Yankees reveal Cody Bellinger injury issue after absence from second straight lineup

When the New York Yankees trotted out nearly all of their starters on Saturday afternoon without Cody Bellinger - after a day off for Friday's road trip to Twins camp - it should've raised your eyebrows. Naturally, the team waited until after the game to acknowledge Bellinger's absence. And, when they did, they probably said exactly what you expected them to.

Bellinger, fresh off a prolonged free agency and making $48 million against the luxury tax in Year 1, is battling back issues once again. Aaron Boone - you're not going to believe this! - downplayed the injury, saying Bellinger's "back went out on him a little bit".

Bellinger, of course, had a stiff back that knocked him out last April, and he fiddled with the issue a few additional times throughout the summer, though it never knocked him out for long.

According to Boone, Bellinger will skip Sunday's game, but will be in play for the Yankees' exhibition with Team Panama on Tuesday after a Monday off day. Who wants to take bets on whether he's in the lineup Tuesday, and whether we have to address this again?

Yankees lose Cody Bellinger to back injury before 5-1 victory over Toronto Blue Jays in spring training

Despite the lack of Bellinger's thump, the Yankees' lineup persevered through several scoreless innings against Jose Berrios of the Blue Jays before breaking through with two in the fifth and two in the sixth. The second duo came on an Austin Wells smash. It helps when you have a strong bullpen behind you to protect a razor-thin spring advantage instead of a cavalcade of kids, and David Bednar, Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill and a dominant Jake Bird did the job in this one.

Wells left for the World Baseball Classic after the game to join Team Dominican Republic; Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. will also be on the WBC grind for the next several weeks.

That leaves Bellinger back at camp, who opted out of the Team USA discussion this offseason because he felt he owed it to the Steinbrenners after the financial commitment they made to him after a months-long stalemate. A 30-year-old's "back going out on him a little bit" on Feb. 28 is hardly a death knell, but it also qualifies as an inauspicious start to a lengthy contract.

So far, the Yankees have mostly battled soreness and stiffness rather than their usual debilitating early spring season-ending injuries. Hopefully, it stays that way, and we don't have to rexamine anything long-term.