Are the Yankees unlucky in health and lucky in everything else?
The question first emerged in The Post’s consciousness when news broke Sunday the White Sox were placing their rookie slugger Jose Abreu on the disabled list with tendinitis in his left ankle. That means Abreu — the major-league leader in home runs, with 15 — will miss the Yankees’ lone visit to U.S. Cellular Field this week, the middle leg of an unusual two-city, three-series road trip that begins Tuesday night with the Yankees taking on the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
The Yankees already played the Cubs, the National League’s worst team, twice at Yankee Stadium, sweeping them (and shutting them out altogether) in a day-night doubleheader on April 16. The other NL club which they received the privilege of playing four times? The Mets, whom you might have heard aren’t very good.
And the Cardinals, who will host the Yankees on the final leg of this trip, are experiencing a turbulent defense of their NL title, with both their bullpen and their offense struggling. They really miss their right fielder from last year, that Beltran guy.
If the Yankees are to overcome their myriad injuries that already have struck them in the season’s first quarter, with The Post’s Joel Sherman reporting CC Sabathia (right knee) won’t return until July at the earliest, then they’ll probably need the baseball gods to keep smiling upon them. Just as they did last year, allowing them to at least stay in the hunt until the season’s final week.
Carlos Beltran of course won’t get his standing ovation at Busch Stadium on Memorial Day, as the 37-year-old is on the disabled list with a right elbow injury and could miss considerable time. When you add the salaries Beltran, Sabathia, Ivan Nova (Tommy John surgery), Shawn Kelley (back) and Michael Pineda (right shoulder blade), you get about $44 million of Yankees salaries currently on the disabled list.
That’s a pittance compared to last year’s injury onslaught, when Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira each missed the bulk of the season. But it’s still considerable. It’s partly a by-product, too, of relying on so many older players, a strategy that paid off quite well for many Yankees seasons until 2013.
Last season, the Yankees deserved credit for outperforming their meager talent. Yet they also received some good fortune outside of the injury front. Their 85-77 record exceeded their expected record, based on their negative run differential of 650-671, by six games. That’s why Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said during spring training, “When you take a sledgehammer to the roster like we did this winter and spend the money we did, it’s more reflective of recognizing. Of not being fooled.”
The Yankees enter the Windy City once again with a winning record, 23-20, and a negative run differential, 188-196. They’ve overachieved by two games, as per the math. That’s a testament to an overall strong bullpen, with excellent performances from new closer David Robertson and new setup men Adam Warren and Dellin Betances, as well as some good old-fashioned luck that shows up in their 6-3 record in one-run games.
Even more important on the luck scale, the Yankees find themselves atop the unusually underwhelming American League East, a half-game up on the Orioles (22-20) with their so-so record. If the Yankees owned a 23-20 record last year at this juncture, they would have found themselves in third place in the division, behind the Red Sox (26-17) and Orioles (23-19) and just ahead of the Rays (22-20).
Maybe this will season will continue to be an AL East aberration. Perhaps this is finally the year the Rays stop running intellectual laps around everyone else, and few will be surprised if the Blue Jays (currently 23-22) eventually sink.
The Yankees will take all the breaks they can get, whether it’s from the schedule-maker, their division neighbors or just positive karma. Because it sure seems like their disabled list, both the cause of and solution to their bad luck, won’t be empty any time soon.