Masahiro Tanaka didn’t pitch quite like the ace the Yankees thought they had when they signed him ahead of the 2014 season. As an MLB rookie he was electric, posting a 13-5 record with a 2.77 ERA; he also missed a huge chunk of the season with a partially torn UCL, that he rehabbed instead of undergoing Tommy John surgery.
This year, Tanaka was 12-7 with a 3.53 ERA, and he threw noticeably fewer fastballs as a means of protecting his elbow. This week, he underwent surgery to clean out bone spurs in his right elbow, but that won’t eliminate his problems. According to reports, Tanaka has two options when it comes to his elbow, and neither one is good at all.
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He can undergo Tommy John surgery to repair the UCL, and miss the 2016 season, or he can continue as he has so far, and keep having surgeries to remove the bone spurs, which will recur. The catch is that there is a finite amount of times doctors can remove the spurs before his elbow needs to be re-constructed, according to Dr. Michael Hausman.
“The ligament’s laxity… predisposes the elbow to a little bit of wobble, which can cause bone spurs to occur,” Hausman said.
“If he’s got laxity, then yes, they’re going to recur. And depending on how much laxity there is, it may eventually require reconstruction. You can arthroscopically clean out the elbow a couple of times, but it’s not something you can do every couple of months.”
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In other words, eventually, Tanaka will have to undergo Tommy John surgery. At this point, it’s a matter of sacrificing his age 27 season, or pitching sub-optimally, but effectively, for as long as possible until the operation is an absolute necessity. If the version the Yankees can count on is his 2015 form, which is to say, that of an above-average No. 3 starter, it might be best if he gets the procedure, and returns with an electric fastball that can play off his renowned splitter.
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