Should The Yankees Risk Losing The DH?

In the bottom of the 3rd inning last night, after having drawn a walk, Nick Swisher was removed from the game with an apparent leg injury. Andruw Jones came in to run for Swish, and remained in the game. Jones went on to get two hits, including a solo HR in the 8th inning, but what will happen to an outfield that has lost all of it's depth?

Joe Girardi was quoted as saying Nick Swisher would miss "more than a few days", which led many to believe Swish would be going on the 15-day DL here soon, but that's not necessarily the case. Girardi went on to say that it was a "real low-grade strain", and that they'd have to give it a few days to see how things go before making a decision about the disabled list.

Many believe the Yankees should stick with what they have, meaning they shouldn't call up anybody. After all, Gardner should be ready to come off the DL as soon as he's eligible to do so on Thursday. But looking at the team's active roster, now without Swisher, perhaps the team should call up another outfielder. As things stand the Active Roster only has 11 batters, meaning that the bench would only go two-deep for the entire series against the Orioles. That doesn't give Girardi much to work with, especially if somebody else should pull up lame during a game. I can see Ibanez tripping over his own feet trying to get to a fly-ball in the gap, leading to him landing hard on his shoulder and needing to leave the game. The Yankees put Nunez out there, and now the team has one player remaining on the bench. It's just not a situation I think Girardi wants to get in.

But with a decision on Swisher and the DL to be put on hold, I don't see any good options for the team. Chris Dickerson and Dewayne Wise have been hitting really well so far in AAA (.350 and .369 respectively), so either seems like a good candidate. But when Swisher is ready to come back, and assuming Gardner does return on the 3rd, then the team would lose one of those current AAA guys, as neither can be simply be sent back down to AAA.

At least for tonight the Yankees may as well go with a two-man bench, probably starting ARod at DH and Nunez at 3B. That way the team is in no danger of having to lose the DH during the game, should somebody else pull up lame. And the best nine hitters would be in the lineup. Girardi would already have players to replace Martin and Tex on the bench (Stewart and Chavez), and Nunez could shift from 3B to any other position with Chavez taking over at 3B. By tomorrow maybe the team will have more information on Swisher, and can go from there.