Yankees' ace Masahiro Tanaka has a partially torn UCL and will opt for rehab and not Tommy John surgery. Tanaka’s rehab will last for six weeks and after that the team will decide if he should undergo the major elbow surgery.
Tanaka was flown back to New York on Wednesday after he complained of soreness in his elbow following his latest subpar game again the Cleveland Indians. Tanaka had been subpar in his last four starts where he hosts a 4.25 earned run average as opposed to the 1.99 he had in his first 14 starts.
Yankees general manager Brain Cashman told reporters that Tommy John surgery remains an option for Tanaka, but they will cross that bridge when they get there. Tanaka saw three different doctors and all three diagnosed the injury as a partial tear of the UCL. The doctors recommended Tanaka attempt to rehab the elbow before opting to undergo the surgery.
Tanaka is the latest Yankee starting pitcher to go down with injury as CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova are all on the shelf for a significant amount of time, if not the season. Tanaka leads the American League with 12 wins and a 2.51 ERA and is the leading candidate for the American League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards.
Cashman said that this injury would not change the Yankee's mindset as the trade deadline approaches, but rumors are that New York will call the Philadelphia Phillies concearning the avaliablity of Cole Hamels and/or Cliff Lee.
Tanaka's 25. Wouldn't be prudent to rush him back. Yanks need to fight every instinct here and think LONGTERM.
— Anish Shroff (@AnishESPN) July 11, 2014
Yankees now have 80% of rotation down...Tanaka, Pineda, CC, Nova. Joe G will have to be a wizard to pull this off. — Ryan Ruocco (@RyanRuocco) July 11, 2014
[ESPN]
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