TODAY: Boone confirmed that King won’t pitch again in 2022, the manager told The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler and other reporters. King will also undergo further tests for further elbow damage beyond just a fracture.
JULY 22: Yankees reliever Michael King has a fracture in his throwing elbow, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter links). The team will know more after further testing tonight, but Sherman adds the club currently anticipates the injury will end his season. King departed tonight’s outing against the Orioles with elbow pain, and Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweeted shortly after the game ended the Yankees were preparing to replace him on the roster.
Assuming further testing confirms the initial diagnosis and timetable, the Yankees will play the remainder of the season without one of the league’s best relievers. The 27-year-old has been an excellent multi-inning weapon for skipper Aaron Boone, working 51 frames across 34 outings. King owns a sparkling 2.29 ERA with the peripherals to match. He’s punched out an elite 33.2% of opposing hitters, induced ground-balls at an above-average 47% clip and only walked 8% of opponents.
The disappointing news will likely increase the front office’s urgency to add to the late-game mix before the August 2 trade deadline, although no one they acquire could reasonably be expected to replicate King’s production. Clay Holmes remains on hand as an elite weapon, but King had been a pivotal arm to bridge the gap between the starters and Holmes. He’d mostly assumed a role in which Chad Green has thrived for the past few seasons after the Yankees lost Green to Tommy John surgery in May.
Jonathan Loáisiga and Aroldis Chapman have been Boone’s two other primary high-leverage arms. Both hurlers have strong pre-2022 track records, but neither has been good this season. Loáisiga has a dreadful 7.45 ERA through 19 1/3 innings, while Chapman has an untenable 17.2% walk rate and a personal-low 24.7% strikeout percentage. Wandy Peralta has been a reliable ground-ball specialist from the left side, but the right-handed group prior to Holmes looks lackluster with Green and King out and Loáisiga struggling.
There are always a host of middle innings relievers available at the trade deadline, and general manager Brian Cashman and his staff figure to scour that market over the next ten days. Old friend David Robertson and Mychal Givens (Cubs), Michael Fulmer (Tigers) and Anthony Bass (Marlins) are among the shorter-term veterans who figure to be available, while players like Scott Barlow (Royals), Kyle Finnegan (Nationals) and Jorge López (Orioles) have longer windows of remaining club control.
As for King, it’s no doubt a crushing blow to see his breakout season likely come to a close early. He’d been a solid swing option last year, working to a 3.55 ERA through 63 1/3 frames, but this year’s emergence was on a different level. King will be eligible for arbitration for the first time after this season, and he’s under control through the 2025 campaign.
horrible news for such a young and professional pitcher!
David Robertson To The Bronx End his Career where it started. Calling it! Injury like this cripples a bullpen
I like what you’ve called here. Think that you may have nailed it.
For all the wrong reasons, but I’m in full agreement. Good call Sportsfanatic.
The tough one is Will it be Happ and Robertson for a package of prospects or just Robertson. Because There were some interest with Happ in New York. But Hoyer came out said they dont plan on packaging any of their pieces together where i simply believe packaging happ and Robertson you will get a better return. Plus The Yanks could use a guy who can get on base alot like Happ
They didn’t package any of Bryant, Rizzo or Baez with any other significant pieces last year. I doubt Hoyer does that this year. Too many teams will be competing for both of those guys as well as Contreras.
Sportsfanatic,
Bring on David Robertson!
Good Call
Robertson will be heading to citi field.
Hope he has a speedy recovery.
Yikes.
Wow… Rough day for some pretty serious injuries. Hate seeing it.
Losing King for the rest of the season is brutal but at least it sounds like he’ll avoid TJS. The real shame of it all is that the Yankees had a comfortable lead until that washed up buffoon Chapman imploded again. King wouldn’t have been used tonight otherwise. It’s about time the Yankees bite the bullet and DFA Chapman. The guy is completely useless at this point
The bigger issue here is that King’s injury might extend Chapman’s look with the team.
The Yankees were likely to trade for a RP before King’s injury so now it’s a lock. They also have Schmidt sitting in AAA and Marinaccio nearing a return from the IL. There are plenty of better options than Chapman at this point. The guy has completely lost his command and has been horrendous since the sticky stuff crackdown last season. The only reason Chapman still has a job is because of the money he’s still owed. If the Yankees are serious about winning, that shouldn’t be an excuse to continue to waste a roster spot for him
Ronk325 – Honest question.
Is there a general opinion out there that Chapman was using the sticky stuff?
I hadn’t heard that before but it does line up with his control issues going into last year.
I remember the sticky stuff issue with Chapman being mentioned last year after it was banned and just found this after some quick research:
twitter.com/YankeeSource/status/152741683095603201…
If the above is true his spin rate dropped after the sticky stuff was banned and it’s stayed below where it was a few years ago.
His velocity (for both fastballs and sliders) has been declining the past few years also. He’s a 34-year old power pitcher that was once elite and is now obviously in decline. Time catches up to everybody.
It’s hard to know for sure Lars, but Chapman was nearly untouchable at the start of 2021. Then after the crackdown he completely lost his ability to locate pitches. His stats since then put him among the worst relievers in the league
Yankees21 – Thanks for the link.
That’s a pretty incriminating chart.
I wonder how many other pitchers have a chart that looks like it?
I also wonder how much the new stickier ball being tested in the minors would impact spin rates?
Chapman is worse than useless at this point, but there’s no way they’ll DFA him with the current state of the bullpen. He still gets the ball up to 100 MPH. His problem isn’t his arm, it’s his head. Why either of the backstops let him throw a slider this year is beyond me. He needs to stop worrying about his fastball and throw it, and ditch the slider entirely.
Chapman stank on ice again, but you can’t logically correlate King’s injury with Chapman’s implosion. That injury could’ve happened at any time.
Sure, King could have injured his elbow at any time but his continued overuse is what likely caused the injury. You could also argue that King’s elbow would have been fine with some extra rest. This should have been a night off for King and Holmes to reduce their usage but Chapman ruined that.
But prior to his 19-pitch outing in Houston on Thursday, King hadn’t pitched in five days.
Right, but that doesn’t change the fact that he shouldn’t have had to pitch again tonight. Including tonight he’s appeared in 34 games of the team’s 95 games. If Chapman gets through that inning clean, the Yankees still have a 4 run lead in the 9th and probably save King and Holmes
That still doesn’t establish that he wouldn’t have suffered the same injury in a subsequent outing. Only one reliever, Oriole Keegan Akin, has thrown more innings (53.1) than King (51.0), and King averages 15.00 pitchers per inning compared to Akin’s 14.39.
The elephant in the room that’s been studiously ignored by many commentators during the Yankees’ phenomenal first half is the lack of recent length among a majority of the starters.
Unless Cashman manages to add at least one strongly effective starter capable of going deep into games, it’s hard to see the current configuration holding up all the way to the postseason, much less deeply into it. As these starters run up against their innings limits, the already hurting relief corps is going to be pressed into extra duty more and more.
Typo correction: “King averages 15.00 pitches per inning compared to Akin’s 14.39.”
Sorry for the player, but I won’t be sorry for the Yankees if they burn their bullpen out by overuse.
Impossible to feel sorry for a team/franchise that has held major league baseball back for 50 years
I agree with you to an extent there Fink. The problem though is that even if the starters were going 6 or 7 innings, King and Holmes were the guys coming in if it was a close game. Between losing Green and Loaisiga dealing with injuries/ineffectiveness, the Yankees have almost exclusively relied on King and Holmes in high leverage situations. They have guys who are serviceable in middle relief but not dependable enough to use with the game on the line. That needs to be addressed by the deadline
60 outings in a season is not being over used.
That depends on how many innings and pitches thrown in an outing. An outing can be one batter or several in several innings.
That’s also true, Ronk.
This is just not what’s up here.
Yes King has appeared in 34 games as the Yanks top set up guy. That makes him 93rd in baseball in appearances. That’s not top 3 for the average team. He does throw more innings than many that appear more as he often went more than an inning, but overuse isn’t really the issue here.
What matters is the number of innings and the number of pitches per inning. You’re looking at all pitchers — starters and relievers combined. Relievers don’t have 4-5 days rest between outings. These are the relevant stats:
mlb.com/stats/pitching/innings-pitched?split=rp
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=rel&…
Why you shouldn’t use appearances (games) as your metric:
Minter’s listed at the top in appearances with 43. But he’s only thrown 39.1 innings and averaged 16.09 pitches per inning for a total of 629 pitches.
King has thrown 51.0 innings and averaged 15.0 pitches per inning for a total of 765 pitches — 136 more pitches than Minter.
Okay, bass86, I’ll ask: How have the Yankees held baseball back for 50 years — and back from what?
I agree. I’m no NYY fan, but I think they’ve only won 6 or 7 championships in that span, and only 1 in the last 20 years.
This is the loss that will cost the Yankees a chance at 116 games IMO they will blow a few more leads than they ordinarily would have especially in the AL East where every team can win every night.
That would seem to depend on how Cashman deals before the deadline.
116.. 117..It don’t matter they’re still going to be the second seed in the AL
I agree on that.
King no more.
Unfunny still.
Keep laughing
Still not laughing, and you’re still not funny.
I am funny. You can put it in the books.
Golly. You used the same phrase that the “other” poster who supported you below chose as his screen name. What a coincidence.
You are very negative. Not just with your comments to me but your other comments on this posting. Find some love and happiness dude. no point in being miserable all the time peace out
There’s nothing positive in laughing about injuries to professional athletes. But nice try at reversal there, posing as the good guy when you think it’s funny to joke about a devastating injury ending a pitcher’s season.
This isn’t about me being negative. It’s about you being a jerk.
But here’s the good news: anytime you decide to stop being a jerk, you have the power to do so. As my good friend George said: “Try to realize it’s all within yourself. No one else can make you change.”
Get over your self-righteous, holier than thou self. You’re projecting.
Tell me more, Dr. Phil.
When it comes to having called you a jerk, I concede that you’re right in saying I was too negative. For that, I apologize. It was unnecessary, unproductive and self-indulgent.
Nonsense
Anytime a New York Yankee gets hurt I bust out laughing. I find ways to incorporate the news into my daily banter. Constantly ridiculing and making fun of the pathetic sap that got hurt playing for the New York Yankees.
It’s hilarious!
Did the injuries to Thurman and Corey Lidle fill you with glee? Do you fly for travel or leisure. Try Karma Airlines.
Don’t mind him. He’s working on his trolling technique. Obviously, he needs the practice.
I got a chuckle…
Thank you sir and or maam
Luis Medina
That stinks. Hopefully he does well next season.
Mikey you’re brea-king my heart
Made of glass!! Will never be the same again!!
Thanks alot, domestic abuser Chapman.
a. Chapman sucked tonight, again.
b. His suckage had nothing to do with King’s fracture.
c. The only “abuse” Chapman was suspended for was locking himself in his garage and shooting seven bullets into the walls and one through the window like an idiot, which his girlfriend said scared her. The responding officers said in their official report that there was no evidence that he physically abused his girlfriend, and they included photos of her neck that showed no marks. The reporting officer noted the lack of marks in his comments.
imagez.tmz.com/image/4c/o/2015/12/08/4c45d3580a2d5…
Chapman still lives with his girlfriend of seven years, with whom he’s raising their daughter. They celebrated the Cubs’ World Series win together.
imagez.tmz.com/image/9a/o/2016/11/03/9adb618e648b5…
Unless Chapman lied about not physically assaulting his girlfriend (and his account was corroborated by his driver), German’s slapping his girlfriend’s face seems worse by comparison. That was physical abuse, and it was witnessed.
Thanks Aroldis.
One thing about Ployed, he comes with facts.
Someone should arrest the person who did her upper lip.
He knew it. Went right off the mound. Never want to see anyone injured
WTf… these beautiful arms are imploding
Hello N,Y says Al Avila. Come see what arms we have, what are you prepared to give ? Lets talk.
I’m a Reds fan. My condolances to this young man, and also to his family and the Yankees. Tyler Stephenson suffered a possible season ending clavicle fracture tonight for the Reds. Wish them both nothing but the best..
That sucks. I like him as the rare catcher (these days) that can contribute on offense.
Trade Chapman and eat his contract for whatever you can get, call up Schmidt, put German and Sevy in the pen.
Spell the BP with Marinaccio, Ridings, and Britton.
I believe Ridings is still hurt.
It’s all crumbling down…
Soto from the Tigers.
Yanks send Chapman and Waldichuk.
Cashman Paging David Robertson on the North Side of Chicago
Call the Pirates and let them flip Yankees Holderman just acquired from the Mets in the Vogelbach fiasco.
He has a real live arm can dial it up to high 90’s with good control. Sticks it to the Mets too.
Sadly, this was predictable. Too many innings at this point in the season. There will be more of these for the Yankees because Boonedoggle can’t help himself but overuse his pitchers.
They have a huge lead. Get some junk innings out of guys you won’t need in the postseason. Be willing to lose games sometimes instead of the obsession with having a chance to win every game. Let a team beat your lousy guys, they won’t be around come postseason. Learn how to manage your losses as well as you manage your wins.
It’s all so predictable. They do this every year. they’re 1 for the last 21 while spending more than any other team. Oh well, I’m done.
Good luck to the rest of the staff, may they avoid injury. This is not fun to watch at all.
If they don’t keep winning, the Astros will pass them in the standings and have home field advantage in the postseason if they meet then. But if the staff breaks down, it won’t matter. C’est complexe, n’est pas?
Your well-wishes are appreciated, sir.
Another Game 7 in Houston? lofl. We have seen that movie before. We will scratch out a run and give up 2. The sequel would be the same. HFA is a NEED to change that location to the Bronx. And even there we have struggled with them in the post-season.
My comment about learning to manage your losses seems almost comical since the Blue Jays scored 4 touchdowns against the Red Sox last night. There’s a team that’s literally blowing up right now. We’ll see if they can weather the storm. Whenever it’s that one-sided I just remember game 3 in 2004 and smile. Don’t think that will ever happen again.
Crushing blow
Again, feel bad for this young man especially having such a great season. But this is all completely predictable, everyone wanted to rave about how amazing the Yankees pitching staff was but they’re literally just blowing these guys out. Over using their starters, going to the same key bullpen guys every single game. Everyone else saw this coming and this is what will cripple the Yankees as the season continues. Already see regression in most of the starters because they’re tired, almost all of them are coming off injuries.
Well it is time for Johnny Lasagna to step up and show what he has. The herd has been thinning the past few weeks and time to add an arm or two. DRob can be one. Stick Taillon in the pen for long relief. I would say only Peralta, Lasagna and Holmes should be in high leverage situations. Chappy is toast. Marinaccio comes back soon and Weber looked ok.
But the rotation needs an arm as Schmidt has never proven to be reliable.
Big leads can go away quickly. Cashman had better get busy.
Soto is only a pipe-dream at this point.
And someone teach Donaldson how to hit please.
I’m surprised at your last sentence. Donaldson and Judge were the only Yankees with two hits last night, and Donaldson scored twice.
Well so far Lasagna has been terrible and shows no signs of the dominance he had last year so putting him into high leverage situations could be disastrous. To trust Peralta also is very, very iffy as he does not have blow away stuff. Sticking Taillon into the pen could boomerang as well, not only for his longer term position on the team and leaves the rotation short as well. Chappy is toast and should be relegated to mop up forward.
Schmidt into the bullpen is a good move, DRob is an option, as well as multiple relievers such as Effross of the Cubs.
Cash will look for pitching before any move towards Soto.
.
Lasagna is coming off injury and didn’t implode as Chappy did last night. He is too young to give up on. I doubt Cashman will make several deals. We may get one for the BP but the numbers say Lasagna has to be next man up.
“Sticking Taillon into the pen could boomerang as well, not only for his longer term position on the team and leaves the rotation short as well. ”
Well he sure left the rotation short last night and needed to stress the pen very early. We need some innings from the rotation. Castillo would be a real help.
Tigers please don’t trade Soto or Fullmer to the Yankees. I want someone else to win the WS.
You are ok Dodgers still play in MLB
It certainly won’t be the Tigers
Yankees more likely to acquire former Yankees Joe Mantiply or Richard Bleier than David Robertson. And then probably move German or Severino into the pen as well, or at least into a swing/long relief role.
Sevy showed he can be a weapon in the pen. Do we give German another start? He is a bit crafty- and a bit crappy lol- but a starter is gonna be needed. I keep hearing Mantiply’s name and I do not remember him at all.
Don’t know that the Yankees are likely to acquire any of the pitchers you mention but they might certainly look at Effross, a sinker ball pitcher (the pitch the Yankees seems to love these days) rather than Robertson but like Mantiply and Bleier as well.
So for us blue jay fans I guess baseball reference, mlb.com and statcast among other sites should start posting if a player is vaccinated or not. As a jays fan I see all these names that could be helpful for us right now but I don’t know who can actually play for us.
Dave Robertson better war same k/9 and lower era. What’s not to like? Article says can’t find anyone to replace with
If Cash looks at the Cubs, he might look at Effross before Robertson….he may be as equally good this year and the longer term better choice….
Why say Effross. Not his fault Cubs are clown car material. How bout Effricketts or Effhoyer
This is a big blow for the Yanks, King and Holmes are two of the best in the game this year. There isn’t a pitcher out there that can replace him. Can Cashman find another sleeper in a trade like he did with Holmes we will see.
King will be near impossible to replace, although the Yankees are very good at finding these guys either in their own system or on other rosters. Losing both Green and King should be crippling, but this is a core Yankee strength. Marinaccio should be back shortly, perhaps even today, and Waldichuk might be able to step right in too. Both are high K-rate pitchers. Now would also be a good time for Loaisiga to step back up.
Feel bad for King. Hopefully the news isn’t worse after a further examination today and he’s back next season. I thought for sure he was heading for TJS after I saw the video of his reaction.
Dodgers have been without Treinen and Hudson, yet they”re still doing fine.
In the end, it’s just one inning they need to cover. I’m sure somebody will step up. Yankees will be fine.
Define ‘fine’. Will they win 100 games? Yep. They have won 100 before and then been on the golf course long before the Great Pumpkin rises from the pumpkin patch. We have been ‘fine’ for years. Winning seasons. We want to win a WS. Covering ‘one inning’ is easy as games are in the balance? lofl
I think you’re overvaluing it. He had a terrific 1st half of the season, no doubt. But the Yankees have over 60 games to readjust. Once the playoffs start, they could always put a starter to cover his leverage spot. If you really want a WS, Yankees need to add another front line starter..
Now, if they lost Judge, Cole or somebody like that for the year, then you may have a point.
Is King a pitcher who had TJ done. I know sometimes the tendons are so tight trey can cause fractures.
I’m sorry for this young man, he was having a great year.
If You Had To Pick,Between David Robertson,Mychal Givens & Andrew Chafin,Who Would You Want To See Wearing Those Pinstripes,After The Conclusion Of The Trade Deadline?
Would love a reunion with Robertson. Between Givens and Chafin, I’d definitely go with Chafin. We need another solid lefty with Luetge in the pen. Putting Chapman in the game during a high leverage situation is choosing to lose
Padres have like 5 guys coming off IL60 in the BP.. we got some arms thar need to be moved soon to make room in the 40 that could help NYY… where is Volpe… we’d probably move 2 or 3 at the deadline for a bag of balls in the DSL ..any 16 17 yr old no one except AJP has heard of maybe with Fernando as a name lol
Don’t want to wish injury upon others, but I am keen to see how Yankees fans handle losing some games they were previously winning because they had dodged the injury bug so many other teams were dealing with.
Yankee fans are like any other fans. Some will counsel patience and some will prophesy doom.
Yes, basically.
It’s been 13 years of doom. Don’t think you can blame the pessimistic fan base too much.
Go get Castillo and put Sevy in the pen when he comes back.
Attended my high school !
Best eight years of your life.
I kid. I kid.
Time for Al Avila to sell some bullpen pieces
That last sentence in the update is still the concerning part. Is there additional damage.
oooof thats rough
Reds fan here…Sorry to see this happen to a 27 year old in the midst of a very impressive season..
Thank you sir. If by chance we get Castillo, I hope you get solid pieces back to help you down the road.
Dammmmmm……. So sad !!!
Who would the Yankees offer for Happ then Robertson? Remember, other teams will be making offers.