Yankees don’t have clear Justin Wilson answer after positive MRI results

Yankees reliever Justin Wilson’s left shoulder MRI came back on Wednesday, indicating he’s either entirely clean or his shoulder was extremely beefed when he arrived at camp.

One of the two!

We’re kidding, of course, but the Yanks don’t have much additional clarity on what’s plaguing their late-inning lefty despite an overall positive update on his Tuesday examination.

According to a mid-game update Wednesday, the MRI didn’t find anything inconsistent with his previous exams, nor did it pick up on anything actionable.

Wilson will now continue to build up his strength in the coming days, and presumably won’t be out long-term recovering from some sort of surgical procedure.

With Opening Day only a week away, will Wilson’s anti-inflammatories kick in on time? Will he be able to make up the progress lost to the winter storm that hit Texas several weeks back? We’re not ones to speculate, but … seems doubtful.

Will Yankees reliever Justin Wilson be ready for Opening Day? Well…

Even though the Yankees didn’t get disastrous news on Wilson, that still likely leaves him out of the Opening Day mix, joining Zack Britton (elbow) and Aroldis Chapman (suspension from 200 years ago).

Of the relievers who were expected to handle late-inning duties for the Bombers a month ago, only Darren O’Day and Chad Green are officially cleared for takeoff next week. That means Jonathan Loaisiga and Nick Nelson will be pressed into different duties quicker than anticipated.

We can’t complain about this update — after all, did anyone have a single thought without the word “surgery” in the word cloud as Wilson begged for mercy from the dugout?

Despite the positivity, this still ranks as an additional hole heading into the regular season.

Lucas Luetge, a feel-good story who had a real roster path open up with the loss of Britton, might not even be the “last man” on the roster bubble at this point.

FanGraphs’ analysis from a few weeks ago, which included Tyler Lyons on the Opening Day roster, might’ve been oddly prescient.

Aaron Boone explicitly told the gathered media that a six-man rotation wasn’t really being considered, a sentiment that rang very true after Deivi Garcia’s hittable stinkbomb on Wednesday.

That leaves Luetge and Lyons/Kyle Barraclough for two ‘pen spots, though it probably won’t be that way for long.

We can exhale temporarily, but we still haven’t gained much roster clarity after Wednesday’s update.

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