By WFAN.com
Injuries are common for any team in professional sports, but the number of Yankees players that have gotten hurt through the first week of the season is almost unheard of.
The Bronx Bombers are currently playing without Aaron Hicks, Didi Gregorius, Giancarlo Stanton, Troy Tulowitzki, and Miguel Andujar, not to mention pitchers Luis Severino, CC Sabathia and Dellin Betances, among others.
New York has an incredible 11 players on the injured list, a startling number considering the season kicked off just one week ago.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone joined "Mike's On" Friday, and noted that despite the number of injuries the team is dealing with, he still has full confidence in his team to go out there and win each and every game.
"It's definitely been a little crazy here," Boone told Mike Francesa. "It started a little bit in spring training obviously with a few guys. I kind of look at the bright side of things in that most of these injuries, and I say that with the hope on Andujar, we do feel like they are shorter-term things. So we're going to be getting the cavalry back, slowly but surely, we feel like over this next month...
"It creates some opportunities for guys, guys that are going to have to contribute at different parts of the season. You try to look at it and make the most out of it. The bottom line is we still have a group that is capable of going out there and winning games right now."
One of the first players to go down was Aaron Hicks, who suffered a lower back strain all the way back on March 1 during a spring training game.
The outfielder signed a 7-year, $70 million contract with the Yankees just days before suffering the injury.
Hicks' rehab has gone slower than originally expected, but Boone did provide a small dose of good news on the 29-year-old's recovery.
"He started baseball stuff yesterday," the manager said on the 29-year-old injured outfielder. "He was on the bike, on the treadmill, doing rotationals, swinging stuff in the training room. He went out and threw and played catch for the first time. Hopefully now, he'll start to move as he eventually gets here..
"Hopefully we're starting to move in that direction (of Hicks appearing in games) with him having started baseball activities yesterday."
Of all of the Yankees' injuries, the one that is most concerning is Miguel Andujar.
Andujar has a torn labrum, but the young infielder hopes to avoid season-ending surgery and eventually get back on the field after some rest and rehab.
It is still too early to tell just how long Andujar will be sidelined, but the Yankees manager told Francesa not to rule him out for the season quite yet.
"I actually think there's optimism that it could be on the shorter side," Boone said on Andujar's injury. "If he's able to come back, we feel like it might be something on the shorter side. The question with him is, it could be a long-term thing, or short-term. We'll have a better grip of that over the next week."
To listen to Mike's full interview with Aaron Boone, click on the audio player above.
