These days, Yankees aren’t safe even when they’re not on the field.
Carlos Beltran hyperextended his right elbow taking swings between at-bats during Monday’s 9-7 loss to the Mets at The Stadium.
Joe Girardi said Beltran underwent an MRI exam and the Yankees would wait for the results before making a decision about the disabled list.
“I’m concerned because it was enough to take himself out of the game,” Girardi said. “I didn’t have a long conversation with him about how sore he was. He seemed pretty upset.”
Beltran wasn’t the only player unavailable to Girardi by the end of Monday’s game, with Ichiro Suzuki day-to-day with a back injury suffered trying to make a catch in Milwaukee on Sunday.
“For Ichiro not to hit on the field [during pregame batting practice], I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that,” Girardi said.
With Mark Teixeira and Shawn Kelley also battling injuries, the Yankees are shorthanded, but the possible loss of Beltran clearly seemed to be the major issue following Monday’s game.
Beltran, serving as the DH, was replaced by John Ryan Murphy in the seventh and then Teixeira pinch hit for Murphy in the ninth.
Even before he left Monday’s game, Beltran’s fast start to the season had become a distant memory.
He entered Monday night with just one homer and a .547 OPS over his previous 17 games and that’s before going hitless in three at-bats against the Mets.
Beltran had insisted he was healthy after flipping over the short fence at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. on April 17, but he hadn’t been effective. Now, he and the Yankees will have something else to overcome.
Girardi recently admitted he wasn’t convinced Beltran was completely healthy. Now, there’s no telling when Beltran will be 100 percent.
And with Teixeira battling leg tightness, Brian McCann unable to get going and Alfonso Soriano always streaky, the Yankees can hardly afford to have the switch-hitting Beltran remain unproductive for long, regardless of his health.
That’s especially true considering the team’s current pitching situation, since the Yankees likely will need all the runs they can get with CC Sabathia and Michael Pineda out and a lot of unproven arms in the rotation.
When asked about the recent string of injuries being reminiscent of last season, Girardi chuckled.
“Someone brought up that this year it’s our pitchers instead of our position players, but they seemed to catch up pretty quick in one day,” he said.