Gardner's Elbow Not The Only Thing Hurting

Earlier Burch reported that Brett Gardner was placed on the 15-day DL. Brett had apparently injured his elbow when he attempted to make a sliding catch the night before. Brett had taken batting practice earlier in the day and said he felt fine, but when he swung about a half hour before the game started it was bothering him. I hope this isn't a major injury, because that leaves the Yankee outfield questionable.

The first thing you need to keep in mind is that Nick Swisher was already in RF, and he's an average defender... even in a smaller Yankee Stadium right-field. So having guys in center and left, who have great range, was key in "hiding" the fact that the 3rd outfielder was nothing special. Now the team doesn't have that.

Unfortunately the bad news didn't end there, as Girardi said last night after the game that they were going to call up a reliever, instead of another outfielder such as Dewayne Wise. I was going to say Chris Dickerson, and that may have been a strong possibility, but unfortunately Chris is on the 7-day DL due to suffering a concussion after being hit in the head by a pitchjamming his neck after sliding into the outfield wall following a great catch. Girardi said Cody Eppley is going to be called up, since the bullpen has gotten quite a bit of work thanks to some awful starts.

I understand the need for another reliever, but I really hope this is a temporary move, and either Dickerson or Wise gets the call-up soon. Otherwise the Active Roster only has Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, Andruw Jones, and Raul Ibanez under "Outfielders". That doesn't equal a strong outfield, which could really hurt.