Justin Wilson

Yankees: MRI results on Justin Wilson’s left shoulder show some good news

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new york yankees, justin wilson

The New York Yankees received some good news on the injury front on Wednesday afternoon, after the results of Justin Wilson’s left shoulder MRI were made public by manager Aaron Boone. The southpaw had to be removed from an appearance against the Phillies on Monday because of left shoulder tightness.

The MRI, which was taken Tuesday on Wilson’s left shoulder, showed “nothing actionable,” according to the Yankees’ skipper.

Prior to being removed; Wilson, signed by the Yankees a few weeks ago to a one-year deal with options, had experienced a velocity decrease on his fastball and the rest of his arsenal, and couldn’t retire any of the four Phillies’ batter he faced that night.

This development, however, means that there is no structural damage in the lefty’s shoulder, which is welcome news to a bullpen that has already lost Zack Britton for the first few weeks of the 2021 season.

The Yankees’ plans with Wilson for the next few days

Right now, the Yankees are listing Wilson as day-to-day, and the diagnosis is that he is dealing with left shoulder tightness.

The next steps include a round of rest and treatment and then, after a few days, trying to resume a throwing program next week if all goes well. A trip to the injured list to start the year can’t be completely ruled out, though.

In fact, the most likely scenario is that the Yankees won’t have Wilson available for the Opening Day tilt against the Toronto Blue Jays, scheduled for April 1. That is a little over a week, and the likelihood is that he will need more days.

Wilson, 33, is part of a formidable Yankees’ bullpen that includes closer Aroldis Chapman and pieces such as Chad Green, Jonathan Loaisiga, Luis Cessa, Darren O’Day, and probably Lucas Luetge and Nick Nelson.

New York Yankees: 3 major takeaways from loss to the Phillies

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new york yankees, justin wilson

Overall last night was not a good night for the New York Yankees. The Yankee bats again went silent, the pitching failed, and the Yankees may have lost their last lefty reliever. They also lost the game by being shut out by the Philadelphia Phillies at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Justin Wilson injured shoulder in the game

In a game the New York Yankees were losing last night 2-0, Justin Wilson took to the mound in the seventh inning. He gave up a two-run homer to ex-Yankee Didi Gregorius. But on his 20th pitch of the inning, something went wrong. He turned away from home plate, clamping his hand. He immediately signaled to the dugout for the trainer. Stevy Donohue and manager Aaron Judge responded.

After a very short conversation, Wilson was taken out of the game. Apparently, before the game, Wilson noticed uncommon tightness in his shoulder that made it impossible to continue pitching after that twentieth pitch. In the dugout, he spoke with Donohue and indicated that it was his shoulder where something had gone wrong. This morning he will undergo an MRI to see what the problem is and how severe it is.

Aaron Boone said it might be nothing that a short rest won’t solve, but he will wait for tests to see what’s going on. If it keeps him off the mound for an extended period, it will be a problem for the Yankees as they already have lefty Zack Britton on the IL. If Wilson joins him, it will leave the Yankees with no lefty relievers on the 40 man roster.

Jameson Taillon has a hiccup

Going into last night’s game, Jameson Taillon had the second-best performance of any Yankee starter other than Domingo German. His ERA was 0.00 over 5.2 innings, giving up no runs. Taillon is coming back from his second Tommy John surgery, but in this spring, training looked entirely healthy, and in his own words, he felt great. And he’s pitched great in his first three games, one in relief, and two games started.

Last night that changed. Taillon breezed through the first two innings, striking out 4 of 6 batters he faced. Taillon got his fifth strikeout in the third inning, but then ex-Yankee Ronald Torreyes singled to left. Back to the top of the lineup, McCutchen popped back to Taillon for the second out. Hoskins singled, and Torreyes scored for the Phillies’ one-game lead. Gregorius singled, and Bohm singled, loading the bases, and that was it for starter Taillon. The New York Yankees are not overly concerned about this and consider it just a hiccup for a pitcher that has been performing nicely. Chad Green came to the rescue, closing out the inning but gave up another run in the next inning. The only other Phillies scoring came in the seventh innings against Justin Wilson when Didi Gregorius hit a two-run homer.

Yankee bats fall silent again

Last night against five Philly pitchers, the Yankee hitters could do nothing. They only had two hits in the game and didn’t get a single base on balls. This is concerning because a general lack of hitting so far in spring training has been evident. Besides a couple of games where the hitters prevailed, many games have only produced one or two runs.

There is no question that the New York Yankees have gotten to the top of the Grapefruit League by their excellent pitching, not because of a lot of runs scored. It is obvious that the hitting has gotten off to a slow start. It is generally considered that somewhere in 5 runs scored will win most games. The Yankees in this spring training have averaged 3.7 runs per game.

The lack of Yankee hitting is relatively widespread. DJ LeMahieu, last season’s batting champ for baseball, is hitting only .243 compared to .364 last season. Aaron Judge, who is entirely healthy, has yet to hit a home run. He is batting just .235. Aaron Hicks is batting only .200.  So for the first three hitters of the lineup, they are batting just .226. That batting average isn’t going to win games. Gary Sanchez, although he has 3 home runs, his batting average is the worst of the regular lineup hitters at just .176. Last year’s home run leader, Luke Voit, hasn’t hit a home run and is only batting .214. These players must improve and improve quickly, or the Yankees won’t be winning many games at the beginning of the season.

Some Yankee hitters are performing well. Giancarlo Stanton leads the few with an average of .391 with a homer. Clint Frazier is performing well; his average is .300 with two homers. Brett Gardner has an average of .273 with one Grand Slam and 6 RBI’s. Gleyber Torres has an average of .242 but shows good power with 2 home runs compared to last season. He only had 3 total last season.

 

Yankees lose yet another reliever to injury

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Yet another injury concern is now clouding the New York Yankees’ relief corps with the season starting in a little over a week. During the Bombers’ loss against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night, left-hander Justin Wilson, the last of the bullpen arms signed to a contract a couple of weeks ago, called the trainer immediately after throwing a pitch.

He ended up exiting the game at that point, and his injury was later diagnosed by the Yankees’ staff as left shoulder tightness. The team said that he would be reevaluated on Tuesday to know more about the nature of the ailment, but is safe to say that Wilson’s outlook for the start of the regular season is murky.

The lefty is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Tuesday, to see if there is any structural damage in his left shoulder.

The Yankees are concerned

The Yankees’ southpaw, who is returning to the Bronx after a very successful stint in 2015, showed diminished velocity during last night’s outing and couldn’t retire any of the four batters he faced. He allowed a single to Rhys Hoskins and a homer to Didi Gregorius, then walked Alex Bohm before exiting the game during Odubel Herrera’s at-bat.

Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone and athletic trainer Steve Donohue attended to the 33-year-old Wilson, who has had a rough spring.

“The way he described it was that he was having a hard time getting loose out there,” Boone said to the press after the game.

The Yankees signed Wilson to a $2.85 million contract with a player option, which would turn into a club option if declined by the pitcher.

The Yankees have the depth to absorb losing Wilson but it would be a blow nonetheless if he misses time.

“I’ve talked a lot about how impressed I’ve been with our depth,” Boone said. “I feel like there’s a number of guys that we could turn to if we got in a situation. First things first, we’ll get [Wilson’s shoulder] looked at [Tuesday] and hope that it’s not something that sets him back too much.”

New York Yankees: Lucas Luetge turning heads in spring training

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During the offseason, the New York Yankees made an interesting addition to the Yankees. The 33-year-old Lucas Luetge, a pitcher that hasn’t been in the major leagues since 2015. Although the Yankees signed him to a minor league contract, he knew he has little chance to make the 40 man Yankee roster or even earn any regular-season innings for the team.

However, through five spring appearances with the Yankees, Lucas Luetge is on pace to turn some heads. One must remember it’s easy to be overly optimistic when looking at a small sample. But at the same time, it’s hard to overlook striking out 11 of 18 batters faced. That can’t just be a coincidence; it’s got to be a sign of true talent.  Across five full innings, Luetge has yet to allow a single run while permitting just a single base on balls to go along with two singles. He has struck out the likes of Bryce Harper, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Andrew McCutchen, and Didi Gregorius.

New York Yankees assistant GM Mike Fishman pursued Lucas Luetge each of the past two years and signed him to a minor league deal this offseason; he said, “A lot of people are talking about him [in camp]. He is opening eyes with how he is performing — and the quality of the stuff, too. He has swing-and-miss pitches.” Luetge has been trying to get from the minors to the majors for the last six years. He did it for just one game back in 2015. He pitched 2 1/2 innings of shutout ball. But his return to the majors has been elusive.

One of the problems holding Luetge back has been his inability to get righties out. However, now late in his career, he is doing just that. 8 of his 13 strikeouts have been against right-hand hitters. Manager Aaron Boone has been gushing over Luetge. When talking about the Luetge slider, he had this to say:

Boone about Luetge’s slider to Sports Illustrated’s Max Goodman, saying “It’s a really good breaking ball, it’s a swing-and-miss breaking ball. He’s got all the spin numbers that take you back a little bit. Even though he’s not overpowering with the fastball, the fastball really plays as well.”

As CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa reports, Boone’s claims ring true through the spring training pitch data. Luetge has radically boosted the spin rate on each of his three offerings to well past the MLB average, especially his slider, giving them a late-life that has left anyone lucky enough to watch him toss in person awestruck.

The New York Yankees added another left-hander in veteran Justin Wilson; they just lost one as well, with Zack Britton going under elbow injury. His three-to-four-month recovery time from that surgery leaves an opening for either Wison or Luetge, a place setting up for Aroldis Chapman. In that effort, it’s hard to ignore Luetge’s 18.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

Now that Britton is out, after Aroldis Chapman and Wilson, the only other lefty currently projected to make the Yankee bullpen (per FanGraphs Depth Charts) is fellow 33-year-old non-roster invitee Tyler Lyons. Though he’s spent time on a major league roster every season since 2013, Lyons has always had a high ERA over the period. Lyons has been okay in this spring training with an ERA of 2.45 but not close to Luetge’s performance. Luetge is almost certainly in if Lyons is out, should the Yankees choose to add another lefty to the bullpen. With Luetge’s performance so far this spring training, the Yankees will have the obvious choice of adding him to the Yankee’s bullpen.

Yankees News: Cashman ‘moving toward a deal’ with Justin Wilson, what to know

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New York Yankees, Justin Wilson

As expected, the New York Yankees are still contemplating adding another relief pitcher to the bullpen. With the starting rotation flush with options, despite risky ones, the bullpen could use a bit more support after they traded away Adam Ottavino and Darren O’Day.

While the Yankees sent scouts to check out David Robertson during a bullpen session at the University of Alabama, it seems as if they are keen on signing former New York Met, Justin Wilson. At 33 years old, Wilson has spent the last nine years in the MLB, proving he can be an adequate option out of the bullpen. Last season with the Mets, he pitched 19.2 innings, earning a 3.66 ERA. The year prior, he recorded a 2.5 ERA with 10.15 strikeouts per nine. His 51% ground ball rate matches up well with Yankee stadium.

MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports the “Yankees appear to be moving toward a deal with Justin Wilson. Mets were showing interest a few days ago, but it seems likely he’s heading across the Triboro Bridge, back to the Yankees.”

Wilson will likely be a cost-efficient signing, who previously played with the Yankees back in 2015. During that lone season, he featured over 61 innings and posted a 3.10 ERA. His primary pitches are a fastball, cutter, slider, and the occasional curveball. He throws his fastball an average of 95.5 mph and cutter 91.2.

His addition to the bullpen would be positive, in my opinion, as position battles ensue during spring training. With just two days until the start of spring training and player’s report, getting a deal done now would be perfect timing for the Yankees to roll in stride.

One more positive that Wilson brings to the table is that he is a left-handed reliever, offering a bit of diversity to the bullpen. Since the Yanks opened up about $8 million with the Ottavino trade, I expect them to offer about $3 million per season to Wilson on a short-term deal.

Justin Wilson update: The Yankees are “moving towards” a deal

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New York Yankees, Justin Wilson

For a couple of days now, the New York Yankees have been connected with left-handed bullpen arm Justin Wilson. Robert Murray of Fansided was the one who reported the negotiations over the weekend.

Monday came, and the Yankees and Wilson haven’t yet agreed to a deal. However, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, the Bombers ‘appear to be moving toward a deal with Justin Wilson.’

Heyman indicates that the New York Mets were showing interest a few days ago “but it seems likely he’s heading across the Triboro Bridge, back to the Yankees.”

Wilson actually pitched for the Yankees five years ago. Over his career, he has very good numbers: In 429 1⁄3 innings, he has a great 9.94 K/9, 3.27 ERA, and 3.34 FIP.

The Yankees would be getting another late-inning option

The Yankees want a reliever that doesn’t have a platoon split, meaning that isn’t particularly weaker against lefties or righties. Wilson doesn’t have that problem, as he can get batters of both hands out: righties have a career .284 wOBA against him, and lefties have a .291 mark.

If Wilson and the Yankees do finish the details for a reunion, the Bombers would put the cherry on top of a very nice offseason that saw them address the starting rotation with Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon; the relief corps with Darren O’Day, and the bench with left-handed bat Jay Bruce.

When Wilson was with the Yankees back in 2015, he was solid: the southpaw notched a 3.10 ERA and a 2.69 FIP in 61 frames. His 9.74 K/9 and a 2.95 BB/9 were proofs of his dominance.

It looks like a signing could become official in the next few hours, and if it does, Wilson would join a great unit that already has Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Chad Green O’Day, Luis Cessa, Jonathan Loaisiga, Nick Nelson, Albert Abreu, Brooks Kriske, Michael King, and others.

New York Yankees: Yankees have signed another pitcher, Justin Wilson

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The New York Yankees signed another pitcher to bolster their bullpen. The Yankees have signed left-handed reliever Justin Wilson per Sweeny Murti of WFAN. Wilson, 33, spent the last two seasons with the New York Mets.  In 68 appearances in Queens, he posted a 2.91 ERA (143 ERA+) and a 2.39 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Wilson, who pitched for the Yankees in 2015, relies primarily on two pitches: a mid-90s fastball and a cutter, a combination that has allowed him to suppress quality contact the past few years.

Just over a week ago, the Yankees added right-hander Darren O’Day to the pen after getting rid of Adam Ottavino in an unusual trade with the Boston Red Sox.

Wilson, 33, will move across the East River to the Bronx after pitching with the Mets in each of the past two seasons. The 10th-year southpaw compiled a 2.91 ERA, 26.6% strikeout rate, and four saves across his pair of campaigns in Queens. Overall, Wilson owns a career 3.27 ERA and 18 saves in prior stints with the Pirates, Yankees, Tigers, Cubs, and Mets.

Wilson enjoyed a solid season with the Yankees back in 2015, when he sported a 3.10 ERA, 2.69 FIP and struck out 66 hitters in 61 innings. New York traded him to Detroit after the season in exchange for relievers Luis Cessa and Chad Green. Now, Wilson will likely join those two pitchers in the Yankees’ 2021 bullpen, in line to serve as a third lefty relief option for manager Aaron Boone alongside Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman.

This is the latest move by the New York Yankees to change a pitching situation that was not up to the task of winning a World Championship for the team that has won 27 of them, more than any team in any sport in the world.

Earlier in the offseason, after re-signing batting champ DJ Lemahieu which was their priority this offseason, the Yankees made major moves to replace Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, and J. A. Happ, who they let walk into free agency. They hired two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber and traded with the Pittsburgh Pirates for starter Jameson Taillon. With Dareen O’Day’s hiring, one of the last season’s most successful pitchers, and now the hiring of Justin Wilson, the New York Yankee has mostly resolved their pitching woes.

Justin Wilson now joins a great pitching group that already has Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Chad Green, Darren O’Day, Luis Cessa, Jonathan Loaisiga, Nick Nelson, Albert Abreu, Brooks Kriske, Michael King, Adam Warren, Nestor Cortes Jr., and others in Scranton Wilkes/Barre. This latest move will only cost the Yankees $2-3 million and will not preclude them from a reunion with centerfielder Brett Gardner.

 

 

 

New York Yankees: The Yankee bench will take on a more important role: Part 1

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New York Yankees, Domingo German

We all know that the New York Yankees have gone through a couple of years of far too many injuries affecting regular players playing time. Although the health situation going into spring training, which starts in just a few days if much rosier than last year, it is not reasonable to assume it will remain that way. The simple fact is that injuries are a permanent part of the game that can’t be avoided team-wide.

These injuries lead to the use of backup pitchers and backup players that sit on the bench or have to be called up from the minor league to be used short term or even long term. We all know that, but this season even without any long-term injuries, the backup players will take on an even more important role that could be the difference in success or the season’s failure. The New York Yankees may be in a better place than some teams because of their depth in the pen and on the bench.

The big problem for manager Aaron Boone this season will be dealing with using players efficiently but at the same time saving them for a postseason run. That is something that is always dealt with, but this season is unique. Pitchers and the lineup will play 162 games after only playing 60 games last season. No matter how much a player works out in the offseason or pushes himself in spring training, moving to play nearly three times as many games this season will be a strain on all involved.

So today, we look at the Yankee depth. As it appears now, ace Gerrit Cole will lead off the rotation, followed by Corey Kluber, Jameson Taillon, Jordan Montgomery, and a fifth starter yet to be determined. The Yankees have several arms they could use, including Deivi Garcia, who made his Major League debut last season, Jonathan Loaisiga, Clarke Schmidt, Michael King, and of course Domingo German, who was 18-4 in a shortened 2019 season. So the backups are pretty good, but the same may not true of the bullpen.

The Yankees this year are minus Tommy Kahnle, Adam Ottavino, Jonathan Holder, and Ben Heller. They did make a smart move hiring Darren O’Day, one of the best relievers out there. He had a tiny ERA of just 1.10 last season. The Yankees have also brought back a few former Yankees to shore up the middle innings. Adam Warren and Nestor Cortes Jr. are back with the team, but the Yankees still need at least another quality arm out of the pen.

EmpireSportsMedia.com’s Nathan Solomon reports, the New York Yankees are in “serious talks” with LHP Justin Wilson. The 33-year-old is one of the few relief arms still available on the market and one of the most desired ones. Wilson spent the past two seasons with the New York Mets and had a one-year stint with the Yankees in 2015. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 5th round of the 2008 MLB draft and debuted with the team in 2012.

Part 2 of this article will speak to the bench players and minor leaguers that will back up the regular lineup.

New York Yankees in “serious talks” with Justin Wilson

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New York Yankees, Justin Wilson

According to reports, the New York Yankees are in “serious talks” with LHP Justin Wilson. The 33-year-old is one of the few relief arms still available on the market, and one of the most desired ones.

Wilson spent the past two seasons with the New York Mets and had a one-year stint with the Yankees in 2015. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 5th round of the 2008 MLB draft and debuted with the team in 2012.

Following the 2014 season, the Yankees acquired Wilson in a deal for Francisco Cervelli. He was one of the Yankees’ top pitchers in 2015, finishing with a 3.10 ERA in 74 games.

Once again, Wilson was traded during the off-season, this time to the Detroit Tigers for Luis Cessa and Chad Green. He spent a season and a half with the Tigers before a 2017 trade deadline deal took him to the Chicago Cubs. Wilson was under the control of the Cubs through 2018 and then went to the Mets on a two-year deal beginning in 2019.

Across his nine-year career, Wilson has a 3.27 ERA in 480 games with a 3.34 FIP and a 123 ERA+. If the Yankees were to sign Wilson, he’d likely slide into a high-leverage, middle-relief option. With Chad Green, Zack Britton, and Aroldis Chapman controlling the back-end of the bullpen, the Yankees have looked to add middle-relief options all winter. They signed Darren O’Day to a one-year deal and signed Adam Warren and Kyle Barraclough to minor league deals.

The Yankees have made a big bullpen splash this off-season, and if they sign Justin Wilson, they’ll bolster their bullpen even more.

New York Yankees: The “Big Maple” to Seattle, Yankees hire a lefty and more

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The New York Yankees ex-pitcher James Paxton the “Big Maple” is no longer a free agent after not being resigned by the Yankees. Paxton will be returning to his old team the Seattle Mariners. After an injury-plagued season last year with the Yankees, Paxton will be taking a big pay cut moving to the west coast. Last season he earned almost $13 million with the Yankees. In the upcoming season, Paxton will get a paycheck of only $8.5 million which is certainly not chump change for the 32-year-old.

Paxton went 15-6 with a 3.82 ERA in 29 starts for the Yankees in 2019 and had a 3.46 ERA in three postseason starts. Last season just before spring training Paxton had to have back surgery, which caused him to start late, then he suffered a flexor stain allowing him to pitch in just five games for the Yankees during 2020. Now that Paxton is back in Seattle where he will enjoy a bit of notoriety, Aaron Judge has his Judge’s chambers, and Pax will have his “Maple Grove.” Paxton also has some incentives attached to his contract that could bring his pay up to $10 million.

This deal works for both parties as the Mariners, after success, last year will again go with a six-man pitching rotation. Extra-depth never hurts. For Paxton, it will give him a season to regain his reputation before becoming a free agent again. The signing of the one year deal means that all the pitchers the Yankees let walk are now with other teams. Mashiro Tanaka went back to Japan to play with the Eagles and J.A. Happ is now with the Minnesota Twins.

Yankees sign lefty outfielder

The Yankees reportedly have given a minor league contract to former Philadelphia Philly Jay Bruce. Bruce is a 33-year-old veteran outfielder that can play anywhere in the outfield. Bruce will earn $1.35 million with the Yankees if he makes the 2021 team. The deal also includes bonuses based on the number of plate appearances.

For the New York Yankees, this is a depth move that will also provide a lefty bat to the lineup if he is used. The Bruce signing does not rule out a reunion with Brett Gardner, but it does make it less likely. Bruce, 33, batted .198/.252/.469 with six home runs and 14 RBIs in 32 games for the Phillies last season. A three-time National League All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, the left-handed-hitting outfielder owns a career .245/.314/.469 slash line (108 OPS+) with 318 home runs and 948 RBIs over 1,640 games with the Reds, Mets, Indians, Mariners, and Phillies. The Yankees have not confirmed the deal.

Could the Yankees be reuniting with Justin Wilson?

Reports surfaced yesterday that the team had considered reuniting with Justin Wilson. The left-hander had a successful year in pinstripes back in 2015, and he’s coming off a solid two-season stretch with the Mets during which he managed a 143 ERA+. Apparently, the Yankees are still in on a reunion with the lefty, who spent 2015 setting up Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller at Yankee Stadium.

He’d be a catch (especially as the fifth-most-important in the pecking order), but his projected cost has long been about $5 million annually on a multi-year deal. Would the Yankees really go that high with a de facto salary cap in place? A move to bring Wilson back who is one of the best lefties on the market would eat up most if not all of the Yankees’ wiggle room to stay under the $210 luxury tax threshold. It would also prevent the New York Yankees from bringing back centerfielder Brett Gardner if they stick to the plan to stay below that tax line.