NEW YORK — We already knew that Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson was in danger of missing the rest of the season with a right calf injury.
A roster move on Thursday makes that doomsday scenario for the aging slugger even more of a reality.
Donaldson was transferred to the 60-day injured list, making him ineligible to return to the active roster until midway through September.
That means the Yankees are certain that Donaldson won’t be ready to return from a tear in his calf for the next two months, his second injury of the season that will keep him on the sidelines for two calendar flips. Donaldson missed much of April and all of May with a significant hamstring strain as well.
Want to bet on MLB?
See the best NYC Sports Betting sites
If there was any glimmer of hope that Donaldson could return earlier than that, the Yankees wouldn’t have made this move. That’s why Aaron Judge, for instance, hasn’t been moved to the 60-day injured list, even after more than a month has gone by since he hurt his right big toe. The Yankees believe the superstar will be ready to come back at some point before a 60-day stint of ineligibility would expire.
This is the type of roster move that you make when a player is nowhere near ready to come back from an injury, a move you make in this spot when someone is probably out for the year.
Donaldson was already coming to terms with the fact that he could be out for the rest of the season in the days after he returned to the IL, speaking to reporters in Anaheim earlier this week.
“Of course,” he said. “We’re getting to the point in the season where it’s late in the year and we’re running out of games.”
If he is done for the rest of the year, Donaldson finished his Yankees tenure with a nightmarish performance. The 37-year-old hit .142 over 33 games, striking out 32 times in 106 at-bats. The former MVP produced some encouraging advanced metrics with his quality of contact, swatting 10 home runs, but he had only five hits…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply