Yankees Place Andy Pettitte and C.C. Sabathia on DL

One was a line drive to the ankle, the other was a a strain.  One was a fracture, one was a run of the mill

injury.  Both are devastating to the New York Yankees.  Andy Pettitte took a line drive off his ankle in his start yesterday against the Cleveland Indians on the same day the Yankees placed C.C. Sabathia on the DL with a strained groin.

The ankle fracture will keep Pettitte out for about six weeks, but surgery is not expected.  According to Dayn Perry of CBS Sports, Freddy Garcia will make Pettite’s next scheduled start on Monday.  Aside from that, the Yankees don’t yet have a plan in place for a full time replacement.  This may be their opportunity to really press the free agent market.

Pettitte is 3-3 with a 3.29 ERA this season after not pitching at all last season.  He retired after the 2010 season, but he chose to take another shot and continue his career.  In 17 years, Pettitte has won 243 games and owns a 3.87 ERA over 3,100 innings-pitched.

As for Sabathia, the same day that Pettitte’s ankle was fractured, the Yankees placed their ace on the disabled list with a strained groin.  He is expected to miss just a couple weeks as long as all goes well.  Sabathia is 9-3 with a  3.45 ERA this season.

Despite the obvious need for pitching help, Buster Olney of ESPN says the team will look to internal candidates to fill the holes in their pitching rotation.  If their internal candidates can’t get the job done, there is plenty of pitching available on the market.  Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza are two main candidates that the Yankees have looked at.

While the injuries Will Hurt the Yankees in the short-term, their long-term results will be impacted more if they don’t make the right move now.  A trade may be in order, and this could push the Yankees to make a move earlier than they had originally planned.

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