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Yankees place Didi Gregorius on 10-day DL, recall Luke Voit

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(Presswire)

The Yankees will be without another key player for at least ten days. Today the Yankees placed Didi Gregorius on the 10-day DL with a left heel contusion, the team announced. The move is retroactive to yesterday, so Gregorius can return next Thursday. Luke Voit has been called up to fill the roster spot.

Gregorius suffered what Aaron Boone called a “pretty significant” bruise on his left heel following a collision with Kendrys Morales at first base Sunday. Didi went for tests which apparently showed no fracture. It’s just a really bad bruise. Here’s the play.

Gregorius joins Aaron Judge (wrist), Gary Sanchez (groin), and Clint Frazier (post-concussion migraines) on the disabled list, among others. You could easily argue three of the team’s four best position players are on the disabled list right now. Not great, but what can you do? Next man up.

Since the end of his brutal May slump, Gregorius has hit .294/.347/.478 (123 wRC+) in 70 games. He’s also hit .298/.375/.536 (147 wRC+) since Judge went down. Sir Didi is a very important player for the Yankees, both offensively and defensively. They have lots of infield depth, but losing him is a big blow.

Boone has already said he plans to shift Gleyber Torres over to shortstop while Gregorius is sidelined, with either Ronald Torreyes or Neil Walker taking over at second base. Giancarlo Stanton is expected to play right field the next two games, so I’d bet on Walker at second in the NL park the next two days. After that? Not sure. Walker in right and Torreyes at second seems like the best way to go.

I’m not sure I get the Voit call-up. The Yankees are tentatively scheduled to face only one left-handed starter in their next eight games — it could be two depending on what the Orioles do for Saturday’s doubleheader — so he doesn’t figure to play a whole lot. Tyler Wade seems like the more functional short-term bench piece. Well, whatever.

Update: Sabathia placed on 10-day DL with knee inflammation

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(Mike Ehrmann/Getty)

6:05pm ET: Brian Cashman said Sabathia told the Yankees his knee was bothering him following his start yesterday. “Part of the program. No surprises,” said Cashman added. Doesn’t sound like it’ll be a long stint on the disabled list, but we’ll see.

4:59pm ET: The moves have been announced. Sabathia is going on the 10-day DL with right knee inflammation. Also, Luke Voit has been optioned to Triple-A Scranton, and both Kontos and Torreyes have been called up. Jordan Montgomery was transferred to the 60-day DL to clear a 40-man roster spot for Kontos.

4:43pm ET: CC Sabathia is being placed on the disabled list, reports George King. There is no word on the nature or severity of his injury yet. Sabathia does have a degenerative right knee condition, so that’s always a possibility. He missed two weeks with a hip strain back in April. George Kontos has been called up to fill the roster spot.

Sabathia started yesterday and was marvelous, holding the Rangers to one infield single in six shutout innings. If he got hurt during that start, there was no obvious play in which he suffered the injury. Sabathia retired eight of the final nine batters he faced and looked in control all afternoon. Weird.

Depending on the severity of the injury, it is possible Sabathia will miss only one start. The Yankees would need a spot starter for this Friday’s game against the Blue Jays, then, thanks to two off-days next week, they can push Sabathia’s spot all the way back to Tuesday, August 28th. Sonny Gray seems like the obvious rotation fill-in.

Sabathia is no longer the workhorse ace he was in his prime, but he does have a 3.32 ERA (4.38 FIP) in 119.1 innings this season. He is ninth in the AL with a 132 ERA+, tied with Charlie Morton. Sabathia has been awesome all year and he’s a very important part of the rotation. Losing him for more than one start would be quite the blow.

As for Kontos, the Yankees acquired him from the Indians in a cash trade earlier this month. He’s allowed one run in 4.1 innings with Triple-A Scranton since the trade and has a 4.68 ERA (5.92 FIP) in 25 big league innings with the Pirates and Indians this year. Kontos is the new last guy in the bullpen.

Word from Scranton is Ronald Torreyes has been called up as well, which means another move is coming in addition to the Sabathia/Kontos thing. I’m not sure what it is but I really hope Giancarlo Stanton’s hamstring has not gotten worse. That would be devastating. Stay tuned for updates.

Game 107: Round One

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Man of the people. (Presswire)

The biggest series of the season? The biggest series of the season. Certainly the biggest series of the season to date, at least. There’s still 50-something games to play after this weekend. Anyway, the Yankees and Red Sox open a four-game series at Fenway Park tonight, and here are the AL East standings at the moment:

  1. Red Sox: 75-34
  2. Yankees: 68-38 (5.5 GB)
  3. Rays: 56-53 (19 GB)
  4. Blue Jays: 48-59 (26 GB)
  5. Orioles: 33-75 (41.5 GB)

A two-team race. The Yankees and Red Sox have the two best records in baseball, and this is the first time they’ve met this late in a season with the game’s two best records since the Game 163 tiebreaker in 1978, if you can believe that. The Yankees are trying to gain ground to make the division race an actual race. The BoSox are looking to bury the Yankees and run away with this thing.

Obvious statement is obvious: A split is the absolute bare minimum this weekend. Winning three of four would be swell. A sweep would be incredible. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. The Yankees seemed to do that yesterday against the Orioles. Felt like they got caught looking ahead to this series. Worry about tonight’s game and tonight’s game only. Gotta win one before you can think about winning two or three or four. Here are the lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Aaron Hicks
2. RF Giancarlo Stanton
3. SS Didi Gregorius
4. 2B Gleyber Torres
5. 3B Miguel Andujar
6. 1B Greg Bird
7. DH Luke Voit
8. C Austin Romine
9. LF Brett Gardner

LHP CC Sabathia

Boston Red Sox
1. RF Mookie Betts
2. LF Andrew Benintendi
3. 1B Steve Pearce
4. DH J.D. Martinez
5. 2B Ian Kinsler
6. 3B Eduardo Nunez
7. C Blake Swihart
8. SS Brock Holt
9. CF Jackie Bradley Jr.

LHP Brian Johnson

It is cloudy, warm, and windy in Boston this evening. Not ideal baseball weather but it’ll do. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:10pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and MLB Network out of market. Enjoy the ballgame.

Rotation Update: Sonny Gray has been moved to the bullpen, mercifully. He’ll be available starting Saturday. “I’ve struggled and they’ve given me ample opportunity to figure it out … I don’t think my days as a starting pitcher in this league are over, but right now it’s all about winning and doing my part, and my role right now is in the bullpen,” he said. Lance Lynn will take Gray’s rotation spot.

Injury Update: J.A. Happ has been placed on the 10-day DL with his hand, foot, and mouth disease. Crazy. The move is retroactive to Monday, so he can return as soon as next Thursday. He’ll miss just one start. Sucks he had to miss a start this series though. What can you do? … Aaron Judge (wrist) has been running and going through agility drills and all that. He is inching closer to swinging a bat.

Roster Moves: Both Luis Cessa and Luke Voit have been called up, the Yankees announced. Voit is wearing No. 45. Something tells me he won’t fit into Chasen Shreve’s jersey. Voit’s up as an extra right-handed bat for the weekend. As for Cessa, he replaces Happ — they had to use Happ’s disabled list stint to bring Cessa back because it hasn’t been ten days since he was sent down — and right now Saturday’s starter is TBA, but it’ll be Cessa unless he’s needed out of the bullpen tonight or tomorrow. Tyler Wade was sent down to make room for Voit. Shane Robinson remains on the roster and Neil Walker is now de facto the backup infielder. My guess is Voit will go back to Triple-A after this series and Ronald Torreyes will return.

Yankees trade Chasen Shreve and Gio Gallegos to Cardinals

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Please welcome Luke Voit to the team of large adult sons. (Presswire)

Following tonight’s win the Yankees announced they have traded lefty Chasen Shreve and righty Gio Gallegos to the Cardinals for first baseman Luke Voit and an undisclosed sum of international bonus money. The move clears a 25-man roster spot for J.A. Happ, who was acquired Thursday.

The Yankees had been carrying four starters and a nine-man bullpen these last few days and they had to unload someone to make room on the roster for Happ, and Shreve is the odd man out. Realistically, it was either Shreve or A.J. Cole, and Cole’s pitched quite well with the Yankees, so he stays.

Shreve, 28, had been on the 40-man roster bubble for what felt like three years before being traded away. He’s spent the bulk of the last four years in the big league bullpen after coming over from the Braves in a trade for Manny Banuelos. This season Shreve has a 4.26 ERA (4.98 FIP) with 46 strikeouts in 38 innings. He was rather emotional following the trade:

The 26-year-old Gallegos has been the quintessential up-and-down reliever the last two years, throwing 30.1 innings with 32 strikeouts and a 4.79 ERA (3.98 FIP) for the Yankees. Over the last two seasons he has a 2.79 ERA (1.99 FIP) with a 38.7% strikeout rate in 71 Triple-A innings. With Gallegos traded, I imagine Tommy Kahnle will take over as the primary up-and-down reliever.

Voit, 27, is essentially Garrett Cooper with more power. He’s a career .240/.307/.432 (95 wRC+) hitter with five home runs in 137 big league plate appearances scattered across the last two seasons. Down in Triple-A, Voit is hitting .299/.391/.500 (133 wRC+) with nine homers in 271 plate appearances this year. He’s a right-handed hitting first base only guy.

The Yankees already have Tyler Austin and Ryan McBroom, two other right-handed hitting first basemen, down in the minors. Voit is a better hitter than McBroom — he has more power, if nothing else — and, unlike Austin, he has minor league options remaining for 2019 and 2020. This is Austin’s final option year. For all intents and purposes, Voit is the new up-and-down first baseman.

To me, the trade was more about the international bonus money and getting something for Shreve rather than nothing. Had the Yankees designated him for assignment to clear a spot for Happ, he’d be lost on waivers. No doubt. Trading Gallegos clears a 40-man roster spot for … whoever needs one next. The Yankees have really cleaned up the fringes of the 40-man roster with their recent deals.

Update: Jesse Sanchez says the Yankees received $1M in international bonus money in the trade.