Yankees' absurd trade deadline luck continues with immediate injury to new face

Been thinking about the 2022 trade deadline a lot since the Yankees let leads of 6-0, 9-4, and 12-10 slip away on Friday night. No reason, really. Only that ... well, since you mention it, that was the last time we thought the Yankees had pulled together a transformative trade deadline, only for the rug to be pulled out from under us.

Frankie Montas? Well, his shoulder was still cooked, and it's unclear who knew what and when they knew it at the time of the deal. Jordan Montgomery? Turns out, dealing him was subtraction by subtraction, and as much fun as Harrison Bader was in October, the trade still left the rotation down two men, which was ... not the team's stated goal. And Andrew Benintendi? He was flat awful when he arrived, then started to heat up entering September ... only for his hamate bone to snap and end his season.

On Friday night, Jake Bird, David Bednar and Camilo Doval combined to allow nine runs in 2 1/3 innings, while newcomer Jose Caballero overran a single in right field and allowed the game to be tied. Ryan McMahon, who's been essential since coming over from Colorado, saw his game-winning hit from the top of the ninth erased and forgotten. Amed Rosario and Austin Slater, the platoon men New York brought in to thicken out the bench, watch in agony, which is mostly what they've done since they arrived.

On Monday in Texas, though, the Yankees tapped both Rosario and Slater in an effort to pull the sheet off their new-look, lefty-mashing lineup. Romy Gonzalez, Rob Refsnyder and the Red Sox, eat your heart out!

Except ... well, while the injury doesn't appear to be season-ending like Benintendi's, you can add Slater to the list of "deadline experiment outfielders who've disappeared in a puff of smoke upon impact". While running out a grounder, Slater pulled up, appearing to tell the trainers his hamstring was "pulled" as he exited. And just like that, the deadline haul is down to six.

Yankees' Austin Slater leaves second start of time in New York with (likely) pulled hamstring

At the very least, this likely makes the Yankees' Tuesday activation decision easier, as they take Aaron Judge off the injured list for DH duties.

Still, it's the principle of the thing, and it's another cosmic occurrence that makes you ask the question, "Why plan any upgrade of any kind if things are due to get immediately worse anyhow, per the universe's orders?"