Already bedeviled by hurts early the following spring, the last thing the Yankees need is more unwelcome news on that breast. However, in yet another less-than-ideal development, right fielder Aaron Judge will probably be down for at least another week, Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News reports. Judge is “doing well” in his improvement from a absces right shoulder, per director Aaron Boone, but he hasn’t progressed beyond hitting in the cage. Boone added that there’s” abundance of period” for Judge to ramp up before the season starts, but it’s still a situation worth monitoring for a Yankees club that’s also down two other starting outfielders in Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton.

Speaking of Stanton, Joel Sherman of the New York Post searches back on a 2017 -1 8 offseason that saw the Yankees acquire him and strike out in their quest of two-way star Shohei Ohtani. Three dates after Ohtani went to the Angels, the Yankees arrived the high-priced Stanton- then the reign NL MVP- in a trade with the Marlins. Stanton would not have been a Yankee had they get Ohtani because there wouldn’t have been room for the two of them at DH, Sherman studies. While Stanton had a very productive first time as a Yankee and Ohtani has barely sloped because of gashes, his tenure in New York hasn’t gone well since then. Stanton was just about nonexistent last-place season because of his own health woes and is now battling a calf harm that could shelve him for Opening Day. Moreover, the Yankees are still on the hook for eight more seasons and $244 MM of the 30 -year-old Stanton( Ohtani makes a relative pittance, on the other hand ), so Sherman argues that the team’s” going to have to continue to build listings that premise his regular absence and get it on with a payroll hoisted by his contract .” Like Stanton, virtuoso right-hander Luis Severino has seldom been available of late. Severino missed nearly all of last season as a result of hurts to his shoulder and lat, and he’ll sit out the entire 2020 safarus after undergoing Tommy John surgery this week. The Yankees, expecting Severino to remain the force he was from 2017 -1 8, signed him to a four-year, $40 MM extension before 2019. They’ve gotten pretty much nothing from that contract still further, though Bradford William Davis of the Daily News opines that there shouldn’t be any sadnes on the Yankees’ part for generating Severino the agreement. Indeed, he was one of the best pitchers in the game at the time, then coming off two straight seasons of 190 -plus innings, so durability wasn’t a question at that point. And as someone who won’t turn 27 until next February, there’s still time for Severino to make good on his reasonably priced alliance. If the trauma disturbances that have restriction Judge and Stanton since last season continue, it could open up playing time for outfielder Clint Frazier. Formerly a touted promise, the 25 -year-old racked up a career-high 245 major league plate appearances and stumbled. 267/.317 /. 489 with 12 home runs last-place season, but he spent mid-June through the start of September in the adolescents to work on his defense. Although Frazier has long been a rumored market applicant, he remains with the fraternity, and he’s now vying for an everyday spot in its lineup, as Spencer Fordin of MLB.com writes. As Fordin details, Frazier has made a mechanical convert at the plate- an coming he ascribes ex-teammate Matt Holliday for- and is hoping it helps him break through as a full-time major leaguer. “A lot of eras, beings talks about my bat rate, but I never truly felt like it was always there, ” Frazier said. “I was almost like I was trying to shoot a firearm with it on safety. There were things stopping it along the way and I didn’t feel like I wanted it to. I feel like this move is giving me my best chance.”

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