Tanaka - Partial UCL tear -- Rehab first; TJ not ruled out

[JB_Iowa]

And another one bites the dust (at least for 6 weeks):

 

 

Mark Feinsand ‏@FeinsandNYDN 1h

Cashman said Tanaka has seen three doctors - Ahmad, Altcheck and one more. All three diagnose a partially torn ligament in throwing arm.

 

Mark Feinsand ‏@FeinsandNYDN 1h

One PRP injection and throwing program has been recommended. It's considered a small ligament tear for Tanaka. TJ surgery not ruled out.

 

Daniel Barbarisi ‏@DanBarbarisi 1h

Cashman says if rehab goes well, tanaka could be back on mound in 6 weeks.

 

Mark Feinsand ‏@FeinsandNYDN 1h

Cashman said it's Tanaka's UCL.

 

Mark Feinsand ‏@FeinsandNYDN 1h

Cashman said the tear in Tanaka's ligament is a new injury. It was not there on the January MRI before he signed his $155 million deal.

 

Sweeny Murti ‏@YankeesWFAN 57m

To clarify, Cashman said surgery "could become an option" if rehab does not work.

 

Jon Morosi ‏@jonmorosi 49m

Even if Tanaka completes successful rehab in 6 weeks, per reports, he'd then have to rebuild arm strength. Barely any season left.

 

Jon Morosi ‏@jonmorosi 12m

PRP has had some therapeutic success, but serious doubts persist about its overall effectiveness rate with UCL injuries.

 

Here's a little story from mlb trade rumors:

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/07/masahiro-tanaka-has-torn-ulnar-collateral-ligament.html

 

 

 

Twins aren't the only ones to try conservative treatment first.

Wonder what the odds are that he'll need TJ??

[Brock Beauchamp]

Oh wow. That really sucks for the Yankees and Tanaka.

[JB_Iowa]

Oh wow. That really sucks for the Yankees and Tanaka.

 

It does but my sympathy level is significantly higher for Tanaka than for the Yankees.

[curt1965]

Sounds exactly like Pat Neshak's injury.....

[notoriousgod71]

Terry, strike while the iron is hot! Trade them Correia!

[Guest]

Oh wow. That really sucks for the Yankees and Tanaka.

It sucks for anyone who loves baseball when an exciting player having a fantastic year has it abruptly and negatively changed by injury. We are reading about UCL injuries almost every day now. I don't know why, perhaps because it's affecting what had started out to be a historic season, but this particular ACL injury feels like the one that broke the camel's back for me to make me feel worse about the rash of elbow injuries being suffered by great (and not-so-great) players.

 

Tangent for the old-timers: how much closer would Jim Kaat have been to the Hall of Fame if his 1972 season hadn't been ended by breaking his wrist sliding into second to break up a double play? For those who aren't familiar, look up his statistics for that year (look at batting, also) and project them to a full year, then look at what happens to his career stats.

 

It's always a shame when players having great seasons have unfortunate injuries.

[Physics Guy]

I hate the Yankees, but this sucks. I will be shocked if he doesn't end up having TJ surgery. Barely three months in MLB and he's on the shelf.

[drock2190]

If this was a Twins player everyone would be complaining about this wait and see approach.

 

I mean look how that worked for Sano, Neshek and countless others throughout the years.

[Brock Beauchamp]

It does but my sympathy level is significantly higher for Tanaka than for the Yankees.

 

Overall, I'm pretty neutral.

 

Sympathy for Tanaka (scale of 1 to 10): 6

 

Sympathy for Yankees (scale of 1 to 10): -14

[gunnarthor]

If this was a Twins player everyone would be complaining about this wait and see approach.

 

I mean look how that worked for Sano, Neshek and countless others throughout the years.

But it's pretty much the accepted medical path. I believe Ervin Santana had a successful "wait and see" that didn't result in TJ surgery. I'm sure others have as well but he's the only one I can really remember.

[nicksaviking]

But it's pretty much the accepted medical path. I believe Ervin Santana had a successful "wait and see" that didn't result in TJ surgery. I'm sure others have as well but he's the only one I can really remember.

 

He's the only one I can think of who is currently pitching. From a team's perspective, I don't particularly like the wait and see approach as it seems to be a terribly long-shot of a gamble and the payoff is only being able to play in a half-season's worth of extra games.

 

However from a player's perspective, you have to do it. It's easy to talk surgery in an abstract way but if it's me getting knocked out and sawed open followed by months of not having a fully functional arm, I'm taking my sweet time making up my mind.

[DJL44]

What is remarkable is the Yankees had an MRI done before the season and it was clean. The UCL tear is solely due to what Tanaka has done as a Yankee. Is there something particular to MLB training that is causing UCL tears to happen more often?

[Mike Sixel]

The US handles its pitchers very, very differently than Japan does. That maybe should be looked at, but I'm not sure if either side is better. But, that might have had an impact on Tanaka (pure speculation).

[Brock Beauchamp]

The US handles its pitchers very, very differently than Japan does. That maybe should be looked at, but I'm not sure if either side is better. But, that might have had an impact on Tanaka (pure speculation).

 

The guy had also pitched over 1300 professional innings before he donned a Yankees uniform.

 

That's a lot of innings for a guy who's barely 25.

[Monkeypaws]

How much did the Yankees pay for him?

[diehardtwinsfan]

How much did the Yankees pay for him?

 

155 million I thought... It was a lot. Not sure if the posting fee was part of that.

[DaveW]

That's why you don't pay $155 million for a guy who has never played a major league game.

 

I'm thrilled this is happening to the Yankees, every bad karma needs to hit them until they stop spending like *******s.

 

I mean sucks for Tanaka, but he will be fine, he has $155 million reasons not to be to upset and it isn't an injury that messes with you long term like a concussion etc.

[Tibs]

They definitely need to be smart with this decision to have rehab first. If they waste too much time on rehab and TJ is still needed, there goes next year as well. Then the year after that would be his first year back (unless he gets a couple starts at the end of the previous year), and we all know how those years can go for pitchers.