A DL Stint for Jacoby Ellsbury Looks Increasingly Likely

With Jacoby Ellsbury and Mark Teixeira both day-to-day because of nagging injuries, the Yankees are in the problematic position of playing with a 23 man roster. Ellsbury injured his right hip running the bases on Friday night against the Red Sox, while Teixeira was first sidelined Tuesday with neck spasms that he says have been affecting him for a while now this season. Neither were available for Wednesday night’s game. For what it’s worth, both players have a reputation for being brittle guys who are slow to recover from ailments.

The lineup is already weakened by the absence of Alex Rodriguez, so it’s understandable that the team is not rushing to have Ellsbury join him on the disabled list. However, Wednesday night was the fifth game the team will be without their centerfielder. He’s reportedly not progressed beyond some light jogging. Until Ellsbury is able to test his hip by sprinting, the Yankees really have no idea how bad the issue is. Girardi told reporters that the plan is to try and get him into a game this weekend as long as everything goes as expected.

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If the team waits a week and then decides to put him on the DL, they will have played shorthanded for all that time for no good reason. With Aaron Hicks, Dustin Ackley, and Ben Gamel all pressed into the starting lineup to replace A-Rod, Tex, and Ellsbury, New York is left with only Austin Romine and Ronald Torreyes on the bench. Joe Girardi’s hands are basically tied strategically. Pinch hitters, pinch runners, and defensive replacements in key situations are just not an option. It’s just a matter of time before that comes back to bite them in a close game.

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Teixeira is expected to be available for Thursday night’s game which will ease the pressure somewhat, but the team still needs to decide what to do about Ellsbury. Each game that ticks by without significant progress from the veteran makes it that much more likely that he’ll need to hit the disabled list at some point.