New York Yankees: Mariano Rivera and 8 Yankees to Suffer from Freaky Injuries

The New York Yankees are in World Series contention every season, but the organization is constantly dealing with unusual, downright freaky injuries to its key contributors.

Just in the past decade, position players and pitchers alike have been lost for extended periods of time due to unexpected ailments.

Luckily, the Yankees are always financially capable of filling voids as quickly as they open.

However, even if you have no mercy for the team, perhaps you can show some compassion for these individuals.

Aaron Boone: Torn ACL from Pickup Basketball

Aaron Boone's walk-off home run against the Boston Red Sox to end the 2003 American League Championship Series was not soon forgotten. It was surely replaying in general manager Brian Cashman's mind when he offered Boone $5.75 million in arbitration the following December.

The next month, though, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament playing a pickup game of basketball.

Cashman was well-prepared. Amazingly, the one-year contract he had offered was specifically constructed to lose its guarantee if Boone played basketball (I kid you not).

Boone missed the entire 2004 season and earned only $942,000 in 30 days' termination pay. He never regained his pre-injury abilities.

Kevin Brown: Broken Hand from Punching Clubhouse Wall

Kevin Brown, meanwhile, couldn't even make it through his first season as a New York Yankee without doing something dumb.

It was in early September of the 2004 campaign when he exited an outing against the Baltimore Orioles and promptly punched his left hand through a clubhouse wall.

Thankfully Brown was right-handed, but he missed more than three weeks, nonetheless.

Worst of all, he fared poorly in October. Aaron Boone wasn't available to provide heroics when the American League Championship Series went to Game 7 for the second straight year, and New York was eliminated.

Carl Pavano: Bruised Buttocks

I can't blame anyone if they don't remember Carl Pavano's bruised buttocks incident. All in all, his injury-riddled New York Yankees career was forgettable.

Unfortunately, the buttocks thing is the highlight of his four-year tenure in the Bronx.

Aside from posting pedestrian numbers when healthy and missing time with "legitimate" arm problems, Pavano also suffered two broken ribs in 2006 after crashing his Porsche.

Which injury is more ridiculous? There's no wrong answer here.

Chien-Ming Wang: Lisfranc Injury from Running Bases

Of the New York Yankees on this list, Chien-Ming Wang was the only one whose unorthodox condition resulted from on-field activity.

During an interleague game in 2008, he was running the bases—as pitchers do in National League ballparks—and came up limping when trying to score on a base hit.

When rounding third base, Wang had sprained the lisfranc ligament in the middle of his right foot. He was put in a protective boot, then on crutches. He ultimately missed the remainder of the season.

Wang was visibly hesitant to put pressure on the foot when pitching in 2009. He was shellacked by opposing lineups and consequently let go that winter.

Wang is in the midst of a resurgence with the Washington Nationals, but I'll always wonder what he may have become if good ol' American League rules were in effect that afternoon.

Phil Hughes: Dead Arm

At the onset of the 2011 regular season, Phil Hughes' arm didn't work. That generally doesn't bode well for a starting pitcher.

His fastball velocity was dramatically reduced by what could only be classified as a "dead arm." He blamed his 2010 workload of 176-plus innings for the injury, but proper preseason conditioning may have been able to prevent it.

Hughes would spend nearly three months building up his strength. Heading into 2012, he'll have to prove himself worthy of a spot in the starting rotation.

Ramiro Pena: Appendectomy

Honestly, reserve infielder Ramiro Pena is not essential to the New York Yankees. Nonetheless, the franchise was inconvenienced when appendicitis and resulting removal of his organ forced him to miss seven weeks of the 2011 season.

The timing was particularly bad because Alex Rodriguez had recently been placed on the disabled list. In Pena's absence, rookie Brandon Laird was forcibly promoted.

Appendectomies were commonplace in Major League Baseball last year—as I discussed here—but Pena's procedure wasn't as efficient as those that Chicago's Adam Dunn and St. Louis' Matt Holiday underwent.

Pena batted an unremarkable 2-for-15 with six strikeouts upon returning in September.

Freddy Garcia: Sliced Index Finger on Pitching Hand

Freddy Garcia was kept off the mound for more than three weeks after accidentally slicing his right index finger.

Because the cut was by his nail, he couldn't use the necessary grip for his split-finger fastball.

It has been reported that this was a culinary incident. I'm sure general manager Brian Cashman snuck a "home-cooked meal" clause into his 2012 contract to ensure that Garcia stays out of the kitchen.

Mariano Rivera: Polyps on Vocal Cords

Mariano Rivera had surgery on December 2 to removal throat polyps that were growing on his vocal cords and impairing his voice.

Perhaps Rivera has a hidden passion for singing because this is a condition that traditionally occurs in people with speech-intensive careers, according to throatproblems.net.

Although he'll be challenged to communicate in the coming days, his preparation for the 2012 season won't be a concern.

In what may be his final summer as an MLB player, it would be a shame for Rivera to be affected by such a freaky issue.