Yankees Injury Disaster Worsens as $12.5 Million Offseason Signing Exits Game
With opening day for the New York Yankees less than 10 days away, the last thing the defending American League champions wanted was to add another name to their list of injured players. With World Series home run hero Giancarlo Stanton looking at possibly missing the season with “severe” elbow pain, 2023 Cy Young-winning starter Gerrit Cole definitely out for the season with Tommy John surgery,
last season’s Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, tabbed as the rotation’s No. 3 starter, unable to throw with a lat strain, among other maladies to key players, the Bronx Bombers hoped that one more was not on their spring training bingo card. But that is exactly what the Yankees got on Monday, though at least so far, the latest addition to the walking wounded appears to be less severe than most of the others.
On the same day that New York got good news about No. 5 starter Clarke Schmidt, who reported “feeling good” in a bullpen session after being scratched from his start with shoulder discomfort, Yankees newly acquired first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was forced out of a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, citing a sore back, according to a New York Post report. Goldschmidt, the 2022 National League MVP who was one of the Yankees’ major offseason signings with a one-year, $12.5 million contract, told reporters he had been coping with the back issue for “four or five” days, and that it caused him “zero” worries about his availability to play on opening day March 27.
