As the 2020 Spring Training is under way, the New York Yankees opened up with a couple of injuries that include James Paxton, Luis Severino and Aaron Judge. As per Yankee Manager Aaron Boone, he says that Judge ideally would need about 30 to 60 Grapefruit League at-bats this spring to be ready for the March 26th season opener against the Orioles in Baltimore. Ironically, Judge had 38 Spring Training at-bats last season, 45 the year before and 63 in 2017. In 2017, he went on to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award unanimously. Hopefully, the shoulder soreness is just a small glitch and nothing to worry about.

Another Yankee out of commission is Aaron Hicks who just had Tommy John surgery and will be out until July. Speaking of Tommy John surgery, Luis Severino is going to have the same surgery as well and miss the 2020 season. The Yankees gambled on two long-term deals and so far lost. What about James Paxton? He is going to be out until late June from back surgery. How about Masahiro Tanaka? He is dealing with a partially torn UCL. This is not a new injury for Tanaka. He has been dealing with it since 2014 and has been pitching through it and making adjustments to preserve his elbow. So far, he has pitched for four full seasons without any further problems and will need Tommy John surgery down the road. Is this the curse of Tommy John for the 2020 Yankees?

Luckily, Domingo German is not injured and will be back June 5th from his 81 game suspension. Let’s see what happens in the next couple of weeks…

Good Luck!