The New York Yankees will be without the services of star pitcher Max Fried for the foreseeable future after the club announced he would be headed to the 15-day IL on Friday.
Fried was pulled from Wednesday’s start against Baltimore after just 3 innings because of left elbow soreness. The 32 year old subsequently underwent additional imaging on Thursday before being diagnosed with a bone bruise in his elbow.
While the Yankee pitcher dodged the dreaded UCL injury in this case, the team has been mum on any kind of potential return to play timeline in the days since the injury. According to reports, the team will also be sending the imaging to Dr. Neal Elattrache, who is the leading Tommy John surgeon in the nation for “due diligence” However the expectation is that surgery will not be required.
“Definitely bummed that I’m going to have to be missing some time,” said Fried. “But overall happy that it doesn’t look like it’s going to be anything serious or surgery required or anything like that. Never want to go on the IL and miss games but also understand that the long-term outlook still looks good.”
“I think we’re looking at a little bit of an ambiguous timeline, just understanding that everyone’s bodies are going to heal differently,” Fried said. “So, I’m going to get back as soon as I possibly can.”
While it will be tough to replicate Fried’s front of the rotation arsenal, New York has options that they can lean on in the lefty’s absence. Either one of Paul Blackburn or Ryan Yarbrough could be used for a spot start or two. Or the team could look to their farm system and potentially give top prospect Elmer Rodriguez a second shot at displaying his stuff while Gerrit Cole finishes up his rehab assignment.
“I think [it’s] in some ways good news in that the ligament’s in good shape,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s just a matter of how the timeline’s going to shake out. But I think in the long term, we’re in an OK spot.”
New York kicks off their subway series against the Mets on Friday, before hosting the Toronto Blue Jays for a 4 game series in the Bronx beginning on Monday, May 18th.
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