The Yankees placed right-hander Jake Cousins on the 15-day injured list Sunday and called up righty Clayton Beeter from Triple-A to fill Cousins’ spot in the bullpen. Cousins’ placement is retroactive to Sept. 20, which is the day after Cousins last pitched. He was pulled after facing two batters due to what was eventually diagnosed as a right pec strain.
The IL trip ends Cousins’ regular season, but potentially not his 2024 campaign as a whole, depending on his recovery and how far the Yankees might advance in the playoffs. As per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, Cousins will visit with doctors Monday in New York and could potentially start throwing within a week’s time. Since the Yankees are on the verge of clinching the AL East and earning a first-round bye, that gives Cousins some extra time to heal up and get back to game fitness, provided that his strain isn’t too serious.
This is Cousins’ second IL stint of the season but his first on the major league injured list, as he missed over two months of action when playing with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barres earlier this year. The Yankees recalled Cousins back to the Show shortly after he returned from the Triple-A IL, and the results have been largely tremendous.
Cousins has a 2.37 ERA and a 34.2% strikeout rate over 38 relief innings for New York. While a .208 BABIP has helped paper over a subpar 12.9% walk rate, Cousins’ ability to miss bats and limit hard contact has made him a very useful member of the Yankees relief corps.
It has essentially been a return to the form Cousins showed with the Brewers in 2021-22, before a UCL injury and shoulder problems cut short his 2022 season and perhaps contributed to a 2023 season that saw him toss only 9 1/3 MLB innings. After going to the Astros on a waiver claim last summer and then to the White Sox on a minor league deal during the offseason, Cousins was traded from Chicago to New York just after Opening Day, sparking Cousins’ career revival.
While Cousins had a successful return from an injury-plagued stretch of his career, the same unfortunately can’t be said of Lou Trivino, whose 2024 season now looks to be over. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told Hoch and other reporters that Trivino is dealing with “shoulder stuff” and has been shut down. Trivino will finish his season with 11 minor league innings pitched, in the form of five innings in as many appearances with Double-A Somerset and then six innings in six appearances at the Triple-A level.
Trivino hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2022, as he missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May 2023. Some elbow inflammation delayed the start of his minor league rehab assignment until this past August, and now this shoulder issue has ended any chance Trivino had of getting any sort of MLB action under his belt before the regular season was over.
The Yankees chose to non-tender Trivino last November, but then re-signed him to a guaranteed major league contract worth $1.5M in 2024 with a $5M club option for 2025. That option seems like a lock to be declined, though it is possible New York again re-signs Trivino at a lower price tag.
In other injury news out of the Bronx, Boone told reporters yesterday that DJ LeMahieu has started to hit off a tee as he continues his recovery from a hip impingement. LeMahieu isn’t expected to return before the regular season is over, but could potentially be a roster option for the postseason depending on his health or New York’s roster needs. LeMahieu has been out since the start of September with his hip injury and also missed the first two months of the season with a foot issue — in between, the veteran infielder struggled to a .204/.269/.259 slash line over 228 plate appearances.
