Will Domingo Germán's bizarre injury negatively impact Yankees' trade deadline?

If the Yankees were looking to sell high on Domingo Germán following his perfect game (and not his body of work, which has been a similar level of "distinctly average" in 2023 as it was in 2022 and 2021), that plan seems to have hit a snag on Monday.

Either that, or they're executing a smokescreen to perfection?

Excitement bubbled, fell, crested again, then flopped on Monday afternoon when information was revealed in bits and pieces, all adding up to a mess for the Yankees. First, righty Jhony Brito's locker was discovered. Then, reliever Ron Marinaccio was officially demoted. Why would Brito, a starter, be coming up in his place, though, unless someone in the rotation was facing a crossroads, injury-related or otherwise.

And there it was. Germán was scratched about three hours before Monday's series opener against the Rays, in favor of Brito, who last started with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 25. Was he being kept out like Jeimer Candelario with a trade looming? Or was he being removed for a more worrisome reason?

As it turns out, Germán was scratched with "discomfort in his armpit area" and reportedly "cannot catch". That sounds quite serious! Aaron Boone insists it's not.

Will Yankees trade Domingo Germán after armpit injury?

Tin foil hat on? The only reason Boone and Co. would know it "wasn't an IL situation" was if they'd scratched him with phony discomfort while they tried to hammer out a trade. Or maybe there's slight discomfort and they have no intention of risking anything with the trade deadline fast approaching.

Tin foil hat off? The Yankees maybe could've tried to trade Germán yesterday, or last week, or the week before that, and now they can't. Boned.

There's a chance the Yankees are being extra careful here with their rotation in flux; Boone even said that "everything is on the table," with regard to Luis Severino's next start. There's a chance Germán is battling something serious that takes him off that table entirely. And, of course, there's a chance the Yankees are ... lying, something they've done before and will do again.

With just over 24 hours remaining until a trade deadline frenzy, it would be nice to see the Yankees participate, regardless of the health of their No. 4 starter. Buying would be interesting. Selling would be amazing. Inaction would be the (arm)pits.