David Phelps left Sunday night’s start with elbow
inflammation that he has been battling for nearly a month now. This injury
could not have come at a worse time for the Yankees as we are in the final
stretch of the regular season. Over two thirds of the season is behind us and
the Yankees are barely hanging on for one of the two Wild Card playoff spots in
the American League. The Yankees may have to ultimately ditch any ideas of
winning the division and focus on the wild card but that’s tough when five of
your starting pitchers are on the disabled list. One of those starters on the
DL is Michael Pineda and it may be time to take the diapers off the right
hander and really rush him back.
Pineda has been battling a teres major muscle strain in his
back/shoulder area and has been out since the infamous second pine tar incident
in Boston. Pineda had one set back and another bad evaluation that caused more
rest for the shoulder. Now Pineda is back and fresh off throwing three shutout
innings for the Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders. Pineda is expected
to throw around 75-80 pitches in his next start on Friday which got me
thinking, should this start come in the major leagues or should it come in
Scranton?
Pineda looks healthy and as small of a sample size of one
start and three plus innings is he looked sharp and in control of the baseball.
You didn’t see the obvious signs of rust and fatigue and command and control
issues that easily get brushed off with the ‘at least he came through it
healthy” mentality. Pineda looks good and looks to be throwing like he was
pre-injury. With the current state of the Yankees bullpen and starting rotation
would 75-80 pitches not be better suited in the Bronx Friday against a lesser
hitting team like the Indians then wasted in the minor leagues?
It may be rushing him, I admit that, but it’s time to take
the training wheels off. The Yankees are well known for the babying of their
pitchers and protecting their investments but you won’t have the money to
invest if New York misses the postseason for a second straight season. I hope
Brian Cashmand and Joe Girardi are reading this because the team needs a savior
and that savior isn’t saving anything if he is pitching in Triple-A on Friday.
Make it happen or throw in the white towel because we’re done.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)