The New York Yankees are dealing with a number of injuries in the pitching rotation this season and with CC Sabathia now on the DL, a trade could be in the works and names like Mark Buehrle, Jeff Samardzija, Cliff Lee, David Price, Max Scherzer, Justin Masterson, Jason Hammel, Ian Kennedy, Shelby Miller or Lance Lynn could be potential options down the line.
Any of those deals will be tough, but the Yankees may feel it's necessary if CC Sabathia needs to spend a lengthy amount of time on the disabled list. The Yankees already lost Ivan Nova to Tommy John surgery after he injured his elbow and now he is on the disabled list and this also comes after the team has to put Michael Pineda on the DL after he was injured during his suspension for the pine tar incident against the Red Sox. The Yankees have been playing well while hanging around the front of the American League East this season and they are in the mix at the top of the division but the hits to the pitching rotation might be too much to handle.
Sabathia is 3-4 with a 5.28 ERA this season and he has not pitched like the ace he is expected to be and he has been wildly inconsistent this season and now he is on the DL with a right knee injury. The Yankees are hoping the stint will be a short one and they also hope the rest will get him back to full strength for the first time since last season. ESPN.com reports that Sabathia's injury is to the same knee that he had an operation on after 2010 and that the official injury is inflammation of the right knee.
Sabathia pitched for the first time against his former team in the Brewers and he said that he felt the injury in his knee multiple times this season and he tweaked it on Saturday before getting an MRI on the injury on Sunday. Sabathia gave up three home runs in the game and he left the matchup with the bases loaded and manager Joe Girardi said that the MRI showed no tears on the knee for Sabathia. The Yankees have to balance the fact that Sabathia has been the pitcher they have relied upon so much for the past few years and the fact that he still has three years left on his contract and an option and they need him to get healthy.
With Nova and Pineda on the mend, the team has turned to David Phelps and Vidal Nuno to replace the pitchers and they may also use right-hander Alfredo Aceves as a replacement for Sabathia. The Yankees are 19-17 on the season and they are starting a series against the New York Mets at Yankee Stadium and that matchup will have Bartolo Colon against Hiroki Kuroda and that will be one the Yankees are looking to win after falling in extra innings against the Brewers and that came after the team tied it in the ninth with a home run from Mark Teixeira.
