New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is not doing much to buoy optimism around the impending results of the tests on Gerrit Cole’s elbow.
“I’m prepared for the worst, but we’ll see how it plays out,” Cashman said on Sunday (h/t Newsday).
Cole, Cashman, and the Yankees are in the process of getting a second opinion on his pitching elbow after the ace underwent an MRI last week following his spring training start against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.
The initial results were not good, with Cole admitting that he was “concerned.”
“I’ve still got some hope,” Cole said. “I’m just waiting for the experts to weigh in… In the game, there was a lot of good stuff happening… but as I got home, I just continued to get more and more sore. Something wasn’t right.”
The worst-case scenario — which would provide a hammer blow to the Yankees season before it even starts — would be Tommy John surgery, which would sideline the 2023 Cy Young Award winner for the entire year.
He avoided surgery last spring despite encountering elbow issues. Instead, he was shut down with nerve inflammation and did not make his season debut until June 19. In 95 innings, he posted a 3.41 ERA and a 1.130 WHIP with 99 strikeouts.
Following the World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he was on the mound for the Yankees’ catastrophic fifth-inning collapse in Game 5, Cole opted out of his contract but then returned on his current deal, which has four years and $144 million left.
The Yankees’ starting rotation is already looking dangerously thin three weeks before Opening Day. Reigning AL Rookie of the Year, Luis Gil will miss the first three months of the season, at least, due to a high-grade lat strain.
Now, with the prospects of no Cole or Gil, Max Fried will become the Yankees’ ace in 2025 after signing an eight-year, $218 million pact over the winter. He would be followed by Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, Marcus Stroman, who they tried to trade all winter, and either Will Warren or veteran Carlos Carrasco, who was a non-roster invite to spring training.
