The Yankees have 18 innings to cover Friday, but Carlos Lagrange will not be throwing one of them.
After they optioned a pair of pitchers on Thursday night, leading to speculation that Lagrange could be on his way up, the Yankees instead recalled Yerry de los Santos and Brendan Beck for their doubleheader against the Orioles.
Beck will start Game 1 while de los Santos offers length out of the bullpen, as the Yankees try to protect their relievers ahead of the postseason (and will have Will Warren in a limited fashion for Game 2 to keep him available for Tuesday’s wild-card series opener).
Lagrange, meanwhile, was not going to be available to pitch Friday after throwing live on Wednesday in Somerset as part of the Yankees’ stay-ready group.
The hard-throwing 23-year-old is still not far removed from a shoulder sprain, so the Yankees are being cautious with him even while keeping him in play to potentially be an option for a postseason roster.
“He had an injury, and he’s just started throwing lives again,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He threw live two days ago, so he’s not in play right now. Could be down the road, but he’s not in play yet.”
With Sunday’s regular-season finale in jeopardy because of the Nor’easter heading this way – and the Yankees planning to call up Elmer Rodríguez for length if they play that game – Lagrange seems doubtful to appear in a regular-season game.
If the Yankees still decide to call him up to make his MLB debut in the playoffs, he would become the seventh player in the modern era to do so.
