Continuing from our season preview of the Yankees earlier today…
Are the Yankees going to be healthy enough to contend in 2013, or is this the beginning of the end?
The Yankees have a *ton* of injury questions going into the season. In fact, let me list all of the injuries suffered by Yankees in the last 12 months.
-Derek Jeter broke his ankle
-Alex Rodriguez had surgery for a torn labrum in his hip
-Mariano Rivera tore his ACL
-Curtis Granderson has a broken forearm
-Travis Hafner had knee surgery and an inflammed back
-Kevin Youkilis had a sore back
-Juan Rivera strained his hamstring
-Brett Gardner strained his elbow, and later had surgery
-CC Sabathia had both a strained groin and an inflammed elbow
-Andy Pettitte fractured his ankle
-Phil Hughes has a bulging disc in his back
-Ivan Nova had an inflammed rotator cuff
-David Robertson had a strained oblique
-Joba Chamberlain had a dislocated ankle
-Manny Banuelos had Tommy John surgery
-David Herndon (waiver claim) had Tommy John surgery
-Michael Pineda tore his labrum
I mean….that's *something*, especially considering I didn't mention Chamberlain's Tommy John surgery, David Aardsma's Tommy John surgery, Hafner's strained oblique, Youkilis' thumb surgery, and Hughes' arm fatigue.
But just because the Yankees have had a ton of injuries over the last year, that doesn't mean you can immediately write them off. A lot of the injuries I mentioned were of the "fluke" variety. For example, Jeter's ankle, Rivera's ACL, Granderson's forearm, Pettitte's ankle…none of those players were ever injury-prone prior to their injuries, and while they might be older (with the exception of Granderson, the young one of the bunch at 32 in two weeks), the injuries weren't the result of wear and tear like the numerous back, shoulder, and elbow issues.
That's the thing about these injuries: the ones to the most crucial players aren't recurring injuries. No one is going to go into the year worrying about complications or a reoccurance regarding Rivera's knee or Granderson's forearm. Once their rehab is complete (which I'm assuming it already is for Rivera), they'll be ready to roll for the mostpart and play pretty similarly to their previous level.
The injuries I'd be more concerned about are the nagging ones, like the chronic back injuries suffered by Hafner and Youkilis, and the arm injuries (despite how little time they missed) suffered by Sabathia and Nova last season. Those are a bigger deal to me than the superstars having something freakish happen and go down. Even though those injuries might not pop up again this season, the Yankees still have several players that they'll need to handle with kid gloves and be very careful with this season. And with the roles those players are expected to play this season, those injuries could be even more devastating than the broken bones the team suffered last season.
Yankees on TOC
End of Season Postmortem
2013 Season Preview
You May Say I'm a Dreamer
2013 Burning Question
This Is My Nightmare (2:00 PM)
2013 X-Factor (3:15 PM)
