Under The Knife 7/24/23

Deep Cuts

I’m trying something a bit different this week as we head into the trade deadline. I’ve always heard things in the trade market since I’m regularly talking to people inside of teams to get the injury info. These same people are checking medicals, talking with other front office people and other teams, so that gossip often comes back to me. I never want to be just that, but I see all of baseball through the lens of injuries and it’s often a key component in trades. A team loses a player or pitcher and has to fill the gap, or someone’s performance isn’t what it was expected to be, leaving the GM to look for opportunities to improve. Teams will see the need for at-bats and innings more this year with the increase in injuries.

So, subscribers will find “Knife Notes” — it’s an homage to Peter Gammons, not a rip off! — at the end of UTK this week and next. I’m hoping nothing happens big enough for a Flash this week, but I’m not ruling that out either. A lot of what we get in trade talks is noise, but there’s never something said without reason. Listen closely to the best connected people and you’ll get nuggets of information even if the trades they talk about don’t happen. Players a team is willing to trade might be on the outs, or might get a lower contract offer next time. If a team is looking at a position, you’ll see how they evaluate themselves. I hope I’ll add a little bit to the conversation, but it will be behind the paywall as a bonus to subscribers.

For now, let’s get to the injuries:

JOSE TREVINO, C NYY (sprained wrist)
AARON JUDGE, OF NYY (sprained toe)

I saw Jomboy calling this a Yankee Special - a player fighting through injury, putting up below expected numbers, and then finally giving out. It’s harsh, but it’s not unreasonable given the sheer numbers of injuries and how they’ve been managed by the Yankees. Trevino’s sprained wrist will need a fix, similar to what he had in 2020. He’s been a solid pickup, the kind of backup/platoon catcher that the Yankees will now need to go out and get before the deadline. The problem is, there’s not many out there.

The news is better for Aaron Judge. He played in a sim game, taking sixteen swings with no hits and five foul balls. That’s not ideal and might go against him as he continues to argue about not needing a rehab assignment. He’s worn different protection for his foot in his two visible hitting sessions, so it’s likely some trial and error for what he’s comfortable with. Judge is getting close, but my guess is he goes on a rehab assignment with the team saying “go hit some homers and we’ll call you up quickly.”

COREY SEAGER, SS TEX (sprained thumb)
NATHAN EOVALDI, SP TEX (no injury)