Death, taxes, and the New York Yankees losing important players to injuries in spring training. No three things in life have been more certain!
The Bronx Bombers’ run of bad luck in this department continued on Wednesday, the first day of spring training for pitchers and catchers. Manager Aaron Boone took the podium and announced two inconvenient, but not necessarily devastating injuries.
On the pitching side, righty Scott Effross had back surgery in December and only recently began his throwing program. The sinkerballer now won’t be back until the summer after missing all of 2023 with Tommy John surgery.
And because baseball loves irony, catcher Jose Trevino is out of action for a bit after straining his calf last week. Per Joel Sherman at the Post, Trevino “won’t play the first few weeks of spring training games.”
Like I said. Inconvenient, but not devastating.
Effross came to the Yankees in a trade with the Cubs at the 2022 trade deadline and posted a 2.13 ERA with three saves in 13 games before getting hurt. Lucky for the Yankees, general manager Brian Cashman builds bullpens in his sleep. He probably already knows who will fill Effross’ slot in the meantime.
Trevino’s situation is a bit more complicated. He fell back to Earth hard in 2023 after earning a Gold Glove and All-Star selection in ’22. Trevino, who was playing through a tear in his wrist, hit just .210 with four home runs in 55 games before having surgery in July. It was expected he would be the starting catcher before gradually shifting to a platoon share with Austin Wells.
While Trevino recovers, the Yankees should expect Ben Rortvedt and Josh Breaux to get most of the catching reps behind Wells. Even then, Trevino shouldn’t miss much time. Spring training games don’t start until Feb. 24, so we’ll probably see him back on the field in mid-March.
In the meantime, let’s see how Wells handles the big chair.
