The way Brian Cashman told it at the GM meetings, injuries were the biggest detriment to the Yankees’ shortcomings in 2023.
While other factors, including the general manager’s roster construction, played a part, injuries certainly hindered the team. That’s why Cashman spent plenty of time rehashing all the physical pain the Yankees went through this past season. The flukiest injuries included the torn ligament in Aaron Judge’s toe, which he suffered after banging the digit against a cement step at Dodger Stadium while making a game-saving catch, and Anthony Rizzo’s post-concussion syndrome, which he played through for two months before it was detected.
However, Giancarlo Stanton, Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodón, Harrison Bader, Luis Severino, Josh Donaldson, Jose Trevino, Jasson Domínguez and so many others endured normal baseball injuries, so to speak. In fact, 28 pinstripers got hurt this year — some multiple times — while the team spent $82,093,459 on players occupying the injured list, according to Spotrac. That dollar amount easily led the majors.
Yankees players also spent a combined 2,154 days on the IL. That figure ranked third in baseball even though five teams had more players hit the IL.
Injuries have been a serious problem for the Yankees for years. In 2022, they had 29 players spend time on the IL. In 2021, it was 35. That number fell to 16 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Eric Cressey’s first year with the club.
The team’s director of player health and performance joined the Yankees after 30 players got hurt in 2019. Cashman said that it could take years for Cressey’s presence to be felt, but the club’s injury woes have remained.
If those injury issues vanish in 2024, they will likely do so under Cressey’s watch as well. That’s because Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner endorsed Cressey and the Yankees’ related staffers last week.
“He’s got a great reputation around the sports industry,” Steinbrenner said. “We’ve looked at this. As I told [reporters] midseason, there really wasn’t a smoking gun. The strength and conditioning guys, Judge and other players really have respect for. Brett McCabe, our [major league strength and conditioning coach], he was brought in by Cressey. I think a lot of the programs that we’ve done – manual therapy programs and other things – have been beneficial. But there were a lot of injuries. Believe me, we’ve looked at it and looked at it and there doesn’t seem to be a smoking gun at all. I’m very comfortable with our training staff and very comfortable with our strength and conditioning staff.”
Cashman echoed similar sentiments, stating that Cressey is “highly respected,” “runs a great operation,” “hired good people” and “opened our eyes to changing certain programs.” While all that may be true, important Yankees missed a ton of games once again in 2023.
“Do I think it’s derelict of duty because of Eric Cressey’s hiring? The answer’s no,” Cashman said. “I don’t believe that. But that doesn’t mean that we [won’t] continue to try to find ways to be better and limit injuries.”
Instead of blaming Cressey, Cashman noted how some of the injuries, like those to Judge and Rizzo, were especially random. Cashman also mentioned that some players have injury histories that predate their working relationships with Cressey – which is why the general manager and his roster construction are partly at fault for the Yankees missing the playoffs.
“Some guys, the best prediction of injuries is what their injury history is,” Cashman said. “And so in some cases now, we’ve got some guys that have now shown they have a narrative of [injury] histories as part of their DNA. And I’m not sure if we can avoid those guys.”
From there, Cashman specifically talked about Stanton, whose mobility has been limited by his history of lower-body injuries, including a hamstring strain this past season. While he complimented the slugger’s hitting prowess – aside from 2023 – Cashman said that Stanton will in all likelihood get hurt again next year. Asked what the plan is to improve Stanton’s mobility, Cashman said, “I don’t have an answer to that.”
Perhaps Cressey has an answer, but the Yankees declined a request to interview him for this story.
When asked about Cressey, Cashman also said that the Yankees “can’t force players to do things in the winter on how we do it” under the league and the MLB Players Association’s Basic Agreement. Cashman used Cortes as an example, as the lefty trained for the World Baseball Classic in Miami last offseason before a hamstring injury forced him to skip the tournament. The injury delayed Cortes’ spring training, which caused him to slot into the Opening Day rotation a bit later than merit warranted. Cortes went on to battle rotator cuff injuries later in the season.
“I’m not saying he did anything wrong and I’m not saying he wouldn’t potentially have hurt his hamstring with us if he trained with us,” Cashman said. “But training for the WBC last year, getting ramped up early, he blew out before he even got to spring training… Not on our watch.”
Whatever or whoever the Yankees want to blame for individual injuries or their overall bug is up to them, but the bottom line is that things need to improve in 2024.
The team has been losing games and money to aches and pains for years. The problem precedes Cressey, but it hasn’t gone away with him at the helm either.
“The only way to put it behind us is to create a new narrative, is to bring — somehow, someway — a much-improved situation, healthier and a better roster to change the narrative,” Cashman said. “Because right now, the narrative’s not good enough.”
