The Yankees continued their campaign for the postseason last night after a walk-off win against the Boston Red Sox. The team hopes to get Masahiro Tanaka back on the mound to further help their chances. On the other hand, Reds starting pitcher Homer Bailey will undergo surgery on his elbow.
Tanaka has been sidelined since July 8 with a partially torn UCL. It was originally believed he would need season-ending Tommy John surgery, but three orthopedic surgeons said rehabbing the partial tear could help him avoid the procedure. Tanaka has opted to do just that and reported no soreness after his latest bullpen session in which he threw all of his pitches at full speed. He's scheduled to throw again on Saturday as the team hopes to get him back into the starting rotation as soon as they can.
"He has to throw," said manager Joe Girardi, in this ESPN article. "You can't wait until next spring. If you shut him down, it's surgery. It's not like it's going to be, 'Well, let's see how it is next year.' We're going to proceed and it's either going to be he's healthy or he needs surgery.''
Tanaka has spent almost two months rehabbing his elbow, so the team needs to know if he's capable of pitching in a live game before next season. If he's unable to, he'll likely undergo surgery and miss all of next season. Tanaka pitched his first simulated game last week and experienced soreness in his elbow, so the team is unsure when he'll pitch his next one, and if he can't rejoin the starting rotation this month then they may choose to have him pitch at their instructional league camp in Florida.
While the Yankees have opted to take their time with the $155 million-dollar Tanaka, the Reds have made a definitive decision on their $105 million-dollar man, Homer Bailey. Cincinnati's right-hander signed an enormous contract extension in the offseason, but landed on the disabled list on August 14 because of a flexor mass strain in his elbow. The team transferred him to the 60-day DL on Monday and announced on Thursday that he will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon.
The team considered having Bailey undergo strengthening and recovery routines in the offseason, but they believed those options wouldn't give them a concrete timetable for his return or answers regarding his health. If the offseason routines didn't completely heal Bailey, surgery would have been inevitable, forcing him to miss even more time. Their decision to put Bailey under the knife gives Cincinnati the opportunity to plan ahead more effectively.
These two pitchers hope to get back on the mound as soon as they can as they rehab through tough injuries.
