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Zack Britton Undergoes Reconstructive Elbow Surgery

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Yankees reliever Zack Britton underwent a reconstructive procedure to repair the UCL in his throwing elbow, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Erik Boland of Newsday). The surgery will sideline him for at least a significant chunk of the 2022 season, although Boone wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Britton making it back at some point next year.

It’s disappointing and somewhat surprising news. Britton was known to be undergoing elbow surgery, but the southpaw downplayed the possibility of there being significant structural damage at the time of that announcement. Instead, the belief had been that doctors only needed to remove bone chips from the joint. Evidently, there was a more significant issue involved than originally expected.

Britton wasn’t going to return this season in either event, but the presence of ligament damage requires a lengthier recovery timeline than loose bone chips alone would have. While the Yankees hadn’t provided a specific timetable on Britton’s return from the bone chip procedure, it seemed from the outside that he stood some chance of being ready for Opening Day next season. That’s obviously no longer the case, and it’s now in question when he’ll make it onto the mound in 2022.

New York hasn’t yet announced a target date in Britton’s recovery, although the procedure he underwent is similar to a full Tommy John surgery. Those typically require twelve to fourteen month rehab periods, which would seemingly threaten his entire 2022 season. At the very least, he’s not expected back until well after next year’s All-Star Break.

The Yankees had been counting on Britton to be a high-leverage relief option. The longtime Orioles closer adapted extremely well to the Bronx after heading over in a 2018 trade, posting a 2.14 ERA over 105 1/3 innings through the end of 2020. That continued elite performance inspired the Yankees to exercise Britton’s $14MM club option covering the 2022 season last winter. (Had they declined the option, Britton would have had the right to elect free agency last offseason).

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem they’ll get much return on that investment because of Britton’s elbow issues. He missed the first couple months of this season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to correct bone chips. He returned to the diamond in mid-June but was up-and-down over 22 appearances before landing back on the IL with his current injury. He’s now in line to miss at least the majority of next season before reaching free agency at the end of that year.

Yankees Place Jameson Taillon On Injured List, Designate Jonathan Davis

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The Yankees announced Thursday that they’ve placed right-hander Jameson Taillon on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Tuesday, with a “right ankle tendon injury.” Right-hander Sal Romano was selected from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in his place, and outfielder Jonathan Davis was designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Romano.

Taillon suffered a partial tear in the tendon in his ankle, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Erik Boland of Newsday). While that certainly sounds ominous, Boone suggested there’s optimism Taillon could miss at little as one start before returning. It seems rookie Luis Gil could assume Taillon’s rotation spot for the time being, with Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, Corey Kluber and Nestor Cortes Jr. rounding out the starting staff.

Acquired from the Pirates over the winter, Taillon got out to a slow start to his Yankees’ tenure. He was tagged for a 5.43 ERA through the end of June, with significant home run troubles offsetting quality strikeout and walk numbers. The 29-year-old was one of the league’s best pitchers in July, though, and has generally been quite productive over the past couple months. Since July 1, Taillon owns a 3.39 ERA as he’s done a better job keeping the ball in the yard. On the season, Taillon has a 4.41 mark across 138 2/3 innings with an average 23.4% strikeout rate and a solid 7.2% walk percentage.

Romano has bounced on and off a few teams’ rosters over the course of the season. He began the year with the Reds, struggling badly in April and finding himself designated for assignment. After clearing waivers, he elected free agency and signed a minor league deal with the Yankees. He was selected to the big league roster but quickly DFA’d again, this time landing with the Brewers via waiver claim. Milwaukee became the third team to bump the right-hander from the 40-man roster not long thereafter, and Romano again elected free agency and signed with the Yankees.

Over his prior three big league stints, Romano compiled a 5.63 ERA in 24 innings of relief. His 13.9% strikeout rate is well below-average for a reliever, as is his 5% swinging strike rate. That said, Romano has been far better with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he’s worked to a 3.56 figure over 30 1/3 innings. His 19.1% minor league strikeout rate is still a few points worse than the league average, but it’s quite a bit better than his big league mark. More impressively, Romano has walked a minuscule 3.8% of batters faced with the RailRiders, so Boone should at least be able to count on him throwing strikes consistently in the middle innings.

The Yankees claimed Davis off waivers from the Blue Jays a little more than a month ago. At the time, New York’s roster was reeling from COVID-19 spread. With those players having recovered from the virus, Davis found himself optioned to Triple-A and eventually squeezed off the 40-man entirely. The Yankees will now place Davis on outright or release waivers in the next few days.

Over parts of four seasons with the Jays and Yankees, Davis owns a .171/.272/.248 mark in 259 plate appearances. The right-handed hitter has a more productive .250/.355/.421 line in three seasons at Triple-A, though, and is capable of playing all three outfield positions. He is in his final minor league option year, so any team that claims Davis could keep him in the high minors as a depth option for the rest of the regular season. Because he’s being designated for assignment after August 31, Davis wouldn’t be eligible for a new team’s postseason roster if he’s claimed off waivers.

Yankees Place Jonathan Loaisiga On IL With Strained Rotator Cuff

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The Yankees are placing righty Jonathan Loaisiga on the IL with a right shoulder strain, per a team announcement. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, that the strain is in Loaisiga’s rotator cuff and he won’t throw for at least 10 days. (Twitter links) Fellow right-handed Albert Abreu has been recalled to take Loaisiga’s place on the roster.

This is very unfortunate news for both Loaisiga and the team, as the righty is having the best season of his career so far and has been one of the most valuable pitchers on the team. Through 68 innings out of the Yankees’ bullpen this year, he has an ERA of 2.25. His 24.2% strikeout rate is actually close to league average, but his 5.5% walk rate and 61.3% groundball rate are both excellent. On the season, he’s been worth 2.2 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs, third-most among Yankees pitchers, behind Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery, and tied with Josh Hader for the most among all relievers in baseball.

It’s unclear exactly how much time he will miss, but with less than a month left in the season, there’s not a lot of wiggle room remaining. If he is to miss “at least” 10 days, that means the best-case scenario would see him start throwing again September 15th. At that point, he would presumably have to throw a bullpen or two to assess his health and perhaps go on a rehab assignment before returning to the big-league club.

The Yankees are 7 1/2 games behind the Rays in the AL East but are currently holding the first AL Wild Card spot, half a game ahead of the Red Sox and 4 1/2 ahead of the Athletics and Mariners.

Yankees Activate Gleyber Torres From Injured List

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  • The Yankees activated shortstop Gleyber Torres from the 10-day injured list before this evening’s game with the Orioles. The 24-year-old returns after a three-week absence due to a thumb sprain. Torres got off to a slow start but looked like he’d begun to turn a corner offensively before going down. He has a .253/.328/.351 mark across 407 plate appearances altogether. New York optioned outfielder Estevan Florial in a corresponding move.

Every Team’s Initial September Callups

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The limit on active roster players expanded from 26 to 28 today, as the calendar flipped to September. Every team announced at least two additions to the big league club (some teams made three or more due to injured list placements). Here’s a recap of today’s spate of transactions:

Zack Britton To Undergo Elbow Surgery

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Yankees southpaw Zack Britton will undergo surgery next month to remove bone chips from his left elbow, he tells reporters (including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who will perform the procedure, will also examine Britton’s UCL, but the veteran reliever noted that the primary concern appears to be the bone chips. (Jon Heyman of the MLB Network reported yesterday that this was the likeliest outcome).

There’s no indication of a recovery timeline for Britton. He had already been transferred to the 60-day injured list, effectively ending his 2021 season. Whether Britton is expected to be at full strength for Spring Training remains to be seen. This will be the second elbow procedure the 33-year-old has undergone this season. In early March, Britton required arthroscopic surgery — also to alleviate bone chips — that kept him from making his season debut until mid-June.

In between the injuries, Britton struggled to his worst season since he moved to the bullpen in 2014. The typically reliable relief ace only managed 18 1/3 innings of 5.89 ERA ball. Britton continued to rack up ground balls at one of the league’s best clips (68%), but his walk rate spiked to a career high 17.1%. Along the way, the average velocity on Britton’s hellacious sinker fell to 92.6 MPH, more than two ticks lower than its 2018-20 level.

Britton remains under contract with New York for next season. Last October, the Yankees exercised his $14MM club option for 2022. (Declining the option would’ve allowed Britton to reach free agency last winter). New York’s training staff will work to get Britton back to his standard form next season.

Yankees Acquire Pitching Prospect Jason Parker From Reds To Complete Cessa/Wilson Trade

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The Yankees announced they have acquired right-handed pitching prospect Jason Parker from the Reds. He is the player to be named later in last month’s trade that sent relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson to Cincinnati.

Parker was Cincinnati’s 16th-round pick in 2019 out of North Carolina State University. He’s made his affiliated ball debut this season, working to a 4.05 ERA across 80 innings as a starter in Low-A. The 23-year-old has struck out a strong 27% of opposing hitters against an average 9.8% walk rate, albeit against generally younger competition. Parker was not ranked among the Reds’ top prospects at FanGraphs or Baseball America.

While the Yankees will add Parker as a flier to the lower levels of the organization, the bigger driver of the deal for New York at the time was creating immediate roster and payroll space to accommodate future deadline acquisitions. The Yankees would go on to add Joey Gallo, Joely Rodríguez, Anthony Rizzo and Andrew Heaney over the next few days. By including Cessa, the Yankees were able to incentivize the Reds to take on a little less than half of Wilson’s remaining salary, as well as his $2.3MM player option for next season. That was of particular import given the Yankees’ apparent insistence on narrowly ducking below the first luxury tax threshold.

For the Reds, picking up Cessa and Wilson (as well as Mychal Givens in a later deal with the Rockies) was part of a broader effort to remake a struggling bullpen. As a whole, the relief corps has continued to struggle in recent weeks, but Cessa and Wilson have both been stabilizing forces at the back end. Cessa has allowed four runs over 10 1/3 frames since the trade, while Wilson has worked 9 2/3 innings of two-run ball.

Yankees Activate Corey Kluber, Transfer Zack Britton To 60-Day Injured List

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AUGUST 30, 6:22 pm: Britton is likely to undergo a procedure to remove bone chips from his elbow, reports Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (Twitter link).

AUGUST 30, 6:10 pm: Kluber has officially been reinstated from the 60-day IL, the team announced. Right-hander Albert Abreu was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last night to open an active roster spot. To create space on the 40-man roster, New York transferred reliever Zack Britton from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

Britton just landed on the 10-day IL on August 23. Today’s transfer rules him out for sixty days from that date — in all likelihood marking an end to his season. That’s a disappointing but not entirely surprising development, as Britton has been dealing with an elbow sprain that might require surgical repair.

AUGUST 26: The Yankees are planning to activate Corey Kluber in time to start Monday’s game. Luis Severino has also been cleared to begin throwing again, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (Twitter links).

Getting Kluber back for the stretch run would be a significant boon for a Yankees team that’s definitively trending upward. There will be a ripple effect in the rotation, however. For the short term, Andrew Heaney will likely piggyback with Kluber’s start, adds The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler. The pairing should benefit both hurlers as Kluber works himself up to full speed and Heaney attempts to re-calibrate after a difficult start to his Yankee career.

Kluber has been out since May 26th, but he posted a solid 10 starts prior to going down — most notably, of course, the no-hitter he threw against his former team, the Rangers, on May 19th. Kluber would start just one more game after that effort in Texas, however.

Hoch provided an update on another injured Yankee: Gleyber Torres will look to begin a rehab assignment shortly. The hope is that he could be ready to re-join the team at the start of their home stand on September 3rd.

Gleyber Torres Begins Rehab Assignment

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  • The Yankees announced that Gleyber Torres will begin a minor league rehab assignment today at Double-A Somerset.  A left thumb sprain sent Torres to the 10-day injured list on August 9.  Assuming no setbacks, New York manager Aaron Boone told ESPN’s Marly Rivera and other reporters that the hope is Torres can be activated when the Yankees begin a home series with the Orioles on Friday.  While Torres has been hitting well since the All-Star break, his overall numbers haven’t been very impressive this year, with a .253/.328/.351 slash line and six home runs over 407 plate appearances.

Yankees Activate Gio Urshela

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The Yankees activated third baseman Gio Urshela for tonight’s ballgame. Urshela joins the surging Yankees in the midst of an 11-game winning streak. Though the Yanks couldn’t be trending much better right now, Urshela does have the potential to be an impactful addition for the stretch run.

Urshela should slot right back into his regular role at third base, pushing Rougned Odor to a bench role for which he’s probably better suited. Give Odor his due, however, as he’s put up 1.0 WAR as a Yankee by measure of baseball-reference’s or Fangraphs’ WAR.

That value has largely come from his glovework at the hot corner. Odor has logged 2.0 DRS/1.3 UZR over 169 innings while providing decent pop in the form of .194 ISO. Urshela is still probably the preferred gloveman at third, but Odor’s performance could allow manager Aaron Boone to continue using Urshela at shortstop on occasion — as he had done before Urshela’s latest injury. A hamstring strain has kept Urshela out of action for almost a month now, however, so Boone could choose a more conservative approach to ease Ushela back into regular gameplay.

In terms of the logistics, Jonathan Davis was optioned back to Triple-A yesterday to make room on the active roster. Brody Koerner was outrighted to Triple-A today as well. Koerner, 27, had made just two appearances with the big league club this season.

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