Chris Capuano’s Injury Opens the Door for Many, but not Adam Warren

As we all learned yesterday Chris Capuano hurt his right quadriceps muscle covering first base against his former team the Boston Red Sox. While it sucks to lose anyone in spring training the “prospect humper” in me is a tad bit excited. I’ve never been a big fan of Capuano and I think that was well documented last season right here on the blog. I’m also a big prospects fan so this injury may open the door for a prospect or two to make the team and crack the starting rotation, but I don’t think that prospect or player will be Adam Warren.

The back end of the Yankees bullpen looks solid on paper with David Carpenter, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller but the pen really becomes a strength with a full season of Warren in the seventh inning. The Yankees could easily slot in Esmil Rogers (the likely choice) or Bryan Mitchell (who should get the nod) into the fifth and sixth starting slots and not skip a beat in the rotation or in the pen. The team doesn’t have another Warren sitting around on the outside looking in and not everyone can pitch late in the games in the Bronx.

While Warren may be the most deserving if Capuano misses significant time with this injury it may be more detrimental to the team then helpful in the long run. If you plug in Mitchell into the rotation you probably improve the starting rotation while keeping the bullpen solid and well rested with Warren on the bench.