All Things Bubba

The Yankees announced tonight that Chien-Ming Wang will be out for at least 12 months, recovering from shoulder surgery. That means he'll likely miss next season, or most of it.

And that's assuming all goes well. A lot of baseball players never come back from shoulder surgery.

Bummer. Wang is one of my favorite players, but it's starting to look like the Yankees were right not to give him a big contract like they gave Cano. They told him it was because pitchers were more prone to injury than position players.

And Brett Gardner is on the DL, too. The Yankees are going with only one CFer: Melky Cabrera. Girardi said they'd be calling up a right-handed bat tomorrow, expected to be Shelley Duncan. I like Duncan, and he deserves a shot...but I really think the Yanks need another CFer. Johnny Damon can barely handle LF these days, let alone center. It's not just the possibility of injury; Melky can't even get a day off to rest with no backup CFer.

Unfortunately, the Yankees don't have any center fielders stashed in Scranton. There's Austin Jackson, but he's a stud prospect, and they aren't going to call him up to be a reserve outfielder. They probably aren't going to bench Melky so Jackson can play every day, either.

Funny how the Yanks used to be so deep in good defensive outfielders. Bubba Crosby, of course. Kevin Reese. Kevin Thompson. Now they have no one they can call up.