One of the most shocking things about the start of the MLB season was that the Yankees were the last team to officially put a player on the injured list.

Hard to believe given this team’s never-ending injury woes through the years, but their first move wasn’t until April 28 when Giancarlo Stanton began his annual in-season vacation due to yet another limb or muscle breaking down in what is, without question, the most fragile body in the sport.

Well, the Yankees are catching up quickly on the injury front, as we all knew they would. Since the first week of May, Jasson Dominguez, Jose Caballero, Max Fried, Aaron Judge and Austin Wells have also been sent to the injured list, and you know it’s not going to stop there. We’ve reached the point where every day you wake up, you expect to hear that another Yankee is hurt.

The news that came down on Judge could have been worse because one of the doctors he was referred to specializes in thoracic outlet syndrome and had that been the diagnosis, he would be done for the year. It turned out to be an ordinary rib fracture but still, he’s going to miss a minimum six weeks and very likely more - perhaps as long as 2 ½ to three months.

His absence is already noticeable as the Yankees just finished a 2-3 week at home without him against the Guardians and Red Sox, salvaging a split in the rain-shortened two-game series with Boston Sunday. That essentially pulled them even in the AL East with the once unbeatable but now slumping Rays as the Yankees have gained 5.5 games in the last two weeks.

However, the Yankees are obviously a far lesser team without Judge, let alone Fried and Stanton, and I have my doubts about whether they can play .500 ball while their superstar captain is out, so where will they be when he’s able to return?

As for the latest addition to the infirmary ward, Wells is a player the Yankees will not miss. Oh, they’ll tell you it’s a big loss, but come on, we’ve all watched the tragedy that has been his 2026 season so no, they’re not going to miss him.

He complained of headaches and neck discomfort Friday night following the demoralizing loss to the Red Sox and before the rainout on Saturday he was sent to the IL for what the Yankees termed “cervical headaches” which is certainly a new one.

“There’s not like a certain time that it started, but a lot of pressure in the top my head, some headaches, was feeling it for a bit and felt like it was time to say something,” Wells said Sunday. “Just needs a couple days to let the brain catch up a little bit and get back to work. I just felt a little off, didn’t feel myself to where I needed to say something to the trainers.”

This happened just after they demoted JC Escarra to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after Friday’s loss and brought up righty-swinging catcher Ali Sanchez.

“It just felt like, with our catchers struggling a little bit offensively obviously, just felt like the opportunity exists for Ali to get up here and give us a different look,” Boone said early Saturday before Wells went on the IL.

Escarra was quickly recalled - he hadn’t even left for Scranton - and now, even though the catching situation was already laughable, it’s even worse. Wells at least has been an established major leaguer since 2023 - albeit not a good one, but established. Escarra and Sanchez are minor-league players, plain and simple. Neither one should be in the majors, but here we are.

Of course, the same could be said for Wells who has been a disappointment as a hitter ever since he debuted and has completely cratered this year with numbers that are unfathomably bad. I was actually surprised Friday when it was Escarra and not Wells who got sent down to Triple-A. The only reason it wasn’t Wells is that he’s a competent defensive catcher.

According to the FanGraphs fielding run value metric which grades catchers on blocking, throwing and pitch framing, Wells ranks 13th among the 42 who have caught at least 200 innings this season. And hey, he’s been decent on ABS challenges with a 63 percent win rate which ranks 19th among catchers with seven of those wins resulting in a strikeout. Escarra has a 55 percent win rate.

Sorry, but that doesn’t come close to offsetting the miserable offensive season Wells is having, though. There are 20 catchers with at least 150 plate appearances and Wells ranks 19th in average (.166), 17th in on-base (.278) and strikeout percentage (26.7), and 20th in slugging (.255) and OPS (.533).

Sanchez debuted Sunday and went 0-for-2 with a strikeout, and unless something unforeseen happens, he is not going to be an upgrade over either Wells or Escarra. Bullpen help is a must, but Brian Cashman must know that he has to upgrade at catcher, and the sooner that happens, the better.

➤ The ugliness of this game had nothing to do with the absence of Aaron Judge. It was just a shitty, sloppy performance in every way by the Yankees and a game they deserved to lose to an inferior opponent.

➤ Ryan Weathers put up his second straight stinker as he allowed five runs on seven hits and a walk, but he got no help from the Yankees defense. In the third, Jarren Duran hit a rope that skipped off Paul Goldschmidt’s glove for a single, putting men at the corners with one out. After a walk loaded the bases, Wilyer Abreu hit a grounder to Anthony Volpe and rather than try for an inning-ending double play, he didn’t think Jazz Chisholm - who was shaded a bit to the right - would get to the bag in time so he threw to first and a run scored. On replay, Chisholm would have been there and they might have turned two, but Volpe never gave him the chance. Then Willson Contreras hit a little check swing chopper and Weathers fielded and fired wide of first which allowed a second run to score.

➤ Weathers then gave up a ridiculous solo homer in the fourth to light-hitting Andruw Monasterio, and in the fifth he served up a two-run homer to Contreras. Of course, you can thank Chisholm for those two runs. With two outs, Abreu hit a grounder into the hole and Chisholm gave it a terrible effort and the ball went through for a single. There are a lot of second basemen who would have made that play and gotten the out, but Jazz half-assed it. Three pitches later Contreras made what should have been a 3-1 game a 5-1 game.

➤ Ben Rice and Trent Grisham each hit solo homers off Sonny Gray, and Spencer Jones - Judge’s replacement in right - went 3-for-3 including an RBI double that scored Chisholm who had reached on a fielders’ choice and stolen second. The Yankees had eight hits, but once again were awful with RISP, 1-for-6.

➤ There wasn’t much happening offensively in this one as it headed to the bottom of the eighth tied at 1-1. But Cody Bellinger showed up just in time with a two-out solo homer off struggling Boston reliever Justin Staten, and that led to a five-run burst that blew the game open.

➤ After the Belly bomb, Amed Rosario singled, stole second and scored on Grisham’s third hit of the day, a single. He promptly stole second, Volpe walked, and Chisholm - after striking out three times against tough lefty Ranger Suarez - grabbed one of Judge’s bats and crushed a three-run homer. It’s too bad Jazz’s own uniforms and bats don’t work so well for him.

➤ The Yankees had been shut down by Suarez who pitched into the seventh, their only run coming in the fifth when Josa Caballero doubled and was lucky to score on Goldschmidt’s two-out RBI single. Caballero forgot how many outs there were and looked like he was waiting for the ball to drop and when it did, that’s when he started to sprint. Had Abreu’s throw been on target, he probably would have nailed Caballero.

➤ Cam Schlittler, coming off his worst start of the year, was better in this one, but he only lasted 5.2 innings because his pitch count got crushed when he threw 26 in the fifth including a 10-pitch struggle with Marcelo Mayer. In the sixth he gave up a single to Ceddane Rafaela and with two outs, an RBI double to Contreras that tied the game and ended his day. Of course, Rafaela was able to score because Volpe made a horrible relay throw home. Had it been on target, Rafaela would have been dead meat. Schlittler gave up four hits and a walk but struck out only five across 92 pitches.

➤ Volpe’s bad throw, plus his 0-for-3 which included a fly out with the bases loaded in the fourth and a pop out with a man on second to end the sixth extended his latest awfulness at the plate to 3-for-26. It has to end with Volpe. When Stanton or Dominguez return, he needs to go back to the minors and Caballero should go back to full-time shortstop.

➤ Good work by the bullpen. Fernando Cruz stranded Contreras at second in the sixth, then allowed a single in the seventh so Brent Headrick came in with one out. He immediately got pinch-hitter Monasterio to hit a weak grounder to Jazz who fumbled the ball and threw too late so the Red Sox had two men on, but Headrick got Isiah Kiner-Falefa to hit into a DP. Tim Hill worked a 1-2-3 eighth, and given a five-run lead, David Bednar had an easy ninth, his fifth straight scoreless appearance.

Now it’s back to Cleveland to play those pesky Guardians who just drove the Yankees nuts across three games and a series loss last week. Memo to the Yankees: Perhaps be a little more careful, or simply better, when pitching to Jose Ramirez. Last week he was a wrecking ball as he went 7-for-13, but then in Cleveland’s series loss to Texas over the weekend he went 1-for-11, the lone hit a home run.

➤ 3B Jose Ramirez: He came to the Bronx last week hitting .228 and left hitting .245 and was in the middle of everything good that Cleveland did on offense. What a player, and an all-time Yankee killer. His slash line against the Yankees for his career in 70 games - .342/.401/.582 with an OPS of .982.

➤ 1B Kyle Manzardo: Came to the Bronx hitting .220 and left hitting .238 after going 5-for-9 with two doubles and two homers.

➤ DH Rhys Hoskins: He hurt the Yankees with a couple big hits last week and has 10 doubles, six homers and 24 RBI in a part-time role, but he’s hitting just .196

➤ CF Steven Kwan: He had two hits Sunday but he’s still having a tough year hitting an uncharacteristic .220 with a .600 OPS.

➤ RP Colin Holderman: He pitched twice against the Yankees and in his two scoreless innings he allowed one hit and struck out four. His season ERA is 1.96 with a 0.783 WHIP.