Yankees' surprise injury announcement unveils difficult truth fans knew all along

On the same day the New York Yankees got promising injury news regarding Giancarlo Stanton, it only took them a few hours to announce an unfortunate update concerning one of their under-the-radar bullpen arms.

Brent Headrick, who has quite frankly been good since July 28, is hitting the injured list with a forearm contusion. He'll miss a minimum of 15 days and the move was retroactive to Aug. 16.

Yankees fans had been wondering where the left-hander had been. Aaron Boone hadn't called upon Headrick since his Aug. 13 appearance against his former team (the Minnesota Twins). In that outing. Headrick tossed a scoreless inning in a 4-1 loss, but fans should've probably gotten the hint something was up once the game concluded.

Headrick got rocked in the arm by a Brooks Lee line drive. Though he shook it off quickly and fielded the ball, he slipped and fell in his attempt to throw it to first. The left-hander finished the outing, but didn't appear in a single game over the weekend despite the bullpen being gassed.

There's no doubt Headrick was injured after the Lee liner, and as of right now it's unclear who will be taking his roster spot. On Monday, the Yankees optioned JC Escarra to make room for Amed Rosario, who was activated a few hours ago before the series opener against the Rays.

Yankees News: Brent Headrick hitting injured list with forearm contusion

Headrick wasn't exactly an integral bullpen option, but he was effectively eating innings to help Boone preserve the staff. Over his last six appearances, he recorded a hold in that wild 13-12 loss to the Marlins and logged three scoreless innings (with six strikeouts) in two appearances against the Rays.

And ... uh oh! Here's an update. Boone just told reporters that there wouldn't be a corresponding move for Headrick today. Why? Oh, that's because nobody else is ready at the moment. Fernando Cruz and Ryan Yarbrough are on rehab assignments, and Jonathan Loaisiga is injured again after feeling elbow/triceps soreness on Tuesday, just two days after starting his rehab assignment.

Brian Cashman really spent $5 million Loaisiga in fear that he would defect to the Mets, and got another injury-plagued season from the right-hander. But hey, at least the Yankees won't have to swallow their pride and DFA him! He'll just hang out a bit longer on the IL — a fate fans were constantly fearful of given his history. It is the definition of Baseball Malfeasance that Loaisiga was paid a respectable amount of money and slotted into an important bullpen role knowing what the Yankees already knew (and with all of their other needs at the time).

Loaisiga has given the Yankees 29 2/3 dreadful innings this year, and only recently pulled his WAR out of the negative range with 3 1/3 scoreless frames. Fans have been unsure of the purpose he'd serve with this team the moment it was announced he'd be returning after logging just 20 innings the previous two seasons due to countless injuries.

Oh yeah, and Cruz had his rehab assignment moved from Triple-A to Double-A due to some recent struggles. Great. Let's hope the offense can continue its hot streak. The Yanks are going to need it.