Yankees Dodge Disaster As Gerrit Cole Expected To Avoid Tommy John Surgery
TAMPA - A huge sigh of relief for the New York Yankees and their superstar ace pitcher.
Right-hander Gerrit Cole's visit in Los Angeles with special surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache went well, as the reigning AL Cy Young winner is expected to avoid Tommy John surgery, which is the belief for now.
The New York Post's Jon Heyman and Mark W. Sanchez were the first to report this news.
According to The Post, Cole received the initial recommendation to rest, rehab and undergo some conservative, non-surgical treatments on his right elbow.
The expectation is that with treatment, Cole will miss around one to two months, but possibly more.
Cole was not bouncing back from his spring starts and compared the feeling to throwing 100-plus pitches in a regular season outing. This led to the ace undergoing multiple tests, an MRI and CT scan with the Yankees before they sent him out to LA to get looked at by ElAttrache.
The word is, as The Post highlighted, that ElAttrache concurred with Yankees' team doctors that there is no tear in Cole's UCL, which is more than solid news for the pitcher and club.
While the 33-year-old will miss significant time, the Yankees are hoping to get him back this season. The hope is that Cole will be back by late-May or in June. However, as previously stated, his stay on the IL could potentially take longer depending on how long it takes him to reach the neccessary checkpoints in his rehab.
Based off the diagnosis of ElAttrache and Yankees' team doctors, they believe rest and non-surgical treatments will help Cole recover and be back with the big-league club and pitching in meaningful games by the time the weather gets warmer in the northeast.
The Yankees have massive expectations this season after they traded for superstar Juan Soto, who is in the final year of his arbitration. It's win-now mode for the Bronx Bombers, so it will be interesting to see, where they pivot here to fill the void in the starting rotation while Cole is on the shelf for the first few months of the season.
Losing Cole is a crushing blow for the Yankees, but the confirmation that he will likely only miss a few months is good news to say the least.
