The New York Yankees are in first place in the American League East and they will continue to be favored in baseball bookmaker odds but they will be without one of their All-Stars for a while.
Left-handed pitcher Andy Pettitte suffered a groin strain on Sunday in the Yankees 9-5 win vs. the Tampa Bay Rays in online bookmaker baseball odds and will be out at least a month.
Bookmaker odds will be impacted by the New York injury since someone else will have to take Pettitte’s place in the rotation. For now the Yankees will go with Sergio Mitre in that spot but that may just be temporary. Mitre has been on the DL since mid-June and has not pitched since June 4th. He will start against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
The trading deadline is fast approaching and the Yankees could make a move to get another starting pitcher. The Yankees also have issues in the bullpen as Joba Chamberlain has not done the job in the 8th inning getting the ball to Mariano Rivera. The Yankees could move starter Phil Hughes back into that 8th inning role but that would leave another hole in the rotation. That doesn’t figure to be an option now that Pettitte is hurt and because A.J. Burnett has been terrible lately.
The loss of Pettitte is going to hurt the Yankees as he has been one of their most reliable and effective starters. With Pettitte and CC Sabathia, the Yankees had a reliable duo at the top of their rotation. Phil Hughes has slumped lately and Burnett has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball the last month vs. the online bookmaker odds. The Yankees have been getting better starts out of Javier Vazquez recently and they need him to continue to pitch well. Now they will have to hope that Mitre can fill in for Pettitte. The Yankees believe that he can fill the role of a fifth starter but that remains to be seen.
New York is in a fight in the American League East with Tampa Bay for the top spot. Boston is also in the mix although the Red Sox have even more injuries than New York. Pitching is oftentimes a key to winning vs. the bookmaker odds and the Yankees could suffer a little bit going forward.