Toe injury lands DJ LeMahieu on 10-day IL
The Yankees' DJ LeMahieu returns to the dugout after he struck out swinging to end an MLB game against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 18. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Yankees on Thursday placed DJ LeMahieu on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Monday, with inflammation in his right second toe.
LeMahieu had been dogged by the injury for weeks and has been a shell of his former self at the plate. Manager Aaron Boone, who is usually extremely optimistic about his players’ injuries, sounded slightly less so about LeMahieu.
Asked if he was worried LeMahieu may not come back this season, Boone said: “I’m concerned about it, obviously, because DJ’s been dealing with this for a few weeks where it’s clearly compromised him. So, yeah, there’s that concern. But there’s also hope with that. Hopefully, there are things that – on top of this timeout, this rest – that he can get back to being really productive for us.”
LeMahieu has two hits in his last 38 at-bats.
“Playing through (the injury), we haven’t been able to get there,” Boone said. “Hopefully, this is something – I know they’re talking about a lot of different things they can possibly do – and we’ll see how it works.”
Miguel Andujar, who was sent down after Wednesday’s doubleheader, was called back up to replace LeMahieu on the roster.
Nestor Cortes was activated off the IL to start Thursday. Deivi Garcia was returned to Scranton after getting called up on Wednesday.
More injury updates
Boone said Anthony Rizzo (headaches after epidural shot for back) was still in the lying down stage of his recovery, as doctors have ordered, and the hope is the headaches will be gone when he is allowed to move around.
“We have a better idea (Friday) about course of action,” Boone said. “When he starts to get up and move around, if the headaches are gone, then it’s a situation where we can start ramping him up.”
Giancarlo Stanton (sore foot) pinch hit Thursday night and struck out with two runners on to end the eighth inning.
Luis Severino (lat strain) could make another minor-league rehab start after he threw 45 pitches in four innings for Double-A Somerset on Wednesday. The Yankees haven’t decided yet, but three off days in an eight-day span beginning on Monday give them a chance to reset their rotation a bit.
“He’s doing well,” Boone said. “I watched his outing (on video). I thought he threw the ball well. That’s something now that we’ll make a decision.”
Reliever Lou Trivino, who was unavailable Wednesday with back spasms, said it’s a condition he’s had before and it usually clears up in two or three days.
“Nothing crazy,” he said. “Just annoying.”
Jeter ceremony
The Yankees will honor former captain Derek Jeter for his 2020 Hall of Fame election with a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. before Friday’s game against Tampa Bay.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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