Last season Brett Gardner broke his thumb while playing in the outfield, and the injury caused him to spend over a month on the DL.
This season, that was mostly an afterthought until the other day, when the Yankees pulled Gardner from the lineup.
After the game manager Joe Girardi informed reporters of the reason, and Gardner told them that the same thumb that he broke last season was often sore, but this was the only time it was bad enough to come out of a game.
So the Yankees sent Gardner in for an X-ray, which came back negative, but the Yankees still haven’t felt comfortable enough to use Gardner as anything other than a pinch runner.
He’s also scheduled to receive an MRI when the Yankees get back to New York tomorrow.
This is probably just precautionary, but the fact that a broken thumb from last season is still a lingering pain for Gardy does raise some concern.
When Curtis Granderson landed on the DL last month, it really hurt the Yankees both defensively and with their offensive consistency. If Gardner lands on the DL too, it could become a big problem for the Yankees and force them to deal for an outfielder.
Like I said though, the MRI is probably just precautionary. He isn’t likely to be in the lineup tonight and probably not tomorrow either. The Yankees can deal with that, but anything beyond that might send them to the phones looking for outfield help.
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