On Tuesday evening, the Yankees answered one of the big questions looming over their roster, saying that they will be placing left-hander Nestor Cortes on the IL with a shoulder injury.
While the move likely won’t be made official until Wednesday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Cortes would be placed on the IL and Randy Vasquez would start in his place. However, Boone was also quick to mention that he anticipates that Cortes will only miss a start or two.
It’s just another in a long list of injuries suffered by Yankees starting pitchers this season, with Luis Severino just recently returning and both Frankie Montas and Carlos Rodon not having pitched yet this year.
The update on reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge was a little less clear.
“The swelling is better today, and he feels a little bit better today,” said Boone. He went on to say that he would sit down with Dr. Ahmad tonight and “see what we have. See where we are tonight and into tomorrow.”
As far as Boone knows, Judge’s injury remains just to his right big toe; however, Boone didn’t want to comment on the “preliminary tech reads” when he said they would get the exact readings later on Tuesday night.
The right fielder has been out of the Yankees lineup for the last two games and would be a huge loss for New York if he had to miss time.
