Yankees place Marinaccio on IL with shin injury; Abreu recalled

Oct 4, 2022 - 4:47 PM

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The Aroldis Chapman Experience on Sunday was not enjoyable to watch, but it probably wasn’t the worst part of the Yankees’ loss to the Orioles. Chapman meltdowns — especially in 2022 — are old hat at this point. The fate of fellow reliever Ron Marinaccio caused more consternation. After replacing Chapman, Marinaccio ended up departing with the Yankees’ training staff due to what the Yankees called a “shin injury.”

The team had Marinaccio undergo an MRI, and to quote old friend Joe Girardi, the results were “not what you want.” The rookie has a stress reaction and is en route to the injured list, per YES Network’s Jack Curry.

The Yankees have confirmed the roster moves.

As Curry tweeted, Marinaccio will at minimum have to miss the Division Series due to this IL stint. It’s a definite loss for a Yankees bullpen that is also currently without Clay Holmes and Wandy Peralta (not to mention the long-since-IL’d Michael King and Chad Green). The right-hander had quietly become a terrific addition to Aaron Boone’s relief corps, and he’d pitched to a 2.05 ERA, 3.20 FIP, and 1.045 WHIP in 44 frames with a terrific slider/changeup combination. As a rookie, it’s hard to blame Marinaccio for trying to pitch through it to help a team that needed some reliable relief, particularly when even more of his teammate were hurt; it’s just a shame that it got aggravated at just about the worst possible time.

Now, it seems like the Yankees will have to make do without Marinaccio and cross their fingers that Holmes and Peralta are able to recover from their own ailments in time for the ALDS. For now, Marinaccio will be replaced in the expanded roster bullpen by Albert Abreu, who had been on the IL himself since mid-August with right elbow inflammation (Greg Weissert is up as the 29th man for the doubleheader today, and Triple-A starter Matt Krook is also on the taxi squad, just in case). On the season in New York, Abreu has a 3.24 ERA, 2.91 FIP, and 1.200 WHIP in 25 innings, though he endured a very rocky 7.88 ERA August prior to hitting the injured list.

The only definites for the Yankees’ playoff bullpen at the moment appear to be Jonathan Loáisiga, Lou Trivino, Scott Effross, and Lucas Luetge. Everyone else’s status is up in the air, though Holmes and Peralta at least seem like good bets to return, and starters Jameson Taillon and Domingo Germán could certainly help as well (given the ALDS schedule, New York might only need three pitchers in the rotation). Nonetheless, cross your fingers and hope for perfect health in the week ahead.