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The New York Yankees have placed Brett Gardner on the 15 day DL and promoted right handed pitcher Cody Eppley from AAA Scranton Empire State.
Gardner injured his right elbow Tuesday, yet stayed in the game. The gritty gutty outfielder was a late scratch tonight, so Andruw Jones played left field in his place.
Cody Eppley has pitched 6.1 shutout innings in AAA this season, walking one and striking out nine. Eppley is 1-1 with a 8.00 ERA in his short MLB career.
The problem with promoting Eppley is that the Yankees will have to rely on the likes of Andruw Jones and Raul Ibanez to play the outfield.
Rather than explaining how much the Yankees will be hurt defensively by the Jones/Ibanez tandem, let's use pictures
Andruw Jones before leaving the Braves:
Andruw Jones after leaving the Braves:
And, of course, Raul Ibanez:
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It perplexes me that the Yankees did not call up Dewayne Wise, who has absolutely mashed in AAA. With a line of .517/.548/.1.034 in AAA Wise certainly deserves a promotion, but he is not on the 40-man roster, so the Yankees decided against it.One thought I have is that the Yankees could give Eduardo Nunez more playing time in the outfield with Gardner being on the DL. Nunez played in a few games in the outfield last season, and he can't be any worse than Raul Ibanez.
Let's hope this is only a minor injury for Gardner, who is one of the most underrated and unappreciated players on the team.
I miss Justin Maxwell.