The New York Yankees were dealt some brutal news earlier this week with offseason acquisition Carlos Rodon going on the shelf with a forearm strain. To make matters worse now, center fielder Harrison Bader is also out for the foreseeable future with an oblique injury, as Aaron Boone announced Friday. On Saturday at Spring Training, Bader spoke out on this latest health setback.

Via Bryan Hoch:

“Harrison Bader said his oblique injury is “a punch in the face.” No official timetable yet for his return, but he said he’ll come back as fast as he can. Oblique injuries generally take at least four weeks.”

A minimum of four weeks means the former St. Louis Cardinal would miss Opening Day. Remember, Bader also arrived at last year's trade deadline injured and only played in 14 regular season games. Clearly, he's frustrated.

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The injury appeared to happen on Wednesday against his former team when he took an awkward swing in his second at-bat and felt a tweak.

“You just have at-bats where you feel super comfortable and you feel like you’re locked down,” Harrison Bader said, via the NY Post. “Other times you feel like you’re not really dug into the dirt. I just think [Cardinals pitcher Wilking Rodriguez] did a really good job of holding the ball and disrupting my timing, which is all a competitive aspect of the game. I just took a bad swing, which I’m going to take many of in the course of a full season.”

Bader might've played minimal contests for the Bronx Bombers in 2022, but he proved his worth in the playoffs, slugging five homers and slashing .333 in nine games. Hopefully, Bader can recover in a timely manner and return sooner rather than later.