As the day broke on the Yankees’ home opener against Toronto this afternoon, we got bad news about one of the bullpen’s stalwarts. Jonathan Loáisiga was placed on the 60-day injured list with a flexor strain, a tough blow for the 29-year-old in his contract year.
Manager Aaron Boone said that Loáisiga “felt something” as he finished up his most recent outing, during the extra-inning game in Arizona on Wednesday. Boone called it “a significant forearm strain” and that the team is obviously concerned.
This is, unfortunately, all too common a case for Loáisiga, who has spent a total of 234 days on the shelf over the past three years. I just wrote about how effective the righty is when he’s on the field; he’s just been so unavailable at times that his value has taken a major hit.
With this being in Loáisiga’s final year of team control, he runs into a Chad Green-esque situation where he’s been this solid for so long, but injury buildup will likely prevent him from being able to cash in the way he could have.
Taking over Loáisiga’s roster spot is Dennis Santana, a 27-year old who the Yankees inked to a minor-league deal last winter. He’s always had a challenge with free passes, walking 12 percent of batters faced in his 143-game career—primarily with the Dodgers and Rangers—and 14 percent in limited action last year with the Mets.
