Andujar called up after McKinney, Warren hurt

Yanks place OF on DL with shoulder sprain; reliever bruises ankle on comebacker

March 31st, 2018

TORONTO -- A bruising afternoon in the trainers' room of the visiting clubhouse at Rogers Centre led to a long evening of discussions about the Yankees' roster, with outfielder and pitcher both forced to exit Saturday's 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays due to injury.
Playing in his second big league game, McKinney sustained an AC sprain in his left shoulder after a violent first-inning collision with the digital scoreboard on the left-field fence, pursuing a Josh Donaldson double off .
X-rays were negative, but with manager Aaron Boone saying that McKinney will miss "at least a few weeks," the Yankees have placed the rookie on the 10-day disabled list, with infielder recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Andujar -- the Yankees' No. 4 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline -- is expected to be in Toronto for Sunday's 1:07 p.m. ET series finale. Boone said that a path now exists for Andujar to log at-bats at third base, first base and as a DH.
"We feel like there's certainly a place to get him some playing time right now," Boone said. "As the next week unfolds and our outfield situation becomes more clear, we can make another decision."

After Donaldson's double, McKinney dropped to a knee on the warning track for several moments. Boone and head athletic trainer Steve Donohue jogged to attend to McKinney, who initially remained in the game. McKinney fielded 's run-scoring single, then was replaced by .
"I was trying to go off adrenaline," McKinney said. "That's what I usually do. Once I threw that ball to second, it didn't feel good. I knew it wouldn't be any good if I was staying out there."
In the sixth inning, Warren was struck on the right foot by an comebacker, which ricocheted to first baseman for a groundout. X-rays were negative, and he was diagnosed with a right ankle contusion.

Warren worked two-thirds of an inning in his season debut before being replaced by .
"It's a little bit swollen," Boone said. "We'll re-evaluate it in the morning to see what it feels like when he gets up. No [disabled list] decision one way or the other yet on that."
The Yankees are short on outfield depth with , and all on the disabled list. Ellsbury is believed to be the closest to returning, logging at-bats in Florida after mending a strained right oblique, though he is not eligible to be activated until Thursday.
As such, Boone and general manager Brian Cashman said that is now the most realistic candidate to see outfield time behind Gardner, and . The Yankees made a strategic decision not to have Wade take fly balls at any point this spring, as he was competing for a starting infield job and they believed their depth was sufficient.
"You could see him in center field at some point," Boone said.

Cashman also mentioned utilityman as a potential outfield option. The Yankees would prefer to keep Austin and on the infield, though both have played some outfield in their big league careers.
"We'll deal with it and find a way to get through it," Cashman said. "That's what you do. We do have some flexibility with some of these infielders who play the outfield as well, but it's definitely a topic of conversation, trust me."