Yankees' Gerrit Cole has MRI on right elbow

TAMPA, Fla. — During his first news conference of  spring training on Feb. 15, Gerrit Cole stated the obvious.

“We get injured too much as a group,” the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner said.

Less than a month later, the Yankees sent their ace for an MRI on his right elbow.

The news, disclosed by Aaron Boone on Monday morning, caused — to borrow from former Mets general manager Sandy Alderson — much of  Yankees Universe to put down stakes in “Panic City.”

And while it is far too early to draw worst-case scenario conclusions,  Boone said of his level of concern: “It’s Gerrit Cole, right?” 

According to Boone, Cole is experiencing a “level of discomfort” in the elbow, and though the manager would not go as far as to refer to it as “pain,” Cole’s availability to start Opening Day in Houston on March 28 is at least a question now. Regardless of the results of the MRI, continuing to build up his pitch count is likely to be somewhat delayed,

“He described it as his recovery before getting to his next start has been more akin to what he feels during the season when he’s making 100 pitches,” Boone said. “When he’s throwing 45 and 55, he usually doesn’t have the recovery issues he’s having . . . It’s just been more of a challenge and more taxing, so we’re going to get an MRI just to see what we’re dealing with there.”

Cole, who had the MRI on Monday morning, arrived at Steinbrenner Field at about 12:40 p.m. and left at about 4:15. He did not speak to reporters and likely won’t until there is an official diagnosis.

Though the Yankees probably had those results by Monday night, if not sooner, it is not unusual for teams to delay publicly discussing  them, often in order to get a second or third opinion on the imaging. An announcement Tuesday is possible, but it could drag into the middle of the week.

Cole, who had been penciled in to start Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, has made one Grapefruit League start, on March 1 against Toronto. He threw 39 pitches, with his fastball velocity sitting at 95 to 96 mph. He received an extra day of rest before throwing a 47-pitch live batting practice session last Thursday.

“All of the strength testing they do has been good,” Boone said. “His stuff and his command has been really good in his outings. He’s just having a hard time getting that fifth or sixth day. He’s not recovering like he’s accustomed to.”

Cole has been among the most durable pitchers in the sport for years, surpassing 200 innings in five of the last seven seasons (he threw 73.0 innings in the COVID-19-shortened 60-game season in 2020 and 181 1/3 innings in 2021). Cole led the AL in innings in 2023 at 209.0.

Talk of a pitcher struggling in his “recovery” at this time of year brings to mind what Nestor Cortes experienced a year ago.  He was coming off a breakthrough 2022, but almost from the time spring training began, Cortes never felt right in his time between throwing. Shoulder issues plagued him throughout 2023, a season in which he went 5-2 with a 4.97 ERA in 12 starts, but he  entered spring training this year healthy.

Monday's news caught him off guard, which was the case for much of the clubhouse.

“It’s alarming for everybody,” Cortes told reporters. “I know he’s been dealing with some stuff, as is every pitcher in spring training. I didn’t know how serious it was until now.”

It is not yet known just how serious Cole’s condition is. It could be simple fatigue (which is not unusual for pitchers in spring training), something far more significant than that, or something in between.

Many quickly speculated that the uncertainty surrounding Cole — and the question marks involving the rest of the rotation and the organization's overall  depth when it comes to starting pitching — could cause the Yankees to go full-bore after one of the remaining big-ticket free agents, Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery. However, there are no current indications that will be the case.

Of course, if the MRI news ends up worst-case, nothing can be ruled out.

With David Lennon in Clearwater, Florida