The regular season is winding down, and it’s almost time for the Yankees to start thinking about what their postseason roster(s) might look like. The Yankees experienced a significant number of injuries earlier in the season, but they luckily don’t have too many players that are injured or on the disabled list at the moment (knock on wood). Here’s a quick update on the players that have been dealing with injuries and when we might expect to see them back with the team.
Aaron Hicks
It has been a challenging season for Hicks. Although he is certainly having a better season at the plate than he did last year, he has also missed quite a bit of time with injuries. Hicks suffered a right oblique strain towards the end of June and that sidelined him until the second week of August. Unfortunately, Hicks suffered yet another oblique injury in early September, this time on the left side of his body. Hicks headed to Tampa earlier in the week and was all set to start taking live batting practice yesterday. The plan is to get Hicks into an instructional league game on Monday with the hopes of having him rejoin the team sometime during that week.
Adam Warren
Warren is another player who has missed time due to injuries multiple times this season. He was placed on the DL with shoulder tightness back in June. Warren also hit the disabled list with lower back spasms in early September. It appears that he is also close to rejoining the team. He was scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Wednesday, which was his first time throwing off a mound since the injury. Assuming that everything went well, Girardi said that the next steps for Warren would be to throw an additional bullpen session, followed by a simulated game. If he doesn’t experience any setbacks, Warren could return next week.
Brett Gardner
Gardner was drilled in the right shoulder with a pitch during Wednesday’s game against the Twins. He was eventually removed from the game, though he later said that he could have stayed in. Gardner indicated that he should be ready to play on Friday, but Girardi expressed concern about the injury. Hopefully he won’t have to miss any time, but at least the Yankees have several outfielders to choose from if Gardner does need to sit out.
Others
Caleb Smith has been on the 10-day DL for about a week now with what the Yankees are calling a viral infection. There haven’t been any updates as far as a timeline for his return. He hasn’t had the best numbers since being called up this season (7.71 ERA, 4.82 BB/9), and it seems unlikely that the Yankees would add him to a playoff roster even if he does get healthy.
Finally, in case you missed it, Luis Cessa was officially moved to the 60-day DL (oblique injury), so he is done for the year.