Over the last few weeks, the New York Yankees have been rebuilding as they have traded for the future. Unfortunately, they received some bad news as Nathan Eovaldi has been diagnosed with a torn flexor tendon and a partially torn UCL in his right elbow. He is expected to be out for the entire 2017 season.
He was sent for an MRI on his elbow after being placed on the 15- day DL on Friday. He told reporters after the news broke that his flexor tendon was “torn right off the bone” and also noted that his recovery would require two procedures. According to Jack Curry of the YES Network, this would most likely preclude him from pitching next season and the rest of this season.
This would be the second time Eovaldi would need to have Tommy John surgery. He underwent the procedure back when he was a junior in high school. He last pitched last Wednesday as the New York Yankees were playing the Boston Red Sox. He only pitched one inning and ended up leaving the game due to elbow problems.
According to statistics on the surgery, the chances of complications rise 40% when a player has more than one Tommy John surgery over their lifetime. Nathan Eovaldi joined the Yankees in 2015 and went 14-3.
This is bad news for the Yankees because going into next season they will not have someone who they can rely on. You have some of the guys coming up from the minors, and you have veterans like Tanaka. However, none of them is a workhorse like Eovaldi. This is noted because if you look at his innings pitched from 2013 until now, he has over 120 innings. When we are born, our arms are not meant to go like a pitcher does.
It will be interesting to see if the Yankees go after someone in free agency or if they bring up someone else from the minors. If you’re a Yankees fan, what should they do to replace Nathan Eovaldi?