Yankees are becoming the Walking Wounded Once Again

Last season the Yankees experienced one of the greatest anomalies in baseball. New York made 39 moves pertaining to the injury list, and still, STILL, managed to win 103 games last season.

The Yankees were the walking wounded last season, but thanks to their incredible depth in the minor leagues, the Yankees were able to persevere and keep winning baseball games to position themselves for October.

It appears that 2020 might be no different.

The Yankees again are hurting.

- Aaron Hicks is likely out for most, if not the entire season as he recovers from Tommy John Surgery that he had in the off-season.

- James Paxton is recovering from back surgery and is expected back in May.

- Domingo German was suspended for domestic violence and will miss the first third of the season.

- Luis Severino went under the knife for Tommy John Surgery this past week after dealing with forearm stiffness in Spring Training. Severino's 2020 season is over, and the recovery time is likely going to impact his 2021 season as well.

- Aaron Judge is nursing a right shoulder injury, and if you believe reports in the New York Post, Sunday morning, the discomfort for Judge is also in his chest area under his pectoral muscle. Judge is expected to get more tests this week. The Yankees are still holding out hope he will be back by Opening Day.

- Then there is Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton suffered a grade 1 calf strain, and is in danger of missing the start of the season. This coming off a year where Stanton missed large chunks of time due to a calf strain, left biceps strain and right knee sprain.

It's bad news for a now-30-year-old outfielder who is under contract through 2027, and is set to make about $30 million a year in each of those years. There is an opt-out clause in his deal, but as many have reported, few expect him to leave that money on the table.

Speaking of money, Hicks is in the midst of a seven-year $70 million deal he signed last winter with the Yankees; Severino is in the midst of a four-year, $40 million he signed last winter as well. That's a lot of money on the injury list.

While most teams couldn't recover from such bad luck, the Yankees can. Why? Because they have the depth.

Replacing Judge and Stanton will be painful, but at last both players have a timetable to return within the first few weeks of the season. Not to mention the Yankees have no problem trotting out Mike Tauchman and Clint Fraizer into the outfield. Both players are good enough to be everyday starters elsewhere; their value to the Yankees even more important now.

Tauchman hit .277 with 13 homers and 47 RBI in 87 games last season for the Yankees. Frazer, who battled his own injuries last year, hit .267 with 12 homers and 38 RBI in 69 games last season. With rosters now expanded from 25 to 26, the Yankees were going to rely on both players anyway.

On the mound, the Yankees know they are getting Paxton back before the weather heats up in New York, and they already have a 1-2 punch that can carry them to the World Series in Gerrit Cole and Mashairo Tanaka. They don't need Severino to win a Championship. And considering they went almost the entire 2019 season without Severino on the hill and did just fine already speaks volumes.

You can feel bad for Severino, whose career is in question, but the Yankees machine keeps moving along.

Sure the nagging injuries are painful right now, annoying even, but the Yankees are built for this. Unless something debilitating happens to Judge, or Stanton, or even Cole or Tanaka, the Yankees will be fine as long as the others contribute at a high level like last year.