Thursday, May 1, 2008

Mystery Yankees Theater

So I guess the Yankees are going to use the DL for extra roster spaces now. Today the newest piece added to the injury pile was Phil Hughes. Far be it from me to accuse the Yankees of dishonest practices, but it seems like every time they need to make a move but don't want to demote the player who is on the fence, they take the easy way out and slide the player onto the disabled list with a fabricated or exaggerated injury.

Wilson Betemit went on the DL as soon as they needed an extra catcher the first time Posada went down and when they needed Alberto Gonzalez to come up for the injured Derek Jeter. Now far be it from me to call the Yankees or Betemit liars, but he has been on the disabled list with conjunctivitis since April 14. Now I'm no medical expert but as someone who has had the misfortune of experiencing pink eye, I can tell you that it takes far less that 17 days for it to clear up. I suppose the Yankees are not the first team to use the DL as a glorified holding place for spare parts but I still think it's pretty lame how often they have used it this year.

I don't expect the Yankees to give full disclosure about every player all the time. I just don't expect a Bill Belichick hostility towards telling reporters about injured players.
I guess Girardi took George Constanza's words of wisdom to heart when he told Jerry that, "It's not I lie, if you believe it."

2 comments:

Dennis said...

Part of it is mental as well. If they put Hughes on the disabled list, then he is not going to get demoted in 15 days, he is going out for a rehab start at the AA club.

Dennis said...

Well I'll be damned, he is hurt. Hate to toot my own horn Pete, but like I said back in March, 20 wins combined from Hughes and Kennedy will be a pleasant surprise.