NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees reliever Jonathan Loáisiga will miss an extensive part of the season because of an elbow injury for the second year in a row.
New York put the 29-year-old right-hander on the 60-day injured list Friday because of a strained right flexor muscle.
“We'll get with the doctors. It’s a significant forearm strain,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before the home opener against Toronto.
Loáisiga pitched a hitless ninth inning in Wednesday’s 6-5, 11-inning win at Arizona and was 1-0 in four scoreless innings over three relief appearances this season.
“It was a couple pitches before he finished his outing the other day,” Boone said. “He at the time didn’t really think it was that big a deal. Finished that inning, said something and then after the game even getting with him, I don’t think he was too concerned about it. But, obviously, it is concerning, so we’ll see what we have now over the days and weeks and where we go from here.”
Loáisiga was limited to 17 games last year by right elbow inflammation that sidelined him from the Yankees between April 5 and Aug. 8.
New York made the move retroactive to Thursday and selected the contract of right-hander Dennis Santana from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Santana, 27, allowed one run over 1 1/3 innings in two appearances for the RailRiders this season, giving up three hits and three walks. A veteran of six major league seasons, he had a 5.91 ERA in nine games with the New York Mets last year, became a free agent in August and signed a minor league contract with the Yankees in December.
“I absolutely believe and knew he was going to play a big role for us this season. The time has come to bring him here," Boone said. “I’m excited about what he brings.”
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New York Yankees relief pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga fields a ground ball from Houston Astros pinch hitter Jon Singleton during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, March 28, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox)
Apple on Thursday disclosed its steepest quarterly decline in iPhone sales since the pandemic’s outset, deepening a slump that’s increasing the pressure on the trendsetting company to spruce up its products with more artificial intelligence.
The 10% drop in year-over-year iPhone sales for the January-March period is latest sign of weakness in a product that generates most of Apple’s revenue. It marked the biggest drop in iPhone sales since July-September period in 2020, when production bottlenecks caused by factory closures during the pandemic resulted in a delayed release of that year's model.
The current iPhone downturn was the main reason Apple’s revenue for the latest quarter decreased 4% from last year to $90.8 billion. It marked the fifth consecutive quarter that Apple’s revenue dipped from the previous year. Apple’s profit in the past quarter totaled $23.64 billion, or $1.53 per share, a 2% dip from last year.
But both Apple's revenue and earnings per share came in slightly above analysts projections, according to FactSet Research.
Part of the iPhone deterioration during the first three months of the year stemmed from a big boost in sales during the same period last year when Apple said it was filling pent-up demand caused by pandemic-driven shipment delays.
Even as it stumbles slightly, Apple remains one of the world’s most prosperous companies. The Cupertino, California, company hammered home that point by announcing a 4% increase in its quarterly dividend to 25 cents per share. The company also committed to spending $110 billion buying back its own stock, a move that investors cheered but may fuel criticism that Apple is spending more money catering to Wall Street than creating more innovative products.
Bolstered by the increased dividend and stock repurchase commitment, Apple's shares rose more than 7% in extended trading after the news came out. The stock price has fallen 10% so far this year, erasing about $300 billion in stockholder wealth.
Although investors have been dismayed by the weakening iPhone sales, they are also concerned Apple may be losing its edge as other tech giants such as Microsoft and Google sprint out to the early lead in artificial intelligence technology that is expected to reshape the industry and technology.
The latest quarterly report “leaves no margin for doubt about Apple’s current state of affairs,” said Investing.com analyst Thomas Monteiro. “More than ever in the past decade, the company needs new products and solutions.”
Apple is widely expected to unveil more AI services in June during an annual conference showcasing the next version of its software for the iPhone and Mac computers.
Weak sales in China were again a factor in the latest quarter, with revenue in that region falling 8% from last year to $16.37 billion as rival smartphone makers gained ground in one of the company’s largest markets
Apple had a few bright spots in the past quarter too, most notably in its service division, which saw its revenue rise 14% from the year before to $23.87 billion.
The division reaps a significant portion of its revenue from a lucrative deal that locks in Google as the search engine that automatically answers queries on the iPhone — an arrangement that is a focal point of an antitrust trial currently wrapping up with closing arguments in Washington this week.
Commissions collected on digital transactions within iPhone apps are also a major revenue source within Apple’s services division, an area being targeted in an U.S. Justice Department lawsuit alleging the company is running an illegal monopoly that locks out competition to the detriment of consumers.
That case is expected to take several years to resolve, but European regulators already are forcing Apple to allow more alternatives to its proprietary iPhone app store as part of the Digital Markets Act.
FILE - In this June 16, 2020 file photo, the sun is reflected on Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York. Apple will reports earnings on Thursday May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
