Yankees to Pursue Heathcott and Campos

After non-tendering Slade Heathcott and Jose Campos last week,Brian Cashman, GM of the New York Yankees, told ESPN’s Andrew Marchand that  he would try to get them back through minor league deals.

However, keeping those two around may not be the best strategy moving forward for the Bronx Bombers unless they’re trying to meet a “player prone to injury” quota. Both Heathcott and Campos have a history of injuries that have hampered their progress through the minor leagues.

“We’re hoping he’ll get healthy. Beyond that, I don’t really have expectations now. He’s had a hard time staying on the field. He works at it, so we’ve got that going for us”

In Heathcott’s case, he has only been able to play 309 games throughout 6 professional seasons. During that time he has undergone two shoulder surgeries and one knee surgery and has never had more than 400 AB’s during a season, even when healthy.

“We’re hoping he’ll get healthy. Beyond that, I don’t really have expectations now. He’s had a hard time staying on the field. He works at it, so we’ve got that going for us,” said Mark Newman, now former director of the New York Yankees farm system when Heathcott was shut down for the remainder of the 2014 season.

Campos on the other hand had been a consistent performer when not injured. For the 5 seasons he played he maintained an ERA of 3.37 and won 21 games. However, he did miss most of 2012 with an elbow injury and lost out on 2014 completely due to Tommy John surgery.

The problem with that surgery is that you don’t know how pitchers are going to react. Pitchers undergoing the procedure may come back better than before or they may never retake their form. That being said, the team should try to keep Campos on a short leash until they can determine how well the operation went.

Only time will tell where these two end up.