Email a copy of 'Gerrit Cole Recommended For Tommy John Surgery, Yankees Awaiting Second Opinion' to a friend
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Uh oh!
Ugh. Major bummer.
Unfortunately he’s been delaying the inevitable. This is probably why he didn’t opt out.
He did opt out though
“Did opt out”…Apparently. And the Yankees told him “no” and suddenly he was “opted” back in.
do we know what became of that? Is the previous pre-opt out contract still ongoing now?
it was kind of weird. basically it seemed like he opted out and Yankees said original contract terms take it or leave it, so he re-signed-at those terms. if I am not mistaken.
He was signed to be one.
This
How are you fan and not no that he did opt out lol. Embarrassing
This is why you keep a guy like Marcus Stroman.
This is why you need an all star for the first 2 months and then a 9 era past June
Does he moonlight as a surgeon?
True. Never know when you may want a guy to groove 88 MPH heaters for 30 starts in a season.
When your season is over before it ever begins…..
“Before it ever begins”…Ine of the benefits of a HUGE payroll like the Yankees is the depth they are allowed and able to accumulate. As good as Gerrit Cole has been the last 7+ years, How many other teams have a PAIR of TOR types in Max Fried and Carlos Rodon waiting in the wings to take over as top of rotation warriors? Just remember, it could always be worse.
mlb fan:
OK, but Rodon is not a top of the rotation pitcher. And a top of the rotation “warrior”? Absolutely not.
“Not a top”…His contract suggests somebody on the Yankees thought Rodon was a TOR pitcher. And the $22M/yr he was making before he signed with the Bombers suggests the same.
I don’t know, ask New York’s Brian Cashman why Carlos Rodon is paid like a TOR if he isn’t.
mlb fan:
Uh maybe because Brian Cashman made a mistake? If Brian Cashman had it to do over again, he would not have given him that contract again. So you think because the Yankees overpaid him off the two best seasons of his career that makes him a top of the rotation pitcher? That’s a silly argument and not evidence at all.It’s not the amount of money a guy makes, it’s his performance. Go look at his numbers. In 10 seasons he’s had exactly 2 years that would be considered top of the rotation type seasons. Those two seasons are what got him his Yankee contract. In two years with the Yankees, he has not been a top of the rotation starter.
@MLB fan – what kind of logic is that? Just cause a team is willing to overpay doesn’t make you a TOR guy. The stats don’t support him being anywhere near that with the Yankees.
But Rodon gets paid like a TOR, so there’s that.
Carlos Rodon isn’t a top of the rotation pitcher. What’s his career ERA as a Yankee?
Yeah, and in his 10 year career he’s only had two seasons that can be considered top of the rotation worthy. And of course, neither of those seasons were with the Yankees. Although those seasons are what earned him the bloated contract he got with the Yankees.
Fried is a really good pitcher but he’s 31 years old and has thrown over 180 IP in a season once.
Cole has surpassed 200 IP 6 times, dude has been a workhorse.
Awful. Gonna miss you ace
At least he opted out 1st and got the bag lol
He didn’t get the bag. He opted out, the Yankees declined to add the extra year, and he opted back in.
Maybe a first base joke since he didn’t cover that bag in the world series
ugggg….. what a gut shot. Let the Cashman shoulda coukda woulda bull begin. In so glad he got Fried. Hopefully he can stay healthy and be the ace we need.
The worst part of following baseball is watching pitcher after pitcher go down with season ending injuries… In spring training, no less.
Agreed – it just gets worse and worse as the years go on.
Is it up to 1/3 of all pitchers in the majors and minors have undergone TJ surgery, or has it climbed past that?
—MLB can soften the ball and let especially starting pitchers do something more elegant than go all out on every pitch, but reducing HRs is probably the last thing we’ll see even though that rates to reduce pitching injuries and let starters go longer into games.
Yankees suck
I’m no Yankees fan but this seems like the wrong time/place for that sort of post. We should all hope for good health and/or recovery for the players.
Agreed JJJ. I’m a Dodger fan but seeing any player go down with an injury is a sad thing, especially a great player like Cole and especially with a serious injury that this appears to be. People who laugh at the situation or react like the immature rsox..57 are not real baseball fans.
Some guys just Mute themselves.
Wow, if the Yankees went to the World Series and suck, what does that say about the Red Sox?!
Dumb take rsox. Yankees lost their “Ace and your lack of empathy is disturbing.
Dave- this is the Yankees we’re talking about, but I could just be getting old. Maybe that’s the Dodger’s position these days
Knicks – Most of us, including me, knew it was a mistake for Cashman to keep Cole.
Go look it up, the comments are still there.
Most of us are NOT Monday morning quarterbacks as you seem to imply.
Just look at the list of top pitchers who have gone down over the recent years.
These days, every pitcher is susceptible to injury, so there is no if/and here because you never know.
His in-law Brandon Crawford isn’t too busy these days so he can help.
He can help by batting .180
Hopefully, the Yankees have at least some of this contract insured.
Either way though still counts towards the luxury tax
This stinks, both as a Yankees fan and a baseball fan. There’s no definitive word on what seems to be a significant increase in TJs and other major surgeries, but throwing very hard does seem to play a role. Yankees will probably need another arm.
Where is the evidence to back up that claim?
From Kerlan Jobe institute kerlanjobe.org/50-years-tommy-john-surgery/
Throughout the early 90s, the surgery remained relatively rare, with less than 10 MLB pitchers having Tommy John surgery every year. In 1996, the count had nearly doubled. By 2012, a record 69 MLB pitchers had Tommy John surgery in a single year.
Today, MLB players numbering in the hundreds have undergone Tommy John surgery, and it’s estimated that more than 2,200+ surgeries have been performed across all levels of baseball, including high school, college and the minors.
The less pitchers throw, the more injured they become.
@Mustard Tiger Yeah, no. It’s the HARDER pitchers throw, the more injured they become.
If it was merely innings pitched or the number of pitches thrown we’d see much greater longevity among relievers—but of course that’s not happening.
If your thesis was true, it means no team, not even the Rays, not even the Dodgers, have figured out they can thrive just by having their best pitchers throw a lot more innings. But of course they aren’t doing that.
That is part of the problem. A lot of guys are just throwing and not pitching.. The almighty spin rate plus velocity, has taken the career expectancy of a pitcher down a few notches.
This makes Nolan Ryan seem more of a freak of nature.
Violently snapping off the pitches for spin rate is the biggest cause in my opinion.
Well freddie, the evidence is pretty much everywhere. Where have you been?
Increase compared to what?
kerlanjobe.org/50-years-tommy-john-surgery/
No surprise after all the quotes from this weekend.
I do think the Yankees are in a better spot to handle Cole’s absence than they were last year. Rodon has fewer availability questions, Schmidt has proven himself as a more than capable starter, and Fried is a reliable pitcher on Cole’s level.. Will Warren is probably more trustworthy than Gil was going into last year as well. This is a massive loss, but one that will not sink the ship for good.
Fried is not that reliable health wise.
No. But he’s more reliable than Cortes was going into last year.
Yeah, they’re still a good team but this is a major blow.
This is a bigger blow than what Trixie does out back of the truck stop.
That’s an optimistic assessment, BCF, though not entirely unreasonable.
But, lord, when Carlos Carrasco appears to be an actual rotation option (or on the cusp of becoming one), you’re in trouble
As for Clarke Schmidt, 85 ip in MLB in 2024, 97 ip overall. 2023 was his lucky year, wrt health, but 159 innings sent his ERA to 4.64. 2022? 90 innings total, 57 in MLB.
Rodon had a below league average FIP in 2024, a disastrous 2023, and still has just the one excellent season with 25+ starts. Credit’s due for his superb 2021, but the Yankees need starts, innings, desperately.
I said at the time of it and was by no means alone, trading Cortes when serious bullpen arms were available for nothing but $ was a big mistake. Cashman just hasn’t been treating good starting arms with the respect they warrant. When bringing back Jordan Montgomery may well be your best option—and when you spent all offseason trying to get rid of the guy who is now your #4, you’re in trouble.
The SP was old and thin, with little in the pipeline likely to help this year, and with poor recent track records—and that was before they dealt Cortes.
Best of luck.
This could mean the end of his career. It’s hard to come back from Tommy John in your later 30s. A shame.
@will – It isn’t impossible. Verlander was 37-38 when he went under the knife. He came back at 39 to win the Cy Young award.
He’s 34. Not later 30’s.
He’s currently 34 and 182 days and rates strongly to be 36 when he pitches in anger again, of course.
Still, given it’s his first TJS, he may come back without missing a beat, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he was able to step it up a little.
It’s more likely though that he just comes back as a 36 year old exhibiting the usual decline in all the body parts that weren’t replaced. You’ll probably get a pretty good 36 year old starting pitcher, but he’s unlikely to return to ace form if for no other reason than 36 year old starters rarely have #1 SP stuff, regardless of their past. The last two years he’s already gone from a peak of 13.8 K/9 in 2019 to 9.4 iin 2024 and 9.6 in 2023. .
Thank you. Not one is labeling me late 30s yet! (I’m the same age).
Condolences from Dodgerland.
He’s 34, not in his later 30s. I wouldn’t write his career off just yet. But you can write off 2025 and at least half of 2026.
Everyone seems to assume he will miss time in 2026. He may be back before the lockout is over.
FYI: MLB’s collective bargaining agreement expires AFTER the 2026 season. 🙂
Push the kids up: put Warren, Rice, and Lombard with Martian, Jazz Wells on the squad, it’ll be 2017 without Astros thievery.
You can hope, but Will Warren’s age at the relevant levels and his peripherals speak to a very marginal starting pitcher.
Turning 26, no success in MLB, his best seasons in the minors still involve a WHIPs right around 1.300, a 1.395 WHIP last season in AAA… This is not someone you want to put into a position to have to step up in 2025.
Have you been seeing Warren pitch at all in Spring Training? I’ll take the over on those peripherals.
Hopefully, he doesn’t play around and gets the surgery now. He could be back by May 2026 if he gets it now
That’s what I say. Players try to hold off on the surgery, knowing they are destined to have it within months, Just get it done, and try to get back as quickly as possible.
“It’s just a little airborne, it’s still good, it’s still good!”
Oh no
.
.
.
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Anyway…..
1. Maybe we should bring back sticky stuff. First Glasnow, now Cole.
2. Sign Bauer, Hal. You were ok with Chapman twice.
@cheap. Bauer is signed.
The Yankees are screwed.
Oh Oh is right.
Looks like it’s the O’s division to lose now.
Don’t sleep on the Jays or Sox tbh…especially Boston.
Oh sh$t
Oh dog poop
I was shocked it wasn’t last year
Yeah it was weird how they waited it out. Must’ve been about Soto and the expectation this was their best chance.
This totally sucks. The AL is wide open.
Between Cole and Stanton the Yankees season is already in jeopardy because of 3 elbows.
🙁
Season is elbows deep in poop already.
If only they had kept Michael King or JP Sears
Nightmare scenario.
I’ll trade for him why he is hurt out for year you want Jon Gray?
When it happened last year I was surprised they waited it out. After how Chris Sale happened in ’19, I didn’t think another team would waste multiple seasons falling for the same crap.
making the world series is not a wasted season
This is already 9 guys that will begin the season on the IL (Cole, Gil, Brubaker, Cousins, Effross, Beeter, Loaisiga, LeMahieu and Stanton). And that doesn’t include two Top 30 SP prospects that need TJ surgery in Hampton & Hurd.
Roll with Cabrera, Peraza, Rice and Warren. No need to waste a spot or money on guys like Martinez or Arenado.
I agree Fernando, let the kids play. Without Cole they’ve none chance to win.
brutal
stroman might pitch 140 innings after all
The Pirates home opener is against the Yankees. I was looking forward to a possible Skenes/Cole matchup.
The way things are going Stroman will be opening day starter for the Yanks haha
Call the Phillies…
That’s a shame.
-Jerry Seinfeld
Yankees Fans should be concerned. As a Braves Fan, I cannot even to begin to tell you how many times Max Fried was shut down with Left Forearm tightness, Left Forearm Neuritis, Left Forearm Strain, Left Index Finger Blister, Left Middle Finger Blister and not to mention … Left Hamstring Strain, Right Hamstring Strain, Left Groin Strain, Left Lumbar Spine Muscle Spasm, Concussion and other injuries! I don’t approve of these long term deals for Pitchers. Also, Cole is still due on the rest of his 9yr $324M at $36M for every year he misses! AA did not want to give that much $$ to Fried. His longest contract for a Pitcher was 6yrs / $75M (12.5M AAV) to Spencer Strider and he is going to miss a year or more at a lower cost than Cole.
Adding Cole back in for 4/144m after he opted out, following missing half a season was all too typical of Cashman. It was already an old rotation.
In Cortes he had a competent SP he could have expected 25 starts, 140 innings, above average without being remarkable. It’s not that Cortes is in Cole’s league—of course he isn’t. It’s what you could have expected the difference to be between Cortes and Cole, which after the injury in 2024 was significantly less than we might tend to think.
ZIPS, 2025
Cortes, 152 IP, 3.54 ERA
Cole, 143 IP, 3.64 ERA
Ah–so Cortes was actually projected to have a better 2025. Not a complete surprise given Cole’s injury, and the Yankees somehow decided that
Cole + Williams
was better than
Cortes + $36m
I don’t see how they went with the first line.
Can’t stand the Yankees, but I don’t like seeing anyone get hurt no matter what team they play for.
Season is over. This should be the year they actually SELL to reload for another run.
No Cole, no Gil, Stanton may be out for the year. DJ is toast. We have no starting 3B, no backup catcher, no real leadoff hitter, no viable DH and the bench is terrible. Also relying on a 37 year old coming off 3 down years in a row to hit cleanup. This team mismanaged worse than the Democratic Party.
I’ll bite. Who do you sell and for whom?
Do the Yankees contact the padres about king or cease now
cease or King might be the only SP’s that will keep them alive…would be huge for either one of them
They need one of those pitchers plus Arraez to even think about a Wild Card spot at this point.
No. As the Padres intend on competing.
Looking forward to dining on some spaghetti ohs. Any new baseball news?
Stroman’s Jobu doll is scary powerful.
That said, do the surgery now and be back by the second half of next season, put it off and it’s see you in ’27
Cole should of gotten Tommy John surgery last year. The Yankees did the same thing with Tanaka. Both had diminished results. In the end, Cole’s must of gotten really bad to the point that its his only option. The sooner the better to get the surgery in my opinion, especially since hes getting older and signed for another 6 or 7 years
Four more years not seven.
TJ surgury is not an elective surgury. He didn’t need it last year. He pitched great down the stretch.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THEY HAD THE CHANCE TO LET HIM WALK HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAJAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAGAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA LMFAO
Yeah, because they were going to get rid of a top 5 starter. You’re an idiot.
As long as Judge stays healthy, he can carry the lineup to a WCard. Fried and Rodon just have to perform up to the paycheck. AL is also down after being better for many years.
They’ve still got 4 1/2 months to make an adjustment in a wide open division. Who knows who will be available in that time.
He knew he had this coming soon or later and he could have had the surgery at the beginning of last year or at the end of last year and yet, he had to wait until the very last minute. Not so professional.
Schmidt, Warren, Stroman, Carrasco……here are our choices for nos. 3, 4, and 5. . Right now with this devastating news and no changes ….this Yankee team does not get into the post season…add the fact that Stanton very possibly may be going under the knife…and Gil out for 3+ months…Too many IF’s in their scenario..IF Dominguez explodes like his hype says, IF Goldy becomes Goldy again…. .IF Warren pitches like the top notch prospect they refused to trade when they had a chance………..You can NEVER have enough pitching….LAD has a staff of many allstars…so when and if one goes down…..it’s like a multiple choice of top notch pitching !!!! This is and was and is brilliant planning !
No mention of Wells or Bellinger. I’ve seen every spring training game they’ve played and there’s chemistry and capacity afloat. They’d be wise to try and go get Dylan Cease to pair with Max Fried. I’m wondering of Luis Castillo is available. I still think this is a really good team. If an Ace who already missed half of last season on a World Series team doesn’t speak volumes to capacity I dont know what does.
Well.
I know a certain team’s Offseason In Review article draft that is going to need to be revised.
Horrible News. I hate the star getting hurt like this. Or anyone for that matter. With his contract this is worst case scenario. This year wiped and part of next year.
I do believe that Soto was the end of the big contracts. There aren’t a lot of players left anyway, and I think teams are shifting to younger players.
Was drafting when I read the news, ugh, sorry to hear. Forget the second opinion and get it fixed right, Cole. We’ll keep your spot warm. Much luck and speedy recovery, Ace.
Now, time for Hal and Cash to put on their big boy pants and make some deals. Take the lux hit and fix this team.
Salzilla while you are correct, this is like a Tom Cruise movie..take your pick which Mission Impossible? It won’t happen because Hal is not George
Agreed. No dancing around it at this point.
Taijuan Walker hit 94 on the fastball today.
Sounds as if th Dodgers knew what they were doing when they stockpiled pitchers. You just can’t have too many.
Kyle Gibson is an interesting option?
Yankees should have let him opt out.
Why did Cole decide to throw a cutter when he didn’t have to? His use of it skyrocket in 2024 from 2022 and 2023.
Is Skenes going to do the same? Does Skenes need a cutter? Is it worth the risk?
His average fastball velocity has declined from 97.1 mph in 2021 to 94.8 mph in 2024. An older dog needs new tricks.
LHH hit 348 and RHH 296 using the cutter.
I’m not sure who told him to drink the water that time.
Coles sinker was 96.1 and 4 seam 95.9 in 2024. That’s 96 mph avg.
It’s seems like the cutter was responsible for Cole’s injury.
Skenes’ fastball averages 98.8.
A cutter shouldn’t place any more real pressure on an arm than any other fastball. I threw a solid one for years. Any pressure isn’t coming off the elbow. It’s all in the fingers.
I’m foreseen a 3rd place finish.
Yankees fans are bummed. But not nearly
as bummed as Raffy Devers.
Ouch…..Gil, now Cole, and all of a sudden it’s looking like not dealing Stroman was a great deal for them.
Gotta think the Yankees & Padres are discussing a Cease trade.
Ask the Marlins about Sandy. I know, he’s back for TJ, but he should give them around 145 quality innings. And he is cheaper than someone like Cease
They are not gonna just give him away. That will cost Domínguez, Warren, and Jones. The Marlins can do better.
Yeah that’s a huge haul. Rumor was Jones was the starting point on Dylan Cease
Yankees injury news just keeps getting better and better. A Judge hamstring injury would just top things off.
It’s a s#it thing to wish harm on people so casually. Top yourself off.
According to this article, Dbacks GM Mike Hazens plan worked. By holding on to Montgomery until injuries occurred in Spring Training, Hazen can now trade Montgomery to a desperate contender for virtually nothing in return except salary relief. Are you kidding? If that’s all Hazen was looking for, Montgomery would have been traded months ago. That’s just lazy reporting and not going to happen.
Hazen can now trade Montgomery
=======================
Monty’s ST ERA (SSS) is 135. The allure of trading for Monty in the off-season was the hope of positive regression. Even with a tiny sample size, his production is just one more reason to doubt him.
Hazen can trade Montgomery, but it won’t be for salary relief. He could have done that months ago. Montgomery has reported to camp down 20 pounds and in the best shape of his life after last years debacle so I don’t think anyone is drawing conclusions after pitching 1/3 of an inning.
Time to call San Diego on Cease.
This reminds me of the 2023 New York Mets. They were paying mega-millions to two over-the-hill starting pitchers who couldn’t stay healthy. Remember how that season ended up?
Fenway fans should be celebrating. The Red Sox to me look like the strongest team in the AL East and they currently employ one of the best managers in baseball. The Orioles whiffed on picking up another impact pitcher. They have nothing to show for the Corbin Burnes trade, except the weakening of their minor league system. They no longer have Norby in addition to losing their other prospects.
Should offer the Dodgers a couple top 5 prospects for one of their spare kid pitchers.
I would wait for confirmation before I believed anything based on what Bowden says, he’s always wrong about everything he says.
I said ever since he signed that contract that this would happen… honestly, I thought it would’ve been earlier. His arm had been taxed a lot in his career
As Michael Kay would say, “See Ya!”
At what point do we stop teaching max effort on every pitch? That philosophy is ruining careers and severely diminishing the game.
I hear you, but I don’t expect it to be anytime soon. 95 isn’t that fast anymore, so your location, movement, and ability to change speeds have to be better to get the same results. With such an emphasis on K-rate and whiff %, the easiest ways to do that are max effort and tweaking your delivery to maximize spin.
Put it another way: would you rather have an 8-yr, $250M contract even though you’d spend a year rehabbing or a 4-yr, $65M contract that you’re healthy for?
I’m no Yankees fan but I never like to see the game’s stars go out with injuries.
The guilt passes.
This obviously puts Stroman back in the rotation and might actually put a fire under his fanny. And it also looks like JD Martinez is the most logical replacement for Giancarlo Stanton.
Elbow is cooked, best case scenario is internal brace lessening the timeframe for return. 2nd opinion, PRP injections, are only going to prolong the process. Call up Dr. Altrachee in LA and get it over with.
This is devastating news for Yankee fans. I don’t see how our season recovers from the losses of Cole and Soto.
Devastating news for Yankee fans.
I’m only here to read the second opinions. Since there were so few of them, allow me to contribute one.
In my opinion, Mr. Cole, is that you should enjoy a nice long holiday. You deserve it. Let your arm rest the natural way.
But if you think that isn’t enough, then my opinion is firm: don’t let those nasty physicians cut you up. Maybe try acupuncture or visit a chiropractor.
Are you, Mr. Cole, glad you received this 2nd opinion?
Third opinion: Robot arm
Ouch. HOF potential pitcher lost to TJ. I wonder what qualifications will look like in 10 years. The risk for long term contracts with pitchers isn’t worth it imo. We’ll be dealing with Skubal soon who’s also had arm issues.