m ready to be upset about and I’m already upset about just the idea of it. Even with three of the team’s expected nine out, Gardner is no way belongs hitting anywhere higher than seventh in the linep … ever.

6. The Yankees wanted Miguel Andujar to learn how to play the outfield in advance of this season to make him more versatile and maybe play it in the event of an emergency like Thairo Estrada had to in a game last season. Now the Yankees might need him to play it out of necessity. I think the Yankees will go with an everyday outfield of Gardner, Clint Frazier and Mike Tauchman for now, but the Yankees are one more injury away from Andujar being an everyday outfielder after having never played the position before this spring training.

7. It’s been three-and-a-half years since Frazier was traded as the headliner in the Andrew Miller pre-2016 deadline selloff. Now 25, I feel like this is Frazier’s last opportunity to prove himself as a potential everyday player for the Yankees, and to showcase his abilities to the rest of the league in the event the Yankees are ever at full strength before this season’s trade deadline. I have always rooted for Frazier and wanted him to succeed even when he was playing the outfield like he was drunk last season. I thought it should have been Frazier and not Tauchman getting the everyday opportunities last season, and if there were only one starting outfield spot available now, I would feel the same. I can’t believe Frazier is still a Yankee, having been able to avoid four offseasons and three deadlines of trade talk, but he is, and this is it for him.

8. I was very anti-Tauchman last season at the beginning of the year, and rightfully so. He was awful. Before his midseason run where he was basically Mike Trout, Tauchman was an automatic out at the plate, and the Yankees kept playing him over Frazier and his .806 OPS. Tauchman’s absurd 34-game stretch through July and August in which he posted a .387/.452/.712 certainly can’t be expected really ever again, but I’m excited to see what he can do in what will be pretty much an everyday role right from Opening Day. The major-league futures of both Frazier and Tauchman rest on what they do before Judge and Stanton return.

9. Where is the Red Sox’ investigation? The release date of this continues to get pushed back, and it feels as though Major League Baseball is going to release it on Opening Day in order to have the focus be on actual baseball and not more electronic sign stealing within the game. Everyone thought it would come out at least a month ago, and as a recently as last week it was reported it was coming out last week. Unfortunately, I’m sure baseball will attach the Red Sox’ cheating to Dave Dombrowski, Alex Cora and any players or coaches who are no longer with the team to avoid a situation in Boston similar what has gone on with the Astros.

10. We’re at the part of spring training where it’s time for it to end and the regular season to begin. Gerrit Cole is striking out nearly every batter he faces and nothing good can come from him pitching in meaningless games over the next 15 days. The Yankees need to somehow get through the next two-plus weeks without anymore injuries and maintain what’s already a watered-down version of themselves for Opening Day.

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Blogs • Rangers

Mar 6, 2020

Rangers Need to Screw Line Balance, Play Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad Together All the Time

Screw line balance. Give me a Rangers super line the way the Bruins and Avalanche do business. Give me Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad together all the time.

The Rangers had to win on Thursday night against the Capitals. They had to. Not only because they had four one-goal leads in the game and blew all of them, but because they had lost three straight, were watching their postseason odds rapidly decline and desperately needed to pick up two points for the first time in a week. With the Islanders on their way to an unaccetpable loss in Ottawa and the Hurricanes in Philadelphia at the worst possible time, a Rangers win over Washington would begin to undo the damage the Flyers and Blues had done to the Rangers over the last six days.

It’s hard to ever feel confident about the Rangers’ chances against the Capitals. Even in recent years when the Rangers were going to Eastern Conference finals and the Stanley Cup Final and eliminating the Capitals from the postseason in three Game 7s over four years, I never felt good about the Rangers playing them. Now in a rebuilding season, in which the Rangers have the youngest roster in the league and the Capitals have the oldest, it’s even harder to envision the Rangers doing enough for 60 minutes to beat them. Unless Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad get significant playing time together.

I have wanted the Rangers’ two best players on the same line all season. Screw line balance. Give me a super line the way the Bruins and Avalanche do business. Give me Panarin and Zibanejad together and the third linemate doesn’t matter. If Panarin could do what he has done with Ryan Strome and Jesper Fast as his linemates, putting anyone out there alongside Panarin and Zibanejad wouldn’t matter. You could put Greg McKegg out there with them and get production. You could put Micheal Haley out there with them and get production. That’s how good the two are together.

The problem is David Quinn strongly believes in line balance. He only turns to the dynamic duo in the event of an emergency, like the Rangers trailing by a goal with a few minutes left in the game. Usually by then, it’s too late and had the two been together all game, the Rangers likely wouldn’t be trailing by a goal with a few mintues left. Quinn treats pairing the two as if there is a limit on how often and for how long he can do it, and as of now there are only three situations Quinn purposely has the two on the ice at the same: the Rangers are trailing in the third period, the Rangers are on the power play or it’s overtime. Thankfully, on Thursday against the Capitals, the Rangers had six power plays, so the two could play significant minutes together, and thankfully, the Rangers were able to gain possession in ovetime.

Zibanejad became the third Ranger in history to score five goals in game in the Rangers’ 6-5 overtime win over the Capitals, scoring in every period and overtime. Panarin finished the game with three assists, all primary, with two of them on Zibanejad goals.

The duo either scored or created all six Rangers goals. When the Capitals took a 1-0 lead, the Rangers answered on the power play with Zibanejad deflecting in a Panarin shot. When the game was tied at 1, Zibanejad gave the Rangers the lead. When the game was tied at 2, Panarin sent a beautiful cross-zone pass to Tony DeAngelo to go up 3-2. When the game was tied at 3, Zibanejad scored again. When the game was tied at 4, Zibanejad again. When the game was tied at 5 in overtime, Zibanejad from Panarin.

The necessary presence of the two in the lineup this season can’t be overstated. When Zibanejad missed time early in the season, the Rangers endured a lengthy losing streak. When Panarin missed his only game of the season against the Islanders, the Rangers suffered their only loss in four games to the Islanders. Had the Rangers not lost Zibanejad early on and had the Rangers had Panarin for what ended up being a detrimental four-point swing in favor of the Islanders, it would be the Rangers holding off teams chasing them in the postseason race, rather than the Rangers doing the chasing.

Panarin is on pace for a 114-point season, while Zibanejad is scoring at a 58-goal pace over 82 games. Panarin eclipsed his single-season high in points when there was still six weeks left in the season, and Zibanejad is only three points away from tying his single-season high in points in 26 games fewer games. Playoffs or not, Panarin is still the MVP of the league and rightful Hart Trophy winner this season to me, but there is a strong case to be made for Zibanejad as well. I’ll take co-MVPs.

The Rangers needed a win, and their two best players delivered them one. The duo is going to need to deliver a lot more of them over the next four weeks. With 15 games remaining, the Rangers will have to win at least 10 to have a chance, and even then, it might not be enough for a wild-card berth. I keep waiting for other players to step up and carry the Rangers for a game or two under the idea that it can’t be Panarin and Zibanejad every game, but so far it has been them every game the Rangers win.

Thankfully, the Rangers have at least two more seasons of these two playing together. I just wish they would play together all the time and not only in three situations they’re “allowed” to.

Mar 5, 2020

Rangers Thursday Thoughts: Postseason Berth Is Still Possible

The Rangers got themselves into a position where the playoffs could be a real possiblity, but with three straight losses, they’re still on the outside looking in at the postseason.

The Rangers won 12 out of 15 after their 10-day break to get themselves into a position where the playoffs could be a real possiblity. But with three straight losses (two to the Flyers and one to the Blues), the Rangers are still on the outside looking in at the postseason picture. Now they’re going to need another run close to .750 to finish the season to complete the improbable comeback and clinch a playoff berth.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers as usual.

1. The Rangers did a remarkable and impressive job winning 12 of 15 after their 10-day layoff to get within one win and two points of a playoff berth. After the last three games — all losses — it seems like that might be the closest they get. If it is, sure it was a tease, but it was also a glimpse into the future and that future is something to be excited about. Reminder: the Rangers have the youngest overall roster in the entire league and this is a rebuilding season. I realize no Rangers fan wants to hear about next season when the postseason is within reach, but this season was never supposed to be about the playoffs, and it’s OK if it doesn’t end up being about them either.

2. The three straight losses came against the hottest team in the league in Philadelphia and the defending champion Blues. As I have written the last few weeks in the Thursday Thoughts, the March schedule is a gauntlet, featuring nearly all games against either playoff teams or teams fighting for a playoff spot. The Rangers couldn’t afford more than a few off nights in the entire month, and now they have already used up nearly all of their off nights in three straight games. The Flyers have gone from barely holding down a playoff spot to now one point behind the Capitals for first in the Met and the Blues are still the best in the West. Losses for the Rangers against them shouldn’t be a surprise, and they weren’t, but it was more about how the Rangers lost those games.

3. The losses to the Flyers were essentially the result of a win-now team beating up on a young, rebuilding team. The Flyers have outscored the Rangers 15-5 in three games this season, and it hasn’t mattered which goalie is in net for any of three. Rangers fans were quick to turn on Henrik Lundqvist on Sunday as if the loss or the five goals were in any way his fault. Lundqvist was making just his seventh start in 69 days and first in 27 days and was being asked to somehow steal a win against the hottest team in the league and arguably the best team in the strongest division. Lundqvist endured the same fate Alexandar Georgiev did two days prior as both were tagged with five goals against. It didn’t matter who played in goal for the Rangers in either game, they weren’t winning. Igor Shesterkin wasn’t stealing a win for the Rangers this weekend. No goalie was.

4. Lundqvist and the Rangers might have stood a chance if not for Ryan Strome’s sloppy and undisciplined play, which has become a recurring theme this season. The overused, overvalued center has been fortunate to play with Artemi Panarin all season, while also being on the first power-play unit as well, and his numbers are nowhere near where they should be for someone who has been given those two golden opportunities. His addiction to taking minor penalties is bad enough, but the fact that he usually takes them on the power play or in the offensive zone makes it even worse. The Flyers’ first goal came after Strome missed the net badly coming down the right wing and his shot served as a breakout pass for the Flyers who turned the missed shot into an odd-man rush in which Ryan Lindgren took a penalty to stop a potential scoring chance. The Flyers scored on the ensuing power play. The second Flyers’ goal came on the power play as well on a Strome penalty. The Flyers also scored a shorthanded goal after Strome turned the puck over at the Philadelphia blue line and they scored a fourth goal on the power play thanks to another Strome penalty. The Flyers scored five goals, and four of them were directly Strome’s fault. Had he simply skipped Sunday’s game, the Rangers most likely would have won.

5. Finally, on Sunday, David Quinn benched Strome for the third period. It only took 80 percent of the season to be played and for Strome to single-handedly ruin several games this season for the loss of playing time to happen. The bad far outweighs the good when it comes to Strome and I have seen enough. He can’t be part of the 2020-21 Rangers. On Tuesday, he was at it again against St. Louis. The Blues tied the game at 1 with a power-play goal. Who was in the box? Strome, of course.

6. Against the Blues, the Rangers played their most complete game in weeks and deserved better than to suffer a home loss, but for all the games they were dominated and heavily outplayed and won because of their goaltending, Tuesday’s loss was the Hockey Gods’ way of evening things out. The Blues’ go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal was scored on a wraparound against Georgiev, who looked surprised to see the scoring chance appear out of nowhere and his reaction after the goal confirmed his shock. The goal cost the Rangers a chance at a much-needed point or possible win, but I didn’t see much about it on social media from Rangers fans. Had it been Lundqvist in the net, the word “buyout” would have been trending on social media.

7. The combination of Panarin and Mika Zibanejad have won the Rangers so many games this season, and when either one has been absent, the Rangers lose. Their early-season losing steak after Zibanejad went down is the reason they are on the outside looking in on the playoffs right now, and their only loss to the Islanders came in the one game Panarin missed this season, which was a huge four-point swing in both the Met and wild-card standings. The duo is as dangerous as any pair of players together on the power play and when they are placed on the same line, the Rangers’ even-strength offense is must-watch. The problem is they are rarely paired on the same line. I have written and said all season that the Rangers need to screw line balance and put the two on the same line the way teams like the Bruins and Avalanche stack their top players. But Quinn only uses the option when the Rangers are losing in the third period, and he did so with 10 minutes left against the Blues. Apparently, the first 50 minutes of the game when the Rangers generated close to zero even-strength offense against arguably the best defensive team in the league wasn’t enough for Quinn to realize the Rangers needed to adjust. A line with Panarin and Zibanejad shouldn’t be used only in emergencies. It should be used all the time.

8. I watch a lot of hockey thanks to NHL TV. A lot. No team in the league misses the net on shot attempts from the point more than the Rangers, and no one in the league misses more from the blue line than Jacob Trouba. It seems impossible to miss the net as much as Trouba does, and after watching him every game for now 66 games, he has been a disappointment. He can’t continue to be a disappointment though. Not at his salary and cap hit and not with the long list of top-end defensive prospects the Rangers have. The Rangers need Trouba to be much better than he has been all season, both offensively and defensively, and I think he would say the same.

9. The Rangers are four points out of a playoff spot with 16 games left to play. As of now, it’s going to take at least 97 points to get in and that would mean an 11-4-1 finish. I don’t know how the Rangers can manage to achieve that record with 13 of their remaining games against Washington (2), Dallas, Colorado, Arizona, Calgary, Pittsburgh (3), Columbus, Tampa Bay, Florida and Philadelphia. The number could certainly come down if the Blue Jackets, Islanders and Hurricanes stumble the way they have recently to keep the Rangers only four points out despite their three-game losing streak, but the Rangers are still going to have to win at least two-thirds of their games to have any chance.

10. It’s going to be disappointing if the Rangers did everything they did in February only to fall short of the playoffs in March. I mean disappointing in the sense of wanting to watch Rangers playoff hockey for the first time in three years and not being able to, but not in the sense of being disappointed in this team. This team has overachieved all season and with the future as bright as ever and next year expectations will be much different than they were this year, and I think the results and record will be too. I don’t expect the Rangers to play .750 hockey for the last 16 games given the opponents they will play, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do enough to stay in the race until the last week or two of the season, considering they have been surprising everyone all season. I will take one last surprise of them earning a wild-card berth.

Blogs • Spring Cleaning • Yankees

Mar 4, 2020

Spring Cleaning: Yankees’ Entire Starting Outfield Will Open Season on Injured List

Another week and another crushing injury for the Yankees. Aaron Judge is still experiencing a shoulder and pectoral problem and the Yankees have been unable to figure out exactly what the problem is.

Another week and another crushing injury for the Yankees. Aaron Judge is still experiencing a shoulder and pectoral problem and the Yankees have been unable to figure out exactly what the problem is. An injury and an unclear diagnosis? The Yankees are operating in midseason form.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees as usual.

1. Remember when I wrote If You’re Not Worried About Aaron Judge Being Injured, You Should Be back on Feb. 18? Well, unfortunately I was right. After Aaron Boone said Judge would need to play in the last 10 or so spring training games beginning next weekend in order to be ready for the start of the season, Brian Cashman came out and said it’s unlikely Judge will be ready for Opening Day. Boone then tried to downplay his own general manager’s admission, but there’s no downplaying this timeline: Judge won’t be ready for Opening Day. As of now, the 10th-to-last spring training game is 10 days away, and Judge is still undergoing tests and the Yankees are still unsure what is wrong with his shoulder-turned-pectoral injury. If the team isn’t even able to diagnose the injury as of now and put in place a schedule to get him back on the field, how could Boone or anyone think within the next 10 days he’s going to be able to go from not playing at all to ready to play in games? The answer is he’s not.

2. Judge has played in 396 of 533 (74.3 percent) possible regular-season games since his 2016 debut. If you remove the 45 games missed from the freak wrist injury when he was hit by a pitch in 2018, he’s played in 396 of 488 (81.1 percent) possible regular-season games. Either way, whether you go off the 74.3 percent or the 81.1 percent, it’s not good. I go off the 81.1 percent since there wasn’t much Judge could do about getting hit by a pitch on the wrist (and he wasn’t the one who gave the all-time worst timetable for return from the injury). Judge hasn’t been able to stay healthy and somehow that needs to change.

3. Judge isn’t going to be on the Opening Day roster and neither is Giancarlo Stanton. With Aaron Hicks also out following Tommy John surgery, the Yankees’ entire expected starting outfield is injured. I can’t believe this is happening again. I really can’t. Last season the Yankees set the all-time single-season record for most players placed on the injured list and now they’re on pace to shatter their own record. The injury bug isn’t supposed to decimate the same team in back-to-back seasons. But here we are with still more than three weeks to go until Opening Day and the Yankees are without their starting left fielder, center fielder and right fielder, as well as their No. 2 and 3 starting pitchers. Five spots from the Yankees’ planned Opening Day 26-man roster are now available. That’s absurd.

4. The rotation spots vacated by Luis Severino and James Paxton will likely go to Jordan Montgomery, and unfortunately one of either Chad Bettis or Nick Tropeano, who I have written about in previous Spring Cleaning blogs. The outfield spots for Stanton, Hicks and Judge are much more intriguing and interesting because the Yankees need to build a completely new outfield. Brett Gardner is going to be the starting center fielder, and that leaves two spots to be filled by a combination of Mike Tauchman, who has had six productive weeks in his career, Miguel Andujar, who has never played a major-league game in the outfield, Clint Frazier, who the Yankees made it clear they don’t trust as an everyday player, and Tyler Wade, who is really an infielder. Not even a month ago, the Yankees had the best lineup, rotation and bullpen in the American League. Now they’re set to begin the season with J.A. Happ as their No. 3 starter and one or two players they never really wanted to have to use in the outfield as everyday players.

5. Jonathan Loaisiga isn’t going to be a traditional starting pitcher. He might be used an opener, but it’s obvious the Yankees aren’t going to have him in the rotation to fill one of the spots. He has only been used in the late innings in spring training, and if the Yankees were planning on him starting, he would be making routine starts and getting stretched out for the role. Given Loaisiga’s injury history, it seems like the best idea is to do what the Yankees are doing. Let him serve as anything from an opener to a multiple-innings reliever to a setup man and let him attack hitters with his high-velocity fastball and hopefully that keeps him healthy for an entire season.

6. Last week was the second time I gave my prediction for the Opening Day roster, but with Judge and Stanton both now out, here’s an updated version:

Gary Sanchez
Luke Voit
DJ LeMahieu
Gio Urshela
Gleyber Torres
Giancarlo Stanton
Brett Gardner
Mike Tauchman
Miguel Andujar
Clint Frazier
Tyler Wade
Mike Ford
Kyle Higashioka
Gerrit Cole
Masahiro Tanaka
J.A. Happ
Jordan Montgomery
Chad Bettis
Aroldis Chapman
Zack Britton
Adam Ottavino
Chad Green
Tommy Kahnle
Jonathan Loaisiga
Luis Cessa
Jonathan Holder

7. The other day, the Yankees’ spring training lineup featured about as close to an Opening Day lineup as I think they can construct right now without their entire outfield. In that lineup, Gardner was batting second. After seeing Gardner inexplicably bat third in the postseason last year and fail in that spot, I can’t believe he’s now going to bat second in the most important spot in the lineup in Judge’s absence. This isn’t about Gardner batting second to potentially get more at-bats in a spring training game. That lineup was created as a precursor to Opening Day, the same way all of those late-season lineups with him batting third in them last year led to him batting third in the postseason. Boone feels it’s necessary to stick a left-handed bat somewhere in the top of the order no matter how much inferior that left-handed bat is to all the right-handed bats, and right now Gardner is the only left-handed everyday bat. The fact that Boone posted that lineup after the Judge and Stanton news made me think that’s the way Boone or whoever creates the lineup is leaning for March 26. No one should ever be angry about a spring training lineup, but that wasn’t just any spring training lineup. I know what Boone is doing and I’m more than ready to lose it when the regular season begins.

8. Can we get the report from the Red Sox’ cheating investgation? With all these Yankees injuries, I need something to feel good about it and watching the Yankees’ rival lose draft picks and more is definitely something to feel good about. There’s no way it should be taking this long to discover how the Red Sox cheated and release the findings of it.

9. Maybe this will be the week the Yankees avoid an injury to an expected everyday player or rotation member? (Not counting the news on whatever is actually wrong with Judge.) Somehow the Yankees have to navigate three more weeks until the start of the season without anyone else getting hurt. Given how the last calendar year has gone, it feels impossible. There’s too many days and too much baseball between now and March 26.

10. The Yankees have an even easier opening schedule this season than they did last season. The problem is last season they were 6-9 after playing Baltimore twice, Detroit, Houston and the White Sox. This season they have Baltimore (3), Tampa Bay (3), Toronto (3) and Baltimore (4) to begin the season. The Rays will be tough, as always, especially in Tampa, but the Orioles are going to lose around 100 games again, and while the Blue Jays have a young, dangerous lineup, their pitching is awful. The Yankees don’t need to be at full strength to win the early-season series against the Orioles and Blue Jays, but those 10 games against the two teams are going to come off the schedule without the Yankees being at full strength, and there are a lot of “easy” wins in there that will be needed in helping the Yankees achieve home-field advantage in the postseason.

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Blogs • Yankees

Mar 2, 2020

Aaron Judge Injury News Goes From Bad to Worse

There’s a very real chance the Yankees begin the season without their entire expected outfield. Aaron Judge’s shoulder isn’t better and the Yankees don’t even know what’s wrong with it.

Laugh. That’s all you can do at this point when it comes to the Yankees and their injuries. Laugh. Two weeks after Aaron Boone said Judge was “just dealing with some crankiness” and would be shut down from throwing or batting, I knew this wouldn’t end well. Boone’s nonchalant explanation of injuries coupled with Judge’s injury history and the Yankees’ frequently wrong handling of injuries meant this was going to get worse before it got better. And it has gotten worse.

On Saturday, three days after it was announcing Giancarlo Stanton has a Grade 1 calf strain and will most likely miss the start of the season, Boone told YES that Judge is going through “testing” to find out why his shoulder is still bothering him.

When Judge’s shoulder issue was originally announced by Boone two weeks ago, I wrote If You’re Not Worried About Aaron Judge Being Injured, You Should Be and was told I was overreacting. Sorry if I have been traumaitzed by the 2019 Yankees and their medical staff, but a four-month layoff between the end of the ALCS and the beginngi of spring strainign didn’t magically create trust between the team’s handling of injuries and me. After Boone said Judge would be shut down from throwing and batting for at least the next week, it was only two days later that he was seen throwing and before his shut down period ended, he was once again swinging a bat, which seemed odd given the Yankees’ stated rehab plan for him. The shoulder “crankiness” that Boone described still hasn’t gone away for Judge, and not only has he not played in a spring training game, but the Yankees aren’t even sure what the problem is.

“It’s frustrating that we haven’t pinpointed exactly what it is, what’s caused the discomfort, so that’s the frustrating part,” Boone said. “But I would say I feel a little more optimistic as to where we’re at.”

Of course Boone says he’s optimistic. What do you expect him to say? That he’s freaking out like the fan base because a team in the middle of a championship window that’s supposed to reach the World Series is going into the season without 40 percent of its expected rotation and now possibly without its entire expected outfield. Boone is definitely thinking that, he’s just not going to say it.

“We’re in a holding pattern with it, just trying to figure out what exactly is going on,” Boone said. “We’re trying to get our arms around if we can pinpoint something that’s causing some of the discomfort. At this point we haven’t found that.”

Leave it to the Yankees to still not know what’s wrong with the team’s best player two weeks after finding out about his ailing shoudler, thinking the “crankiness” would magically disappear with a few days of rest. An MRI was unable to reveal anything, so now Judge will have another test on Monday to try to discover what the issue is.

I don’t know how anyone could be optimistic about this injury or any Yankees injury. In two weeks, Judge hasn’t gotten any better. He’s still able to throw, but unable to hit without discomfort. Boone said Judge would be ready for Opening Day if he’s able to get into games over the final 10 days of spring training, though that would mean Judge has to start playing by the end of next week, and considering he’s not only not currently ready to play in games, but that his shoulder discomfort is still a mystery, playing in games by the end of next week feels a little unrealistic.

What is becoming realistic though is an Opening Day outfield consisting of three of Brett Gardner, Mike Tauchman, Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar. There’s now 24 days until spring training and the Yankees are very close to beginning an expected championship season without their entire starting outfield.

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