Yankees still waiting on injury update on righty reliever Chad Green: ‘It’s definitely a concern right now’
After years of having their pitching depth tested by injuries, the Yankees came into this season feeling they were fully stocked for the rotation and the bullpen. That stockpile will likely be tested. Chad Green was examined on Friday after leaving Thursday’s game with right forearm discomfort and while there was no diagnosis made public, Aaron Boone said that it was “definitely a concern” now.
On top of that, pitching prospect Luis Gil, who made a spot start for the Yankees a week ago, has a “significant” injury, the Yankees manager announced after Friday night’s series opener against the White Sox at Yankee Stadium was postponed by rain.
“I think there’s that fear, sure,” Boone said when asked if he thought Green’s injury was significant. “But, again, it’s definitely a concern right now. But I’d rather get with the doctors and kind of see where we’re at by the end of the day tomorrow.”
The fear with any forearm discomfort is obviously damage to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). A significant compromise of that ligament is what leads to Tommy John surgery. This is not the first time Green has dealt with forearm discomfort. In 2016, Green was diagnosed with a flexor tendon strain in similar circumstances and he recovered through rest.
Green was in the clubhouse before the game was canceled on Friday and told reporters they were looking for more information to make decisions about his path forward.
Gil left his start with Triple-A Scranton on Wednesday night with an elbow injury. Boone said that Gil is going to be out of the mix for a while.
“It’s a significant injury. But they’re still kind of working through opinions and all that so I don’t want to get too far into it,” Boone said. “But it’s significant.”
With the rainout, the Yankees have 10 games in the next nine days and will once again need a spot starter. Gil made a spot start for the big league club in Chicago last week allowing four earned runs on five hits over four innings. He walked two and struck out six.
He is obviously out of consideration.
“JP Sears has been down there starting and getting built up too. So that’s one of the things now we’ll kind of talk about and see just where we want to insert that sixth guy,” Boone said. “But it could be a number of the candidates and a number of different ways you can go about it.”
Gil made a big splash when he came up to the big leagues last season. He did not give up a run through his first three starts. He ended up making six emergency starts for the Yankees as they dealt with injuries and finished with a 3.07 ERA. He struck out 38 over 29.1 innings pitched, but also walked 19.
Right-hander Ron Marinaccio was back in the Yankees clubhouse Friday afternoon as part of the taxi squad, Boone said.
“In case we have to make a move for Green with the IL,” Boone said.
RAIN PUSHES NESTOR TO SATURDAY
The Yankees and White Sox will make up Friday night’s rained-out game on Sunday in a single-admission doubleheader. The first pitch will be at 3:05 p.m. with the regularly scheduled Sunday Night Game to follow at 7:05 p.m.
With the rainout, the Yankees’ third in the last two weeks, they are still working out their rotation. Nestor Cortes, who was scheduled to start Friday night’s game, will start the afternoon game on Saturday now. The lefty made his last start on Sunday against the White Sox in Chicago.
“Nestor will go tomorrow. And then we’ll talk about how we want to line it up moving forward,” Boone said. “We may just stay on line with [Luis Severino] and [Jameson Taillon on Sunday],” Boone said. “But we’ll get together and talk about [Sunday], but for sure Nestor on [Saturday].”
Only tickets for Sunday night’s game will be honored for the doubleheader. Fans with paid tickets for Friday’s game may exchange them for tickets to a similar regular season game at Yankee Stadium. See the Yankees’ rain check policy on their website.
The Andy Pettitte bobblehead promotion from Friday night has been rescheduled for June 10.
