Mild Inflammation (gulp)
Well the MRI is back and it shows something- namely mild inflammation of the left elbow. As the story says, he will be treated conservatively and evaluated day-to-day. Anytime the problem with a pitcher has something to do with his throwing arm you have to worry. Add in the fact that the pitcher in question is almost 38 and worry may be too weak of a word choice.
The problem for the Yankees, besides the potential to lose Pettitte, is that they don't have any flexibility right now schedule-wise. After tomorrow's offday, they will have 17-straight games. Andy is going to get an extra day off between now and his next scheduled start on Tuesday, but after that there are no breaks. Sergio Mitre threw 29 pitches today and 46 on Saturday, but how far could he really be expected to go if needed to start- 60 or so? Aceves is in a similar boat, having thrown a season high of 34 pitches on April 14th.
If the Yankees look to the minors, they have a rotation long on potential and short on experience. Other than Dustin Mosley and Kei Igawa, there is nobody who has started at the big league level. Ivan Nova is 23 and pitching very well- 2.43 ERA in 37 IP. Maybe he would get the call, but for now we all need to hope that Andy's elbow feels better quickly.
Comments
This is gonna be tough. Pettitte is 18-9 in the post season and needs to be protected so he is 100% come October. Girardi likes to rest pitchers, which is a good thing, but I imagine everyone is going to have to step up and take some inning/games off andy's hands until we can be sure he's OK.
Posted by: Evan![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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May 6, 2010 11:20 AM
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