By NICHOLAS BUONANNO
Staff Writer
At the start of Spring Training in February, the New York Yankees looked to have a solid team that could compete in the American League East division again. Before Spring Training games began in March, the Yankees only injured player not expected to start the season were All-Star third baseman Alex Rodriquez, who was already expected to miss half of the season with another hip surgery. Another injured player who was already expected to be on the disabled list for at least the first half of the season is young starting pitcher Michael Pineda who is rehabbing from shoulder surgery.
Although Yankee captain and shortstop Derek Jeter had off- season ankle surgery from an injury sustained during last season’s playoffs he was projected to be able to start Opening Day against the Boston Red Sox. Jeter did not appear in Spring Training games until half way through since the team wanted to take it slow. But once Jeter did begin to bat and field in Spring Training games, he began to feel pain in the same ankle that he received surgery on. At this point Derek Jeter has not officially been placed on the disabled list but the Yankees sent him down to Minor League camp so that they could back date his injury then he would be able to come back possibly as soon as April 6th. Back-up shortstop Eduardo Nunez will be the team’s Opening Day shortstop in place of the captain. Nunez is not known to have good defense at shortstop like Jeter, but Nunez has been working on his defense with the opportunity to play in more Spring Training games this season.
New York Yankee first baseman Mark Teixeira, who played in the World Baseball Classic for Team USA, injured his wrist during batting practice with the USA team. Now he is expected to be out until at the least May. Losing a power hitter like Teixeira for a month can be hard for the Yankees. Teixeira hit 24 homeruns last season and has the power to hit even more during one of his good years. Teixeira usually gets off to a slow start in the month of April, but he was training harder in the offseason to be able to start better with his hitting. To replace Teixeira for the Opening Day first base job the team signed veteran Lyle Overbay who was released this Spring Training by the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees have only seen Overbay play in three Spring Training games for them, since he was a late addition. Juan Rivera appeared to be the front runner playing first base the most throughout Spring Training but he was just released by the Yankees.
Another big power bat that will be out for the first month of the season is center fielder Curtis Granderson who was hit in the wrist while batting in a Spring Training game. Granderson has been a big bat for the Yankees; he led the team in homeruns last season with 40, without his bat in the lineup will be a big loss for the team. The Yankees do have other solid players to fill the loss of Granderson for that month in the outfield, with players like Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki who can play a good defense in center field. Yankees Brain Cashman decided to add even more veteran depth in the outfield by trading for Vernon Wells; Wells only hit eleven homeruns last season but has hit more in his career.
Another key player that will start the season on the disabled list is young pitcher Phil Hughes, who was having back pains during the spring. Hughes had a 16-13 record last season for the Yankees, so losing him is yet another big loss for the team. Although the Yankees still look to have a solid pitching staff with CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, David Phelps and Ivan Nova. The total salary that will start the season on the disabled list for the Yankees is $82.5 million, which is almost half of the whole team’s payroll.
