The injury-plagued career of New York Yankees starter Michael Pineda took another turn when he was shut down last week with a right forearm muscle strain. The decision to shut Pineda down came after he yielded nine earned runs in his past two starts. Prior to that, the 26-year-old starter had given up a total of three earned in his previous three starts.
Now comes this unfortunate news from New York:
There remains a chance Pineda could return in time for the stretch run in September, but it's likely he's going to have to take part in some rehab starts in the minors.
Prior to his recent struggles, Pineda had been one of the Yankees' most consistent starters. In 19 starts this season, he has posted a 9-7 record with a 3.97 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. He had also put up a solid 2.97 FIP and league-leading 7.80 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
In terms of what type of fantasy impact this might have, the DFS world will be impacted directly. Prior to his struggles over the past two starts, Pineda had gone six-plus innings in 12 of his first 17 starts, tallying six-plus strikeouts 11 times. He had also yielded two earned runs or less 11 times.
With Pineda on the shelf, Ivan Nova will now take a regular turn in the rotation. He's 4-3 with a 3.10 ERA in seven appearances (all starts) after missing the vast majority of the season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery last year.