Add The New York Post on Google Ryan McMahon is bummed to miss the upcoming pocket of games.
Max Fried felt elbow soreness that he called “not ideal.”
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Both can take solace that they believe they will be ready for the biggest games of the year.
The Yankees absorbed one more blow Friday in McMahon, who had hoped to avoid the injured list and could not, and acknowledged another blow in Fried could have been far worse.
The belief — for these two and the injured big bats (Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger) — is they will be fine for October.
“Not great news. Could have been worse,” said McMahon, who learned that the thumb he believed was jammed instead had suffered a grade 2 sprain that forced him to the injured list before Friday’s series opener in The Bronx against the Blue Jays.
McMahon still took ground balls and swung Friday but said taking cuts was “getting tough” after hurting the left thumb on a slide in Baltimore on Wednesday. If he must undergo surgery — a notion he said was not likely — the procedure can wait for the offseason. McMahon hoped that on the other side of an IL trip he believes will require the 10-day minimum, the swelling will be gone and he will be ready for the stretch run.
Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon (19) throws out Seattle Mariners pinch hitter Cole Young (2) (not pictured) after fielding a ground ball. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Even if this means the Yankees will be playing some combination of Amed Rosario (who started at third Friday), Max Schuemann (who was called up with the corresponding move) and José Caballero at the position against a couple of rivals.
“It sucks,” McMahon said about the timing. “I mean, we got Toronto coming in here. We got Boston [next weekend]. These are the fun games, man.”
The most fun will come in the postseason, presuming the Yankees avoid a September nosedive. The club’s best hopes in October will come from the front of their rotation, and Fried is confident the club will have three healthy aces.
Yankees pitcher Max Fried (54) reacts after he walks Seattle Mariners designated hitter Dominic Canzone. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post Placed on the IL on Monday, Fried addressed reporters for the first time since the official return of his elbow bone bruise.
“We just decided that it was better to just take a little bit of a breather now,” Fried said, “so that the rest of the season hopefully goes accordingly.”
At least at the moment, he and the club do not believe this breather will be long. Manager Aaron Boone reiterated that Fried could miss the minimum 15 days, and the lefty has continued throwing and is set to return to pitching off a mound Saturday. If the bullpen session goes well, Fried would throw a live batting practice early next week, Boone said, and could be back by the end of the month.
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Fried said he had not felt the recurrence of what he called “soreness” of his elbow until his Aug. 13 start against the Mariners, after which he informed the team trainers. His previous bout with the bone bruise cost him more than two months, but he said the May injury “was definitely more intense, more pain.”
Fried blamed his own mechanics for the aggravation. According to the veteran, he has not found consistency in release and has not “given my arm a chance to follow through properly.”
“I’ve been fighting my mechanics a lot this year,” added Fried, who owns a 2.81 ERA in 15 starts. “[I will be] using this time to really focus on that, get better with the timing and kind of isolate the problem.”
He said surgery is not a concern or option for now or later. He anticipates using the winter to fully reset his elbow.
“Once the offseason hits and I have the ability to rest and not throw and get that area to heal, it shouldn’t be a problem,” said Fried, who with Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler could be the key to the Yankees ending their World Series drought. “But that’s kind of the thing: You don’t want it to get too bad to where it turns into a fracture.”
So he and McMahon are taking a break they don’t anticipate will be lengthy.
