That was one costly clincher. It may wind up ending the Yankee shortstop’s season.
Didi Gregorius suffered a small cartilage tear in his right wrist from his headfirst slide to lock up the Yankees’ playoff berth Saturday night, an MRI on Sunday revealed. One of the team’s linchpins received a cortisone shot and will be reevaluated in a few days. But his status moving forward is unclear.
“Unsure,” manager Aaron Boone said, when asked if he believes Gregorius can return this year. “I think there’s a real possibility we do [get him back]. There’s also a possibility that we don’t. We’ll know a lot more in a few days and see how the wrist responds to the cortisone shot.”
Gregorius, 28, said after the Yankees’ 6-3 loss to the Orioles the wrist is “just sore,” and he does have some movement in it. Doctors haven’t told him it will require surgery after the season. He didn’t feel any pain until waking up Sunday morning and the cortisone has improved the feeling there already. But it remains to be seen how long Gregorius will be out.
“It’s really frustrating, because I’m not playing … they want to keep me day-to-day to see how [I react],” said Gregorius, who is slashing .268/.336/.498 with a career-high 27 home runs, 86 RBIs and an .834 OPS. “I mean, I have some movement in there and they say things like this happen to other players. Some play through it.
“We’re going to see day-to-day how it goes. When I feel better, I’ll be back in there so we can still make that playoff decision.”
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While Gregorius is out, the Yankees could either use veteran newcomer Adeiny Hechavarria in his place or move Gleyber Torres over to shortstop, where he has played 19 games and committed five errors, and insert Neil Walker at second base. Boone said he will mix and match depending on the pitcher.
Whatever the plan is, Gregorius will be missed for however long he is out. A few Yankees players were caught off guard by the news.
“Losing a player of his caliber is definitely going to affect us,” Gary Sanchez said.
But Gregorius didn’t sound like someone ready to watch the rest of the season from the bench, saying his confidence is “still high” he can return.
“I mean, I always play through pain,” the shortstop said. “Nobody plays this game 100 percent healthy. So I think there’s some things you always got to fight through to play because you always want to be out there for your team.”
Especially in October.
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