Yankees' pitching issues continue at Triple-A as lefty reliever quietly hits IL

When the New York Yankees picked up Brent Headrick this offseason, fans were admittedly frustrated. They had no lefties in the bullpen at the time, and their solution was a guy who had a 6.31 ERA in 14 games with the Minnesota Twins back in 2023?

Well, it turns out, whatever buttons the Yankees pressed worked. Headrick logged 5 1/3 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and a 0.56 WHIP before being sent down to Triple-A Scranton on April 6 as New York made room for Adam Ottavino on the 26-man roster (who, by the way, is no longer here).

Unfortunately, it gets worse. Headrick has been injured for about a week now and the RailRiders officially placed him on the seven-day injured list. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Saturday that Headrick has an oblique injury.

It definitely isn't good. Usually, that feels like a four-week absence, at minimum. And the fact there have been very few details suggests this could be on the longer end.

Yankees Injury News: Brent Headrick out with oblique issue at Triple-A

Headrick began to struggle after his demotion, though. Across four games (totaling 4 2/3 innings), he registered a 5.79 ERA and 1.71 WHIP while striking out only three batters. Something might've been afoot for some time, though, as the left-hander hasn't appeared in a game since April 20.

Perhaps he was dealing with the oblique issue longer than expected, which could explain his four walks, but there's not much information out there to suggest it. Either way, the Yankees are down a valuable depth option as their bullpen is struggling a bit. Devin Williams was demoted from the closer role over the weekend and Boone will be restructuring things a bit until the star right-hander can get back on track.

Thankfully, Ryan Yarbrough has filled in admirably as an innings-eating lefty while Tim Hill has handled high-leverage very well. In the meantime, the Yankees are trying to work in another lefty in Tyler Matzek, who has had a rough few years thanks to injuries.

Though Headrick hasn't necessarily been needed since the beginning of April, it's a lot less comforting to know he won't be available for a quick call-up at any point in the near future.