Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole on the mound during Spring Training 2024. Image courtesy of USA Today
The New York Yankees received a bit of news that will have them breathing a sigh of relief.
Early on Saturday, it was announced that ace pitcher Gerrit Cole will not need Tommy John surgery this season. Cole was experiencing pain in his throwing elbow during Spring Training, leading many — including the Yankees — to fear for the worst.
But after a series of MRIs and a visit to top sports medicine doctor Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles this week, it was concluded that Cole does not have a tear in his UCL. Rather, he was diagnosed with nerve inflammation and edema in his elbow.
“I think we’ve determined that we just got a little too hot a little too quick in spring,” Cole said. “We progressed through the normal recovery cycle. But at a certain time, we didn’t get back to our baseline, which was kind of our target. At that point, it was time to see what was going on.”
Avoiding The Worst
The diagnosis is that Cole will miss at least 1-2 months, and then begin to throw after that. Thus, it is likely that the Yankees will be without their ace pitcher for the first three months of the season, until June. However, they will take that rather than having him miss all of this season and parts of next, which is what Tommy John surgery would have done.
The 33-year-old righty is just coming off a Cy Young award season, in which he went 15-4 with a 2.63 ERA and 7.1 WAR, which led the American League. Interestingly, for his skill set, Cole has never been sidelined with an arm injury of any kind, which is extremely rare for pitchers, especially in their 30s. He has never needed Tommy John surgery and hopes that day will never come.
“I mean, it’s not a common experience for me,” Cole said. “I haven’t really dealt with anything like this before. Anytime you’re going through something for the first time, there’s a little bit of uncertainty. But I had a lot of faith.”
Recovery Plan
According to Cole, the plan now is to rest the arm for at least 3-4 weeks. Then, when the inflammation is healed, he will begin throwing. He will need the full buildup of the spring training he has mostly missed, which would be another six weeks. Therefore, barring setbacks, the Yankees ace should be ready to pitch by early June.
“We’re going to keep the arm live though,” Cole said, referring to plyometrics and arm movements. “It’s not like we’re not doing anything. That was the term that the doctors described – you’re going to keep the arm live for the next three-four weeks and then hit the ground running.”
Patching Holes
The Yankees opted to not sign any free agent pitchers this offseason, despite lacking depth in the rotation. They were in on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, offering him $300 million, but he accepted the Dodgers’ $325 million.
Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery still remain unsigned, and they will not be ready by opening day. In all likelihood, the Yankees will decide to rely on in-house depth, as they have a flurry of young arms in the farm.
