The Yankees Outfield is an Injury Hot Spot

Plus, a minor leaguer weighed down with money. [View this email in your browser]( The Yankees Outfield is an Injury Hot Spot It wasn’t long ago when the best descriptor, following ‘powerful’, for the [Yankees]( outfield was [‘overcrowded’](. With the find of [Giancarlo Stanton]( at the [Marlins]( garage sale, the Yankee Stadium grass turned yellow at the long list of outfielders who might be trouncing upon it. Stanton,[Brett Gardner]( Hicks]( [Aaron Judge]( [Jacoby Ellsbury]( and [Clint Frazier]( all sat in the Yankees arsenal at the start of spring. Then the list shortened. Ahead of Opening Day, the injury bug eliminated Ellsbury (oblique strain) and Frazier (concussion complications). Only two days of the season were needed for the bug to catch back up to its old pal Hicks (strained intercostal muscle). [Billy McKinney]( call-up directed him right into the contagion and went down Saturday (shoulder sprain) after a wall collision, and the story leaves us there. Injury was kind to the Yankees and rookie manager Aaron Boone by ignoring the two rocks of the outfield, Judge and Stanton (who possibly are built out of actual stone), leaving Boone to play with puzzle pieces to fill the third position. Gardner has served as one of those pieces. Boone is understandably worried about keeping the grizzled veteran in centerfield for a multi-game period, and Judge played his first game in center as a result. But Gardner was included in the home run spike of 2017, hitting the 20 homer mark for the first time and reaching his highest WAR since 2011. Building on that and his 17 DRS in left field in 2017 would make him a more workable puzzle piece. Still, the injuries haven’t touched the Yankees’ expected dominance. There’s still an emphatic super in front of super-team. But the snow that postponed the Yankees' Monday home opener still feels like the only thing staving off more injuries. [FanGraphs produces over 400 articles each month, in addition to our ever-growing database of stats and graphs. Support our efforts today!]( Today on FanGraphs: [Yasmany Tomas Is the Most Expensive Minor Leaguer]( Yasmany Tomas didn't become the most expensive minor leaguer overnight. The road that led him there mostly points straight down, though. [Subscribe to our Podcasts!]( Catch up on past newsletters or pass along to a friend [here](. Data Visualization of the Day: [The Pirates’ Way in the Era of Launch]( How do pitchers fight against the home run revolution? The Pirates rotation might have something figured out. Excerpt from "[From Sportsmen to Investment Bankers: The Evolution of Baseball’s Owners]( by Jack Moore "The very framing–players versus owners–changes when the owners are no longer people rooted to a city but are instead amorphous representatives of capital. What binds this new kind of owner to a city? What compels them (or sometimes it) to try to win? Why should they care about the product on the field, particularly when profitability will hardly differ whether a team wins 62, 72 or 82 games?" [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2018 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book](//fangraphs.us7.list-manage.com/vcard?u=72096bce9a69ba4cbdebbf487&id=0c7da3c69f) Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](