Sept. 13: Regarding Happ, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post writes that the Yankees had already been planning for him to head to New York to get some treatment — possibly a cortisone shot — for his ongoing biceps discomfort. Happ has made the organization aware of the issue but has deemed it to be manageable for the most part. The biceps issue hasn’t been particularly debilitating for Happ, who carries a 3.48 ERA with 35 punchouts over his past 31 innings (six starts).
Sept. 12, 7:53pm: Sanchez told Hoch and other reporters that his newest groin injury feels “very similar” to his previous one. He’ll head back to New York for testing (Twitter links).
6:34pm: Stop us if you’ve heard this before: The Yankees are dealing with a couple potential injuries. Catcher Gary Sanchez left the second game of the team’s doubleheader against the Tigers on Thursday with left groin tightness, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweets. And left-hander J.A. Happ, who started Game 1, is heading back to New York to get his biceps tendinitis checked out, per Erik Boland of Newsday. Happ’s issue isn’t one the Yankees are overly concerned about, according to manager Aaron Boone, but they nonetheless want to take a look at it.
Groin injuries often lead to weeks-long absences, which is obviously something the first-place Yankees don’t need as they gear up for a potential World Series run. It’s especially troubling for Sanchez considering he missed 16 games earlier in the season with a left groin strain. The 26-year-old spent time on the injured list because of that issue and has also missed time with a calf strain in 2019. When healthy, Sanchez has slashed .233/.318/.531 (118 wRC+) with 34 home runs in 440 plate appearances, making him one of the game’s most effective offensive catchers. The Yankees have gotten good production from backups Austin Romine and Kyle Higashioka this year, though.
Happ, 36, has hardly enjoyed a banner year to this point. He owns a lofty 5.07 ERA/5.38 FIP with 7.75 K/9 and 2.86 BB/9 over 151 innings. That’s not the type of production the Yankees expected Happ would provide when they re-signed him to a two-year, $34MM contract last offseason. Still, the Yankees have continually run Happ out there, in part because he’s one of the few legitimate starters they have. Happ, Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, Domingo German and CC Sabathia have been mainstays in the Yankees’ shaky rotation throughout the year. No one in that group has come close to providing ace-caliber production as the Yankees have gone without injured No. 1 starter Luis Severino all year. Severino is nearing his season debut as the Yankees prepare for the playoffs, though. However, it’s now up in the air whether they’ll have Happ at full strength over the next several weeks.
Happ and Sanchez are tough. If Sanchez is hurt, we will be lucky to win the DS
I know Ro can’t hit like Sanchez but the Yankees will be fine.
Tough? Sanchez is made of glass. He’s been on and off the DL his entire career.
Ah yes, the glass catcher with the 6th most AB among all catchers this season.
So you are using AB in a league with a DH to measure how many games he caught?
It is interesting he is not in the top 5 of games played at catcher for the AL (not ml) and is almost double the next catcher in errors and top 5 in passed balls.
No. Glass as in this would be his 3rd trip to the DL this season if rosters weren’t expanded.
What do errors have to do with tough ? Id bet every GM in baseball would want Gary on their team
Dodgers just called your asylum and said “Hell no”. Cardinals are on line 2…
A voice from the gallery….yes the al-knowing voice of NOTHING!
Cardinals?
Top 5 in passed balls? he’s actually got the 17th-most past balls in the league
@daruba
Is it me or does fangraph seem to indicate that overall his defensive metrics are neutral? DRS of 0, DefWar of +1.9
I meant that is sucks to be missing them
In today’s game, the IL. list is long and expensive for every player.
He plays a very demanding physical position and is a very big guy so bumps, bruises and strains are just part of his game.
That being said, he should also be trying to steal but he was trying to put his team in a better position to win and would have been criticized if he cruised on the base paths….can’t satisfy everybody on this site!
Pudge was 6 foot 4 and started 112 games behind the plate at the age of 42. The man was tough. He’s listed as 6-3 and 200 but I met him and I’m 6-2 and 190. I ran a 3:30 marathon at the age of 46, that was easier than playing catcher in a major league baseball game. You have to be tough.
Sanchez being hurt doesn’t really chance their fortunes much. Romine is better defensively and the rest of lineup will be fine with Romine batting 8th
Heard they are placing Erik Boland and Aaron Boone on the IL too.
The Curse of Arnoldo’s Chapman claims another!!!
Maybe they should be looking at the training staff when you have so many injuries. Broken bones are one thing but pulls and stamina’s are happening weekly it seems
Sanchez needs a designated runner. I’ve never seen anyone more allergic to running.
Its almost like he is a catcher, or something. But hey if you wanna look at a worse base runner look at Pujols
Yankees will be fine without him?!!? Yanks will not make it through DS with all the injuries. Oakland and Houston own the Yanks, pick your poison…….thanks for playing!
Truth
Houston owns the Yankees this year?
Houston’s record against the Yanks this year is 4-3 with their 3 game sweep coming way back in April. Not exactly “owning” in most books.
Oakland always plays the Yankees tough especially in Oakland.
Of course the Yankees want Sanchez back but they’ve found a way to navigate their way through more injuries this year than any other team and currently own the best record in baseball…..or haven’t you heard?
The Yankees played Oakland a total of 6 games this year with a 2-4 record. They got swept in early August and took the series 2-1 in late August. Not exactly a huge sample size to go on.
So in other words SIMPLE SIMON the Astros won more games.
Houston barely beat them two years ago, and the Yanks destroyed the A’s in last year’s wildcard. Ya, they own them LOL idiot.
Lol. 2 years ago?! Ya you got a grip…
If Edwin is ok we’ll be just fine.. dj
Judge, gleyber, Edwin, Stanton, didi, gardy, urshela,romine. With voit and ford on bench.. they better have koufax and Gibson. Sorry but that’s not a fun lineup.. 100 wins don’t come by accident.
Sanchez’s injury is his own fault. Why the hell does a 6’2, 230 lb catcher who can’t run, try to steal a base when it was completely unnecessary. He could have gotten into scoring position on a sac fly or single. Now the Yankees will be without one of the better offensive players for ten days or longer. Hopefully Voit can continue to find his swing after a regression from the breakout player he was last year.
@arinyc
“Hopefully Voit can continue to find his swing after a regression from the breakout player he was last year.”
Wow…just wow. No one in the world expected him to hit with a 1.069 OPS over a full season. Yet, his current .865 is good enough to rank him top 10 among 1B/DH. We’re cool with that.
So you got the word from Boone that Sanchez took it upon himself to run. Usually it’s the managers call. Guys like Ricky have a green light, guys like Sanchez don’t.
Austin Romine is fine for catcher and i think he could start for quite a few teams right now. Wonder how it will shake out as i think Romine is a FA after this season.
Wonder why Cash never tried to acquire catchers like Maldanado, who are balanced both offensively and defensively. Romine and Higashioka don’t exactly have the same production.
Martin Maldanado can’t hit well. His value is that he’s solid defensively and the pitchers prefer to pitch to him. Both Yankee backup catchers hit better than him. You must mean somebody else.
Neither of those guys has the explosive offensive results or potential longer term of Sanchez!
Any time he’s up, he has the potential to game change!
And every time he catches, he has the potential to let pitches go right past him
he only has 7 passed balls this season. he has fixed that problem for the most part
Shut Sanchez down until the postseason. Reevaluate then
??
Wouldnt you want him to come back maybe a week or two before the postseason to get a look at live MLB pitching and get his timing down?
Once glass breaks it’s useless. Maybe he’s made of plastic. That can get all misshapen but then get put back to its regular shape. Plastic enables disabled.
He’s kind of like Judge in that regard. Judge has missed two months. I guess he’s a non tough guy too.
It would be better if you could explain in comprehensible English Zee.
I tell ya, baseball is a tough sport. Playing all year long, you’re lucky if your body feels no pain at this time. They’re all wounded one way or another and that’s why only last man standing get to wear the ring.
Still can’t believe J.A. Happy is making $17MM this year and another $17MM next year.
A catcher endures so many injuries on a daily basis and end up playing thru them. The idea that a C who squats for a living might have a reoccurring groin injury isn’t very surprising. It doesn’t mean he’s made of glass. It means that playing the position of a C doesn’t allow the injury to heal 100%.
Good thing the Yanks didn’t trade Andujar and Sanchez for Realmuto.
They offered frazier and bird for realmuto.
Yanks should sign Cole and look for a trade for another SP.. think Kluber or Freeland from COL. Then trade Happ to any team that would take him and his $ owed. even if the return is weak or nothing at all. I think PIT would be interested in acquiring Happ, maybe the Rockies or Brewers as well.