Via the indispensable Bryan Hoch of MLB.com:
Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte was forced to leave his start against the Orioles on Wednesday with what an MRI examination revealed to be mild inflammation of his pitching elbow.The Yankees said that Pettitte will be treated conservatively and evaluated on a daily basis. Pettitte completed just five innings against Baltimore, hurling 77 pitches, before exiting with a lead and complaining of stiffness in his elbow area. He picked up his fourth victory in the Bombers’ 7-5 win.
Though this is a significant issue for the Yankees to overcome – Pettitte may or may not make his next start against Detroit, as Brian Cashman has indicated that the latter is most likely – for now, with some legitimate pitching depth in the form of Alfredo Aceves and Sergio Mitre, this is more a jab than it is a knockout. While Pettitte could miss some time, the Yankees will be able to absorb the loss, at least in the short-term. With an injured Andy Pettitte, “fixing” Javier Vazquez becomes an even more pressing issue. If he can right the ship, Pettitte’s status becomes less of a concern.
Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
If Javy Vazquez turns around pitches like we all thought he would, believe it or not we could lose Andy for the whole season and be fine. Were already getting WAY more out of Hughes (and AJ ) than anyone could have expected, so with Javy contributing we would essentially be looking for a 5th starter.
But this does not appear to be serious, so even without Vazquez getting his act together this appears to be a bump in the road for an aging pitcher. Steve S.(Quote)
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Hi Steve.. the “if”is turned the other way, javy don’t turn it around and pettitte goes down for a month or more we are in big trouble..the pen has problems already…i can’t fathom no Mo for much longer, robertson’s problems are getting out of control..i feel bad for him..boy do we need him to get back in form, i think we go with an extra bullpen guy now with 17 games in a row..mitre will get pettitte’s spot i think.., what do you think.. bornwithpinstripes(Quote)
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Steve S. Reply:
May 6th, 2010 at 6:53 am
Big trouble is overstating it. We already have 3 starters pitching like #1s. Aceves and Mitre could slot into those last two spots, and be around league average between the two of them with one being a bit better and the other a bit worse. I think Aceves would be the one who outperforms there. But if that was the case, we’d still be fine.
But I still strongly believe Vazquez will get straightened out, unless he’s hiding an injury. In which case, we’d still win 100+. Steve S.(Quote)
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bornwithpinstripes Reply:
May 6th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
I hope your right about vazquez..we also need alex ,tex and nick to pick it up now, the extra runs would rest the bullpen and of coarse the starters.. melancon coming back up? looks like we will need one more guy if robertson hit the wall again…i really hope he gets right quick.. bornwithpinstripes(Quote)
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This is really the best news we could have hoped for. I’d expect him to miss 2-3 starts and then be fine. DaveinMD(Quote)
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