Luke Voit goes on injured list with bone bruise in left knee
Luke Voit of the Yankees scores a run during the sixth inning against the Mets at Yankee Stadium on July 3. Credit: Jim McIsaac
As if losing six players to the COVID-19 list wasn’t bad enough, the Yankees also lost Luke Voit to the injured list Friday — a bone bruise in the left knee he had surgically repaired.
Aaron Boone said Voit experienced swelling over the weekend and had his knee drained but was experiencing lingering pain in the area. The plan was to have him get a platelet-rich plasma injection Friday, which will involve some downtime, and then hope to see progress from there.
Boone said there is no timetable for his return but that "we’re at least optimistic" that it won’t be a long-term injury.
"This is not something that’s overly common [in people who have knee surgery] necessarily, but it is something that can happen," Boone said. "I don’t think they’re overly concerned that it’s a recurring or structural thing. I think he’s just dealing with the bone bruise."
Closer conundrum
With Aroldis Chapman continuing to struggle, Boone is left with a question mark come the ninth inning. He still hopes his closer can find his old form, and the only way to do that might just be to throw him back into the fire.
"I wouldn’t hesitate to put him in a lower-leverage, medium-leverage situation, but where we are right now, I’m also not going to hesitate to put him in the biggest spot in the ninth inning," Boone said, adding that for the Yankees to be at their best, they need Chapman to perform in his closer role. "I think one good outing would go a long way for him to get locked back in and get that tremendous confidence that he’s known for. Hopefully that can happen as early as tonight."
Chapman is in the worst slump of his career, having allowed nine runs, six hits and eight walks in 2 1/3 innings in his last four appearances for a 34.71 ERA.
"I do think it’s a matter of getting out there and finding his delivery early, executing a couple pitches,'' Boone said, "and I think it can really snowball and take off from there and hopefully we can get that outing sooner rather than later."
Stanton in RF?
Even though Aaron Judge landed on the COVID-19 list, the Yankees are avoiding using Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield because Boone said they have enough bodies that can play the position, thanks to all their call-ups. Stanton likely will be in play at the end of the month, though, Boone said, when the Yankees play the Marlins in Miami and lose the designated hitter.
Andujar, Frazier updates
Miguel Andujar received a cortisone shot in his injured left hand Friday and will be shut down for a few days. Clint Frazier (dizziness) is having further tests on his vision to see what’s causing the problem. Doctors have experimented with contacts and have ruled out more serious diagnoses, Boone said.
Rotation switches
Though Domingo German was slated to kick off the second half in Thursday’s game, which was postponed, Boone opted to go with Jordan Montgomery on Friday because he liked how the rotation would line up against opponents. Gerrit Cole will pitch on Saturday, Jameson Taillon will go on Sunday, and German now will pitch Tuesday — a slot that originally belonged to Nestor Cortes Jr., who is on the COVID-19 list.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
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