The Yankees made a series of roster moves earlier today, one of which involved placing right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga on the 15-day IL due to elbow inflammation. A pitcher going down with any sort of elbow problem is always a concern, and manager Aaron Boone spoke with reporters (including Jack Curry of the YES Network) and said Loaisiga had an MRI that did not show any structural damage.
The Yankees say Loaisiga does have some swelling in the joint though, and he won’t throw for a couple of weeks. With that in mind, even Loaisiga returns to throwing in two weeks he’ll need a bit of time to ramp up before the Yankees can call on him out of their big league bullpen, so while it doesn’t appear that this is an overly serious injury it seems Loaisiga’s stay on the IL will extend a bit beyond the minimum 15 days.
That’s a blow for a Yankees bullpen that is already without Tommy Kahnle, and has seen the usually dominant Michael King dealing with some drops in velocity. Loaisiga has been one of the best relievers in the game, and as Curry notes, owns a 1.56 ERA over his past 37 games.
Here’s some more injury notes from around the game:
- Sticking with the Yankees, and Boone said infield prospect Oswald Peraza is dealing with a hamstring issue which is why he hasn’t played the last few games for Triple-A Scranton (via Curry). While Boone says it’s not a serious injury, it probably ruled the youngster out of being called up to the big leagues when they placed Josh Donaldson on the IL today. The team opted to instead select the contract of Willie Calhoun, but it’s also possible they’d have rather kept Peraza at Triple-A getting everyday at-bats. Peraza’s gone 7-24 with three walks and seven strikeouts over his first six games with Scranton.
- The Pirates provided an update on catcher Austin Hedges today, with manager Derek Shelton telling reporters (including Justice delos Santos of MLB.com) that Hedges is “trending in the right direction.” The veteran catcher caught a bullpen today and will hit in the cage. Hedges was placed on the seven-day concussion list during the week. It’s still unclear if the Pirates will be comfortable activating Hedges immediately after the seven days are up. Hedges has appeared in three games so far, failing to tally a hit in nine plate appearances. In his absence, the Pirates called up Tyler Heineman to catch alongside regular backup Jason Delay.
- Finally, the Orioles should have veteran backstop James McCann back with the team shortly, per Roch Kubatko of MASN. McCann is yet to debut for the Orioles as he works his way back from an oblique strain. McCann has been playing in an rehab assignment at High-A, and will catch there again tonight. Kubatko suggests it’s possible that McCann is activated as early as tomorrow.
