Yankees make series of roster moves on eve of Opening Day

Ready for Opening Day, New York Yankees fans? We’re mere HOURS away at this point.

But the team has been sorting out some transactions due to some late injuries in spring training, so we got some roster moves at the 11th hour on Wednesday evening.

The Bombers are locked and loaded, ready to face the Toronto Blue Jays at the Stadium on Thursday, but they’ll unfortunately be without some integral players.

Zack Britton, Luke Voit, Justin Wilson and Miguel Andújar are the latest players to get official injured list designations, and here’s everything fans need to know before first pitch at 1:05 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Wait a second! Let’s start off with the glowing positive news, shall we? Lucas Luetge, as we suspected earlier in the day, officially signed a Major League contract and was selected to the 40-man roster. What a spring it was for the left-hander, who hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2015.

As for the others? Well, we knew we wouldn’t be seeing them for at least the first month or so of the season, but now it’s official. Britton hitting the 60-day IL was to be expected after his elbow procedure. You’ll probably have to wait until June to see him toe the rubber.

Another piece of good news? Voit is on the 10-day IL despite just undergoing meniscus surgery on his knee. That’s not exactly a surprise, but we’re sure some fans out there were waiting for another unsavory update given how everything’s transpired with his injury. Another one of those odd, hardly communicated bits of information that resulted in surgery. We’re used to it.

The Yankees recently said we should see Voit back in action “well before June.” So, mid-May? We’ll take it.

Ah, yes, you forgot about Andújar, didn’t you? He was never expected to make the roster, but has been shut down with wrist soreness for over two weeks now. He was set to see a specialist, and that’s the last anyone’s heard. Nonetheless, he’ll likely be at the alternate site/Triple-A once he’s healthy.

And finally, Wilson, who left a spring training game last week with a shoulder issue, will have to wait to make his second Yankees debut. He had already gotten a delayed start to spring training after arriving late due to the weather crisis in Texas, which significantly threw off his timeline for Opening Day. Then the shoulder injury made that delayed start official, so the team will likely take its time with the left-hander because he figures to be an extremely important bullpen piece on this World Series-hopeful roster.

These are (hopefully) the last moves to be announced before Gerrit Cole takes the mound in18 hours (and counting). The Yankees are once again being tested early on with injuries, but if the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that they’ll persevere and get better because of the circumstances.

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