Yankees still can't figure out what's wrong with Clint Frazier
Yankees leftfielder Clint Frazier reacts after he struck out swinging against the Royals during the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium on June 22, 2021. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Yankees don’t appear any closer to figuring out what’s wrong with Clint Frazier.
Frazier was placed on the IL July 1 – a day after leaving the previous night’s game with complaints of dizziness – with what the Yankees at the time called "vertigo." But while that is still how it appears on the club’s game notes, Aaron Boone said weeks ago vertigo no longer was thought to be the issue.
What is?
It isn’t yet clear as Frazier has been undergoing testing for the better part of the month, with the Yankees adding what Boone called "a battery of neurological testing all day" that took place Monday and Tuesday in Michigan.
"I know it was extensive yesterday and today," Boone said before Tuesday’s game. "Hopefully we’ll have something for you tomorrow, but I don’t know much beyond that."
The 26-year-old Frazier, given the starting job in left before spring training began, struggled all season, hitting .186 with five homers and a .633 OPS in 66 games before going to the IL.
Cessa, Wilson dealt
The Yankees announced after Tuesday’s win that righthander Luis Cessa and lefty Justin Wilson had been traded to Cincinnati for a player to be named.
Cessa is 3-1 with a 2.82 ERA in 29 appearances. Wilson is 1-1 with a 7.50 ERA in 21 outings.
Voit by end of week?
Luke Voit, on the IL since July 13 with left knee inflammation, ran the bases for the first time in his rehab, doing so on the field here before Tuesday’s game.
"I would say very close," Boone said of Voit’s return. "We'll have a decision here probably in the next day or two on if he's potentially back at the end of this series [which ends Thursday], or I would think Miami for sure."
The Yankees start a three-game set against the Marlins on Friday night.
Roster doings
The Yankees made a slew of roster moves before Tuesday’s game. In addition to reinstating Kyle Higashioka and Aaron Judge from the COVID-19 IL, the Yankees added righty Clay Holmes, acquired the day before in a deal with the Pirates, to the active roster. The club also optioned righty Albert Abreu and OF Estevan Florial to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, transferred Michael King (right middle finger contusion) to the 60-day IL and placed righty Yoendrys Gomez, considered one of their better pitching prospects, to the COVID-19 IL.
