UPDATE: Down goes Grandy

UPDATE: Granderson’s MRI revealed a strain of internal oblique, and he is slightly concerned about being ready for Opening Day. Oh well, I guess we’re going to be seeing a lot more Andruw Jones…especially next Thursday 🙁

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Curtis Granderson became the latest Yankee to suffer an oblique injury, and he might not be ready for Opening Day.

Grandy was scratched from the lineup yesterday with a strained right oblique and there is concern he won’t be ready for Opening Day next Thursday.

He hasn’t been sent for an MRI, but he did get checked out by Dr. Allen Miller in Tampa.

Girardi:

"I believe there’s a chance he’s going to play Opening Day. Now, I haven’t talked to Geno yet about all the tests he’s been through, but I believe he’s got a chance to play Opening Day."

With the way Girardi is talking, it doesn’t sound good. If he’s saying Grandy has “a chance” to play next week, I’m not too optimistic about it. However, Opening Day really doesn’t mean much, it’s more about ceremonies and baseball just being back; I’d rather he missed 5-10 games early in the season as opposed to rushing back and risking further injury later on in the year.

In the mean time, Brett Gardner will take over in center tonight against the Blue Jays while Andruw Jones moves to left. Heaven help us if we’re subjected to a long stretch of Jones in the outfield.

Grandy joins Joba, Meattray and Greg Golson as Yankees who have missed time this spring due to an oblique injury. Joba returned yesterday and fanned two and gave up a homer while hitting 95 in an inning of work — his first since March 11. Golson also returned yesterday.

Girardi:

"Let’s let him go through tests and get back to swinging a bat before we say he’s through the woods. Golson was about 10 days before he started swinging a bat. Serge was three days (before pitching again). You just kind of have to wait to see how each body (responds). Goley was more demonstrative about (the injury) than Curtis."

"We told him, look Curtis, we don’t need to rush this back where you say I have to play by Friday or Saturday. You don’t have to do that. Let’s just make sure that when you’re ready to go, you’re (really) ready to go."

Those two quotes right there lead me to believe that Grandy won’t be patrolling center come next Thursday. But, as I said before, it’s better to have him miss a few games early on rather than suffer a worse injury later on.

Girardi (on the numerous oblique injuries):

"(The staff) talked about it yesterday. Is there anything (causing it)? It’s really not much different than what we ddi last year. It’s the same thing it’s just, for whatever reason, it’s happening this year. Maybe it’s the heat. It’s hot, the guys get dehydrated. That could be part of it. Last year they were hydrated. It rained every day."

In other news, the Yanks claimed lefty Jose Ortegano off waivers from the Bravos and optioned him to Triple-A. He didn’t exactly light it up in Triple-A Gwinnett last season, but I guess having another lefty arm in the minors couldn’t hurt.