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Yankees injury updates: Nathan Eovaldi, Mark Teixeira, Brett Gardner

By Jason Cohen
Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday we learned that the Yankees would be without Nathan Eovaldi for the next few weeks as the right-hander was shut down with elbow inflammation. On top of that bad news, we almost simultaneously heard that Brett Garder was also hurt and that things aren't looking too well for Mark Teixeira. After our initial story on Eovaldi, we got a few updates about his status:

Eovaldi received a PRP shot in his elbow in order to get the inflammation settled sooner than it would normally take. If the plan is to let Eovaldi sit for two weeks and then have him work back up over the next two weeks, that will keep him out for the remainder of the regular season. At that point he should be healthy enough to pitch in a potential ALDS postseason series, but after a month off, how effective would he be?

And if you're wondering how this injury even happened in the first place, Eovaldi–a Tommy John surgery survivor–says it might have simply been poor mechanics that they can hopefully fix:

It's always concerning when a high-workload pitcher falls victim to an arm injury, especially when that pitcher underwent elbow surgery as a teenager. Eovaldi has been a constant in the Yankees rotation all season long and he's been the team's most valuable starter in the second half, so hopefully things will work out.

It's also incredibly odd that despite just getting CC Sabathia back from the disabled list, the Yankees will choose to go with a six-man rotation instead and return Adam Warren to the rotation:

They kept Warren in the bullpen for so long, only to stretch him out once again just to have six starters, but they likely want to keep Masahiro Tanaka fresh down the final stretch. It must also mean that they aren't very confident in CC at this point and maybe not Bryan Mitchell either for that matter.

Aside from Eovaldi, we also heard some unfortunate things about Mark Teixeira, like how his bone bruise isn't getting any better:

Now it looks like Brian Cashman is openly wondering whether or not the Yankees will get their starting first baseman back at any point this year. Sounds promising. Thankfully, Greg Bird has done a very good job filling in, but the loss of Tex has greatly weakened the depth chart of the entire team. They got this far thanks to an unbelievable season from Teixeira, so they could really use his contributions with the bat before it's all said and done.

On top of all this, it would appear that Brett Gardner is also dealing with an injury:

This is an injury the Yankees don't simply have a Greg Bird they can call up to fill in for. If Gardner ends up missing any significant amount of time, it can be assured that Chris Young will become a starting outfielder, despite his inability to hit right-handed pitching. Aside from Young, the Yankees only have Dustin Ackley, Rico Noel, and Jose Pirela. That's not pretty. Gardner needs to be ok because they have no way to make up for his defense and Young can only fill in offensively part of the time.

Fingers crossed:

The Yankees seemed to have hit a very large snag at the worst possible moment. They were already dealing with the loss of Tex, but now Eovaldi and possibly Gardner are hurt, and it's looking like their first baseman will be out for the rest of the season. They also just fell back to 1.5 games behind the Blue Jays, too. Maybe something good can happen next?

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