Cameron Maybin activated by Yankees for Friday's game against the Red Sox
Yankees leftfielder Cameron Maybin looks on against the Astros at Yankee Stadium on June 20, 2019. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
BOSTON – The Yankees would have preferred Cameron Maybin get at least another couple of minor league rehab games under his belt before bringing him back from the injured list.
But when Brett Gardner went to the IL Thursday with inflammation in his left knee, the club, still not trusting that Clint Frazier has fixed his fielding issues, the Yankees activated Maybin for Friday night’s game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Maybin, who played with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Thursday afternoon in Columbus and traveled with the team that night to Louisville, was slated to fly to Boston Friday and be in uniform for the second game of the four-game series against the Red Sox.
The Yankees announced on Friday that lefthanded pitcher Stephen Tarpley was optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make room for Maybin.
Frazier, though remaining a trade chip, has seen his value decline among opposing club talent evaluators for a variety of reasons, including his fielding difficulties.
The 32-year-old Maybin, who performed well for the Yankees after being acquired April 25 from the Indians for cash considerations, went to the IL June 22 with a left calf strain. Maybin went 6-for-13 with a homer and two doubles in three games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. And though he had yet to play a full nine innings, which the Yankees had ultimately wanted him to do, Gardner’s injury accelerated the clock. The Yankees played with just three outfielders in Thursday night’s 19-3 loss to the Red Sox, with third baseman Gio Urshela serving as the emergency outfielder. Urshela actually saw time in left in the eighth inning of the blowout loss and recorded two outs.
Maybin, hitting .216 with a .663 OPS for the Indians’ Triple-A Columbus affiliate at the time of the trade, hit .314 with an .891 OPS with five homers and 14 RBIs in 42 games with the Yankees before getting hurt.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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