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Jake Cousins To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Right-hander Jake Cousins will undergo Tommy John surgery. Manager Aaron Boone informed members of the beat today, including Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. Cousins will therefore miss the entire 2025 season and at least the first half of 2026 as well. He is already on the 60-day injured list.

The news is obviously brutal for Cousins but it’s not shocking, as his arm has been troubling him all year. When camp opened in mid-February, it was reported that Cousins was already halfway through a shutdown period of three to four weeks due to a forearm strain. When infielder/outfielder Pablo Reyes cracked the Opening Day roster, Cousins was transferred to the 60-day IL as the corresponding move, meaning he had effectively been written off for the first two months of the season.

He did start a rehab assignment in early June but that lasted for only two appearances. He was shut down from that with a setback that Boone said “seems to be a UCL injury.” A couple of days ago, Boone said that things were trending towards a Tommy John surgery, which is now the confirmed path.

That procedure usually comes with a recovery timeline of 14 to 18 months. Cousins will therefore miss all of the current campaign. He’ll have a shot at returning late in 2026 but that won’t be guaranteed.

Between the Brewers and Yankees, he has logged 90 2/3 big league innings with a 2.78 earned run average. His 14.8% walk rate is quite high but he has also punched out 32.6% of hitters and got grounders on 47.1% of balls in play.

He came into this year with his service time clock at two years and 91 days. He will collect service time while on the IL and will therefore get to 3.091 by the coming offseason. That will qualify him for arbitration for the first time. Due to the surgery, he won’t be able to raise his salary very much but he’ll be a non-tender candidate regardless. If the Yanks were to tender him a contract, he’d have to take up a 40-man spot through the winter since there’s no IL between the end of the World Series and the opening of spring training.

Photo courtesy of Rafael Suanes, Imagn Images

Yankees’ Jake Cousins Weighing Elbow Surgery

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June 14: Boone said Saturday that while no decision has been finalized, Cousins appears to be trending towards Tommy John surgery (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).

June 12: Yankees reliever Jake Cousins has yet to pitch in the majors this season due to a flexor strain. He’d recently set out on a minor league rehab assignment in hopes of a return in the near future but was pulled from his most recent appearance in High-A with a setback. It’s the second setback in his rehab — he also dealt with a pectoral issue last month — and manager Aaron Boone revealed yesterday that Cousins is now dealing with what “seems to be a UCL injury” (link via Jackson Stone of MLB.com).

The Yankees and Cousins are still in the process of gathering opinions, but it’s an unwelcome development. At the time of the 30-year-old right-hander’s initial forearm/flexor injury in early spring training, imaging showed that Cousins’ ligament was intact (as noted by the New York Post’s Greg Joyce back in February). The pitcher himself told the Yankees beat back then that doctors had said his ulnar collateral ligament “looked great” in the MRIs he’d undergone.

Cousins was quietly excellent for New York in 2024 after coming over from the White Sox in a spring trade that sent cash to Chicago. He wound up pitching 37 games for the Yanks and logged a 2.37 ERA with a huge 34.2% strikeout rate but an unsightly 12.9% walk rate across 38 innings. Cousins had previously seen time in parts of three big league seasons with Milwaukee but bounced from the Brewers to the Astros via waivers before becoming a minor league free agent, signing a minor league deal with the South Siders, and finally making his way back to the majors in the Bronx.

When healthy, Cousins has regularly looked the part of a useful bullpen arm — he just hasn’t been healthy all that often in recent years. Dating back to the 2021 season, the former Nationals draftee has missed time with a biceps strain, elbow effusion/bursitis, shoulder inflammation and a pectoral strain, among other maladies. He’s pitched to a 2.78 ERA in 90 2/3 innings and fanned just shy of one-third of the batters he’s faced since making his MLB debut as a Brewer back in 2021. However, he’s pitched only 169 2/3 innings — majors and minor leagues combined — over the past four-plus seasons because of frequent trips to the injured list.

Most of Cousins’ injuries have occurred while on the major league roster, so despite his limited innings tally in the big leagues, he’ll cross three years of major league service in 2025. That’ll qualify him for arbitration in the coming offseason, although if he’s unable to get on a big league mound this year, his price tag would still be close to the minimum. For now, the hope will obviously be that Cousins can avoid surgery, as a Tommy John procedure or internal brace operation could cost him a year or more. Presumably, the Yankees will have more information on the extent of Cousins’ injury and a treatment plan in the coming days, but it seems unlikely he’ll be able to return to a major league mound anytime soon.

Yankees Notes: Canning, Cousins, Stanton

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With Griffin Canning starting for the Mets in today’s Subway Series matchup, Yankees manager Aaron Boone revealed to reporters (including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch) that his own club met with Canning and explored a possible signing this past offseason.  Instead, Canning wound up in another corner of the Big Apple, signing with the Mets for $4.25MM in guaranteed money on a one-year contract.

The deal was the culmination of a busy winter for Canning, who was dealt from the Angels to the Braves as part of the Jorge Soler that was essentially a salary dump on Atlanta’s part.  Indeed, Canning found himself non-tendered just a few weeks after the trade was completed, and he caught on with the Mets a month later.  That deal is now looking like one of the better under-the-radar contracts of the offseason, as Canning has blossomed to a 2.36 ERA over 42 innings with the Amazins.

Signing Canning obviously wouldn’t have prevented the Yankees from their big-ticket pitching acquisition of Max Fried, but it could be that if Canning was in the fold, minor league signings Carlos Carrasco or Jake Woodford might not have wound up in the pinstripes, or the Yankees might not have claimed Allan Winans on waivers.  Who knows if Canning would’ve enjoyed the same early success with the Yankees that he has with the Mets, but having an extra starter on hand would’ve been helpful for a Bronx Bombers rotation mix that has been thinned by injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, Marcus Stroman, and JT Brubaker.

Boone’s pregame media session (with Hoch, the New York Post’s Greg Joyce, and other reporters) also included some injury updates.  Jake Cousins has yet to pitch in 2025 due to a right elbow flexor strain sustained during the offseason, and the reliever’s recovery process has been further delayed by a pec injury that developed during a recent live bullpen session.  Boone doesn’t think the pec issue is “anything serious,” but it was enough for the Yankees to shut Cousins down for 4-5 days to monitor the situation.

Cousins is on the 60-day injured list and was already expected to be out well beyond his first eligible activation date in late May.  Joyce writes that Cousins was aiming to return to New York’s bullpen by the middle of June, “but this shutdown will almost certainly delay that timeline.”

The first of Cousins’ live bullpens came facing Giancarlo Stanton, as part of Stanton’s own rehab from torn tendons in both of his elbows.  Boone said that Stanton’s workload has included running on the field and facing a high-velocity pitching machine, in addition to some live at-bats against the likes of Cousins.

Stanton is also on the 60-day IL and can be activated in a little over a week’s time, though it isn’t clear exactly how close the slugger is to even a minor league rehab assignment, let alone returning to the majors.  Boone did note that Stanton’s rehab process may not follow a standard path, as since Stanton is a DH-only player, he won’t have to take any reps in the field.

Yankees Select Pablo Reyes

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The Yankees announced that they have selected infielder/outfielder Pablo Reyes to their 40-man roster. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic previously relayed that Reyes had a locker at Yankee Stadium. In a corresponding move, they placed right-hander Jake Cousins on the 60-day injured list. Cousins has a right elbow flexor strain and apparently isn’t expected back in the first two months of the season.

Reyes, 31, is a journeyman part-time utility guy. He has appeared in six big league seasons, suiting up for four different teams, but without eclipsing 71 games played in any one season. He has a .248/.309/.349 career batting line while playing every position except catcher.

He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees this winter and put up a strong .311/.418/.467 line in Grapefruit League play. That performance, as well as some notable Yankee injuries, will get him back to the big leagues. DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton are both starting the season on the injured list. LeMahieu has a calf strain while Stanton has been battling injuries to both elbows. The Yankees listed his injury as elbow epicondylitis when placing him on the 10-day IL yesterday.

With LeMahieu out, Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza will seemingly be battling for regular playing time at third base. Stanton’s DH job might go to a rotation of players, with Ben Rice perhaps the favorite for the most time there.

On the bench, J.C. Escarra will be the backup catcher. Trent Grisham will be the fourth outfielder, perhaps allowing Aaron Judge to DH with some frequency. Reyes will provide infield depth alongside the Cabrera/Peraza duo. Reyes is out of options and will have to be removed from the 40-man if he gets nudged off the active roster when LeMahieu is healthy.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Yankees Notes: Boone, Cousins, Loaisiga, Rice

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As the Yankees get camp underway, they’re likely to prioritize hammering out a new contract with Aaron Boone. Owner Hal Steinbrenner told the YES Network last month that the team planned to open extension talks with their eighth-year manager, whose deal expires at the end of the season. Those discussions have begun.

Boone revealed earlier this week that he and the Yankees have had some conversations about an extension (relayed by Brendan Kuty of The Athletic). General manager Brian Cashman confirmed that this afternoon, saying that negotiations are ongoing (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). It seems inevitable that they’ll work something out, with Cashman indicating a deal could get done before Opening Day (relayed by Chris Kirschner of The Athletic).

Teams typically prefer to avoid having managers or top front office personnel working on expiring contracts. The Yankees bucked that trend in 2021, when they allowed Boone to manage as a lame duck for nearly the entire season. With his deal set to expire at the conclusion of that year’s World Series, the sides hammered out a three-year extension in the middle of October. That included a ’25 club option on which Boone is currently set to manage. It doesn’t appear we’ll get a repeat of that scenario.

As is the case for many teams, the start of Spring Training also brought a few injury and position battle updates. Most notably, Boone revealed that righty reliever Jake Cousins suffered an offseason forearm strain (link via Greg Joyce of The New York Post). He is midway through a 3-4 week period where he’s completely shut down from throwing. Cousins could start a throwing program as soon as next week, but the delay raises the possibility of a season-opening injured list stay.

New York acquired Cousins in a trade with the White Sox just after last year’s Opening Day. The righty had signed a minor league deal with Chicago but didn’t break camp. The Yankees immediately called him up and were rewarded with a career-best season. Cousins pitched to a 2.37 ERA with a massive 34.2% strikeout rate across 38 innings. Initially consigned to mop-up work, he pitched his way into increasingly higher-leverage spots in the final couple months of the season.

Cousins has missed a lot of bats throughout his four-year big league career, which he has split between Milwaukee and New York. He’s been held back somewhat by scattershot command, but his injury history has been the biggest obstacle. Cousins missed time in 2023 with shoulder inflammation and lost a good chunk of the ’22 season to an elbow effusion. That required a platelet-rich plasma injection and an extended shutdown, though he didn’t need surgery.

If Cousins opens the season on the IL, he’ll be one of at least two Yankee relievers to start the year on the shelf. Jonathan Loáisiga is still rehabbing from the UCL procedure that he underwent last April. The Yankees knew he wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day but nevertheless brought him back on a $5MM free agent deal in December. Pitching coach Matt Blake said at the time that the team was targeting a return sometime in late April or early May.

It seems that timeline has been slightly pushed back. Loáisiga told reporters via an interpreter yesterday that he’s shooting for a return in late May or the beginning of June (via Joyce). That makes it likely he’ll land on the 60-day injured list once the Yankees need to create a 40-man roster spot. Injuries have kept Loáisiga to 20 appearances over the last two seasons. He’s a hard-throwing grounder specialist when he’s healthy and owns a 3.44 ERA across 219 2/3 career innings.

In one non-injury related camp note, Boone said this week that the Yankees will get Ben Rice catching reps during the spring (relayed by Hoch). A bat-first player, Rice played almost exclusively first base during his 50-game rookie season. He started 31 games behind the dish in the minors last season. Rice has nearly 1000 career minor league innings as a catcher, though most scouting reports question whether he can stick there.

Austin Wells will get the majority of the catching work. The Yanks have an open battle for the backup job after dealing Jose Trevino to Cincinnati. J.C. Escarra, who turns 30 in April and has yet to play in the majors, is the top depth option on the 40-man roster. The Yanks have Alex Jackson and former top prospect Ronaldo Hernández in camp as non-roster invitees.

Yankees Notes: Cousins, Trivino, LeMahieu

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The Yankees placed right-hander Jake Cousins on the 15-day injured list today, and called up righty Clayton Beeter from Triple-A to fill Cousins’ spot in the bullpen.  Cousins’ placement is retroactive to September 20, which is the day after Cousins last pitched, and was pulled after facing two batters due to what was eventually diagnosed as a right pec strain.

The IL trip ends Cousins’ regular season, but potentially not his 2024 campaign as a whole, depending on his recovery and how far the Yankees might advance in the playoffs.  As per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (X link), Cousins will visit with doctors tomorrow in New York and he could potentially start throwing within a week’s time.  Since the Yankees are on the verge of clinching the AL East and earning a first-round bye, that gives Cousins some extra time to heal up and get back to game fitness, provided that his strain isn’t too serious.

This is Cousins’ second IL stint of the season but his first on the Major League injured list, as he missed over two months of action when playing with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barres earlier this year.  The Yankees recalled Cousins back to the Show shortly after he returned from the Triple-A IL, and the results have been largely tremendous.

Cousins has a 2.37 ERA and a 34.2% strikeout rate over 38 relief innings for New York.  While a .208 BABIP has helped paper over a subpar 12.9% walk rate, Cousins’ ability to miss bats and limit hard contact has made him a very useful member of the Yankees relief corps.

It has essentially been a return to the form Cousins showed with the Brewers in 2021-22, before a UCL injury and shoulder problems cut short his 2022 season and perhaps contributed to a 2023 season that saw him toss only 9 1/3 MLB innings.  After going to the Astros on a waiver claim last summer and then to the White Sox on a minor league deal during the offseason, Cousins was traded from Chicago to New York just after Opening Day, sparking Cousins’ career revival.

While Cousins had a successful return from an injury-plagued stretch of his career, the same unfortunately can’t be said of Lou Trivino, whose 2024 season now looks to be over.  Yankees manager Aaron Boone told Hoch (X link) and other reporters that Trivino is dealing with “shoulder stuff” and has been shut down.  Trivino will finish his season with 11 minor league innings pitched, in the form of five innings in as many appearances with Double-A Somerset and then six innings in six appearances at the Triple-A level.

Trivino hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2022, as he missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May 2023.  Some elbow inflammation delayed the start of his minor league rehab assignment until this past August, and now this shoulder issue has ended any chance Trivino had of getting any sort of MLB action under his belt before the regular season was over.

The Yankees chose to non-tender Trivino last November, but then re-signed him to a guaranteed Major League contract worth $1.5MM in 2024 with a $5MM club option for 2025.  That option seems like a lock to be declined, though it is possible New York again re-signs Trivino at a lower price tag.

In other injury news out of the Bronx, Boone told reporters yesterday that DJ LeMahieu has started to hit off a tee as he continues his recovery from a hip impingement.  LeMahieu isn’t expected to return before the regular season is over, but he could potentially be a roster option for the postseason depending on his health or New York’s roster needs.  LeMahieu has been out since the start of September with his hip injury and also missed the first two months of the season with a foot issue — in between, the veteran infielder struggled to a .204/.269/.259 slash line over 228 plate appearances.

Yankees Designate Clayton Andrews, Select Josh Maciejewski

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The Yankees announced today that they have selected the contract of left-hander Josh Maciejewski. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Jake Cousins and designated lefty Clayton Andrews for assignment.

The Yankees may be looking for an extra multi-inning option to have out of their bullpen. They leaned on Luke Weaver for 47 pitches on Saturday while Cousins threw 32 yesterday and three other hurlers also took the mound. Closer Clay Holmes and setup guy Ian Hamilton were able to stay on ice yesterday and each has only pitched once in the past four days, but many of their other relievers have seen heavy usage of late.

To get a fresh arm in the mix, Cousins has been optioned out and has been replaced by Maciejewski. The 28-year-old Maciejewski was a tenth-round selection of the Yankees in 2018. He’s never been one of the club’s top prospects but had a solid season last year. He tossed 45 2/3 innings over 30 appearances at three different levels, finishing the year with a collective earned run average of 2.96. He struck out 22.9% of batters faced while walking 8.5%. He’s made two Triple-A appearances already this year, tossing 4 2/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and one walk.

To get Maciejewski onto the 40-man, the Yanks removed Andrews, who they acquired from the Brewers in February. Andrews, 27, has a tiny sample of major league experience. He made four appearances with the Brewers last year, allowing ten earned runs in 3 1/3 innings.

His work was naturally more impressive at the Triple-A level last year, as he had a 2.53 ERA in 57 frames. His 13% walk rate was definitely on the high side but he struck out 31.1% of batters faced and kept 45.7% of balls in play on the ground. But this year, he’s logged 3 2/3 innings for the Yankees’ Triple-A club, having allowed six earned runs while walking six opponents and striking out just two.

The Yanks will now have a week to trade Andrews or pass him through waivers. He still has a couple of options and was racking up strikeouts in the minors last year, which could give him appeal to a club looking for some extra depth. But if he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, the Yankees would be able to keep him around as non-roster depth.

Yankees Outright Tanner Tully

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April 4: Tully went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Because he’s been previously outrighted, Tully has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. However, he intends to remain with the Yankees, MLBTR has learned.

April 1: The Yankees announced that left-hander Tanner Tully has been designated for assignment. His roster spot will go to right-hander Jake Cousins, who was previously reported to be joining the team.

It’s a quick turnaround for Tully, 29, who was in the big leagues just long enough to put his hat on a rack before picking it back up again and then leaving the way he came. The Yanks added him to the roster two days ago and he has now been designated for assignment without appearing in a game.

Since he didn’t appear in a game, that means his major league track record is still just three games he appeared in for the Guardians in 2022. Last year, he signed a minor league deal with the Yankees and posted a 5.64 ERA in 91 Triple-A innings. He was released in August in order to join the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization, then made 11 starts for that club with a 2.92 ERA.

He signed another minor league deal with the Yanks this winter and got called up when the club used a lot of its relievers in the first few games of the season. Tully got a roster spot to give the club an extra arm but eventually wasn’t needed and will now be quickly removed. The Yanks will have a week to trade Tully or pass him through waivers. He has a previous career outright and would have the right to elect free agency in lieu of accepting another such assignment.

Yankees To Select Jake Cousins

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The Yankees are planning to add right-hander Jake Cousins to their roster, per Erik Boland of Newsday Sports. The righty was just acquired from the White Sox yesterday. He’s not yet on the 40-man and will require a corresponding move.

Cousins, 29, is coming off a challenging season. He was only able to toss 9 1/3 innings in the majors, allowing five earned runs, while getting frequently optioned to the minors and also landing on the injured list due to right shoulder inflammation at one point. He went from the Brewers to the Astros via a waiver claim and had a 6.35 earned run average in the minors between those two clubs.

But he had thrown 43 1/3 innings for the Brewers over 2021 and 2022 with a much nicer ERA of 2.70. His 14.7% walk rate was on the high side but he was able to strike out 35.3% of opponents. His poor performance in 2023 led to him being outrighted by the Astros and then settling for a minor league deal with the White Sox. He appeared to be in good form in the spring, tossing seven innings with just one earned run allowed, striking out 11 opponents while walking just two.

The Yanks seem to think the strong results from the Cactus League are a good sign that Cousins can put last year behind him and get back on track. They sent cash to the Sox yesterday to get Cousins in their system and will now give him a roster spot as well. Cousins still has an option, so he can provide the bullpen with a fresh arm and also give the club the flexibility to send him to the minors at some point later in the year. He has just under two years of service time and can therefore be retained for future seasons if he sticks on the 40-man through the year.

Yankees Acquire Jake Cousins

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The Yankees have acquired right-hander Jake Cousins from the White Sox, both teams announced. The White Sox will receive cash considerations in return. Cousins signed a minor league contract with Chicago in December and was not on the 40-man roster.

Cousins, 29, is coming off an impressive spring in which he struck out 11 and walked just two in seven innings of work. He gave up a lone earned run on five hits, although he also allowed three unearned runs. Despite his strong spring stats, the righty was unable to crack the White Sox Opening Day roster.

Drafted by the Nationals in 2017 and released less than two years later, Cousins rebuilt his value with the Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League over the first few months of the 2019 season. He pitched well enough to catch the Brewers’ attention that summer, and two years later, he made his MLB debut with Milwaukee. In 30 appearances during the 2021 season, he pitched to a 2.70 ERA and 3.60 SIERA, with seven holds and an impressive 35.2% strikeout rate.

Cousins got off to a bumpy start in 2022 before suffering a UCL injury. However, he opted not to have Tommy John surgery and returned a few months later. He looked quite sharp upon his return, putting up a 2.66 ERA and 3.62 FIP in 22 minor league appearances and tossing 5 1/3 scoreless innings at the MLB level. Unfortunately, he struggled to recapture that success in 2023. Cousins gave up 15 earned runs over 22 2/3 innings with the Brewers between the minors and majors. He was DFA’d at the trade deadline and claimed by the Astros. He did not make it back to the majors with Houston and gave up another 10 earned runs in 15 innings at Triple-A.

Presumably, Cousins will report to the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Given his previous major league experience and brief run of success with the Brewers, he could certainly see time in the Yankees bullpen this year. He has one option year remaining.

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