It started subtly, just another night, another save opportunity, another call to the bullpen. The Yankees needed someone to lean on, and one name kept surfacing. Fans watched the pattern unfold in real time: a reliever becoming the reliever. And then, just as quickly, he was gone.

That reliever was Luke Weaver, the $2 million right-hander who stepped up as an unlikely closer after a string of injuries and departures left the Yankees’ bullpen in disarray. He wasn’t just filling innings, he was finishing games, often pitching more than was asked or expected. Now, he’s on the injured list with a hamstring strain that will keep him sidelined, likely until the All-Star break. And Aaron Boone, the man pulling the strings, is taking serious heat for it.

“This is a blessing in disguise. You don’t want Luke Weaver to be hurt, but when you think about how the rest of the season could possibly play out, I would much rather have a fresher Luke Weaver in the playoffs than what could possibly happen if he plays all the way through,” Stacey Gotsulias, the host of Locked On Yankees, said on a recent episode. “You’re already seeing Boone overusing him, and it’s early June,” she further added.

Gotsulias also drew parallels between Boone’s bullpen management and the overuse patterns of the Joe Torre era, where arms like Scott Proctor and Tom Gordon were burned out by October. She, in fact, went on to say Boone was “torreying” Weaver.

As the argument goes, a forced break now may preserve Weaver for October, if he returns fully healthy. Meanwhile, the Yankees are scrambling for reinforcements. Jake Cousins is rehabbing in Hudson Valley, primarily because both Scranton and Somerset are on the road. But relying on untested arms to replace one of their most valuable bullpen pieces is risky business, especially in a tightly contested AL East.

Injuries happen. But patterns of bullpen overuse? That’s a managerial decision. And with the Yankees’ pitching staff stretched thin, Boone may soon face even tougher questions, not just about who’s available, but how they got here.

With Weaver, the injury didn’t occur out of the blue. It was long coming.

Luke Weaver’s heavy workload was evident

Luke Weaver’s stats were glowing, on paper. A 1.05 ERA, eight saves, and a steady hand in the ninth inning. On the surface, it looked like the Yankees had struck gold with a $2 million offseason flyer turned bullpen anchor. But if you looked past the shiny surface, the cracks were already showing. The numbers, while impressive, were quietly covering up a growing problem: Weaver was being pushed too far, too often, too soon.

Baseball isn’t played on spreadsheets. Weaver’s heavy workload was there for all to see. In just five weeks, he pitched in 20 of the team’s 37 games, more than half. The 31-years-old was used in three straight games in mid-May and threw multiple innings four times in a single 10-day stretch. For a reliever who wasn’t groomed to be a closer and had a history of injuries, that kind of usage was asking for trouble. And now, with a strained hamstring expected to sideline him until mid-July, the trouble has arrived.

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What’s frustrating is that this wasn’t unforeseen. Fans, analysts, even former players sounded the alarm. But the stellar numbers lulled everyone into a false sense of security. The Yankees kept riding the hot hand, perhaps forgetting that arms aren’t invincible just because the ERA says 1.05. Now they’re scrambling for replacements and praying Weaver’s absence doesn’t spiral into something deeper.

Because when the stats stop shining and the body breaks down, all that’s left is the reality: those numbers were a mirage hiding a meltdown.