Yankees Send CC Sabathia to the DL, Acquire Derek Lowe

The Yankees put their ace on the 15-day DL with elbow soreness retroactive to August 8th, and acquired Derek Lowe Saturday afternoon. Lowe, however, will not be used as a starter, but as the long man out of the pen with David Phelps getting CC's start on Monday. According to Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger, the Yankees still believe that Lowe generates enough ground balls and throws enough strikes to be an effective bullpen pitcher while CC's elbow heals.

It seemed as though Adam Warren might get a second chance at the major league level to redeem himself from his ugly debut. Warren was lined up to start for AAA Empire State on Sunday and could have easily been made available for the Monday start, but the team decided to roll with Phelps, whose pitch limit is unclear, instead of the stretched out Warren. Phelps has been fantastic all season and has proven that he can be effective against major league batters, whereas Warren hasn't to this point. It would be hard to find fault with their decision.

In 21 games with the Cleveland Indians this season, Lowe was 3-4 with a 5.52 ERA. His strikeout numbers were almost non-existant with a 3.10 K/9, easily the lowest of his career. He gets a ton of ground balls, will hopefully only be needed out of the pen for a few games, and comes virtually free. He's not an exciting option by any means, but there's really no risk here.

All these injuries can feel free to stop any time now. It's getting ridiculous.