NEW YORK — Yankees right-hander Corey Kluber is expected to miss at least two months with a right shoulder injury and first baseman Luke Voit is also headed to the injured list with a right oblique strain.
New York Manager Aaron Boone announced the diagnoses shortly after the Yankees’ scheduled game against the Toronto Blue Jays was postponed due to a forecast of poor weather. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader Thursday.
Kluber was pulled after three innings Tuesday against Toronto in his first outing following a no-hitter last week. An MRI on his shoulder Wednesday revealed a subscapularis strain, which will keep Kluber from throwing for at least four weeks, followed by at least four weeks of rehabilitation.
The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner is being sent for a second MRI with dyeing, a more invasive exam to ensure there’s no other damage.
Kluber was coming off a 101-pitch effort against the Rangers for the 35-year-old’s first no-hitter. It was a milestone high for a former ace recently beset by injury – his 2019 season with Cleveland ended that May 1 when he was hit on the forearm by a comebacker, and his debut for Texas in 2020 lasted just one inning before he tore a muscle in his right shoulder on July 26.
Boone doesn’t believe the no-hitter caused Kluber’s injury. Kluber said Tuesday he felt some tightness in the shoulder warming up for Wednesday’s game, but it’s unclear what caused the injury.
Kluber dropped to 4-3 with a 3.04 ERA.
Deivi Garcia and Michael King are the chief candidates to fill his rotation spot. Garcia, currently with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, was already scheduled to rejoin the big league team and make a spot start this weekend against Detroit as New York plays 13 games in 13 days.
Voit’s diagnosis was even more of a shocker. Boone said the slugger began to feel discomfort in his side Saturday that worsened Tuesday, prompting an MRI that revealed a Grade 2 strain.
Voit, who led the majors with 22 home runs last season, is hitting .182 with one homer in 12 games after missing the start of the season following surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee during spring training.
DJ LeMahieu and Mike Ford are expected to fill in for Voit at first base. Miguel Andujar could also see time there.
New York is hoping to get slugger Giancarlo Stanton back from the injured list with a quadriceps injury this week. Stanton ran on the field Tuesday and Wednesday, and Boone said he’s eyeing a Friday return, although he didn’t rule out Stanton as an option for Thursday.
The Yankees are also without outfielder Aaron Hicks, who was scheduled to have left wrist surgery that could keep him out the rest of the season.
LeMahieu returned to the team Wednesday after going on the paternity list Tuesday for the birth of his first child. He was slated to play first base.
METS: Noah Syndergaard was pulled from his minor league rehabilitation outing because of soreness in his pitching elbow Tuesday night, and third baseman J.D. Davis returned to New York for more treatment in the latest setbacks for a first-place Mets team riddled with injuries.
Syndergaard is coming back from Tommy John surgery on March 26 last year. He threw four shutout innings with five strikeouts last Wednesday for Class A St. Lucie but lasted only one inning in his second start with the team.
“No one’s overly concerned,” Mets Manager Luis Rojas said, calling Syndergaard’s issue more like discomfort. “It just didn’t feel right.”
The Mets said Syndergaard was removed as a precaution. The hard-throwing right-hander had been on track for a mid-June return, but suddenly that appears uncertain at best.
“A speed bump on the road,” Rojas said after his team’s 3-1 win over Colorado. “Let’s see what comes out of it. We’ll reassess what the plan is after we find out what’s going on in there.”
The 28-year-old Syndergaard, an All-Star in 2016, is 47-30 with a 3.31 ERA in five major league seasons. He can become a free agent in the fall.
Davis has been out since May 1 with a sprained left hand. He was on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Syracuse, where he was expected to play at least three more games – including one at first base – before rejoining the Mets. But he took swings and grounders on a day off Monday and felt discomfort. So he returned to New York and an MRI showed inflammation in Davis’ joints, Rojas said.
Davis was 2 for 11 with one home run since starting at Syracuse on May 18. He is receiving treatment on his hand from the health and performance staff as the club determines the next step.
New York has 16 players on the injured list, most in the majors, and is missing three of its top five starting pitchers in Syndergaard, Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker.
Jacob DeGrom returned Tuesday from the IL and started for the Mets against the Rockies. He threw 63 pitches, allowing one run in five innings while striking out nine.
“To get Jake today I know is huge for everyone,” Rojas said before the game. “Definitely uplifting.”
A LINE OF BASEBALL CAPS launched Tuesday by New Era trying to celebrate big league cities was met by overwhelming criticism and appears to have already been shelved by the company. The “Local Market” hats were removed from New Era’s website hours after their introduction. The series included one cap for each team featuring the club’s primary logo, area codes for the surrounding communities and various iconography meant to represent the area.
There were several issues. The area code selection was inconsistent, including several notable omissions – the Tampa Bay Rays’ hat didn’t include St. Petersburg, where the team’s stadium is located, for example; the Pittsburgh Pirates’ version had no area codes at all. The decals were lampooned as tacky, generic and at times inaccurate – Cincinnati fans had particular beef over a poor rendering of their beloved local chili.
The caps were never meant to be worn by players in games, MLB said. New Era did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
SUSPENSION: Former New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway was suspended by Major League Baseball through at least the end of the 2022 season following an investigation of sexual harassment allegations.
Commissioner Rob Manfred did not release details of what MLB’s probe determined, but said in a statement “I have concluded that Mr. Callaway violated MLB’s policies, and that placement on the ineligible list is warranted.”
In a report published on Feb. 1, The Athletic said Callaway “aggressively pursued” several women who work in sports media and sent three of them inappropriate photos.
Callaway sent uninvited and sometimes unanswered messages to the women via email, text or social media and asked one to send nude photos in return, according to the report.
He often commented on their appearance in a way that made them uncomfortable and on one occasion “thrust his crotch near the face of a reporter” while she interviewed him, The Athletic said.
“We want to thank the many people who cooperated with our Department of Investigations in their work, which spanned Mr. Callaway’s positions with three different clubs,” Manfred said. “The clubs that employed Mr. Callaway each fully cooperated with DOI, including providing emails and assisting with identifying key witnesses.”
Manfred said once the 2022 season ends, Callaway can apply for possible reinstatement.
Callaway, 46, was the Cleveland Indians’ pitching coach for five years before managing the Mets from 2018-19. After he was fired by New York, he was hired in October 2019 as pitching coach of the Los Angeles Angels, who suspended him on Feb. 2.
BREWERS: Right-hander Josh Lindblom has been designated for assignment after struggling as he shifted from the starting rotation to a bullpen role this season.
Milwaukee made the move while recalling left-hander Eric Lauer from its Triple-A Nashville affiliate to start Wednesday night against the San Diego Padres.
Lindblom, who turns 34 on June 15, has a 9.72 ERA in eight relief appearances.
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