New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole chooses rest and recovery instead of surgery. How long will he be out?

With concerns growing about the state of the pitcher’s elbow, it was only a matter of time before something had to be done. As things stand, the reigning Cy Young winner has opted for a more passive approach to situation. Will it work remains the question that needs answering.

Gerrit Cole won’t undergo surgery on his elbow

All things considered, it would appear that the New York Yankees and their starting pitcher, Gerrit Cole, have dodged a bullet. As previously reported, Cole was due to meet with surgeon D. Neal ElAttrache on Thursday to discuss the best way in which to correct a problem in his throwing elbow. Dr. ElAttrache is of course the same surgeon that performed Tommy John surgery on Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and so, it was thought that Cole would be heading down a similar path.

According to reports, however, it now appears that Cole will go with rest and rehabilitation rather than repair. The 33-year-old’s timeline for recovery has been set at 10-12 weeks. This of course seems to confirm previous reports which stated he would miss one or two months. This is all to say, that Cole could - in theory - return in mid-May. At any rate, this is in principle good news for the Yankees, who had their right-handed pitcher go through several medical consultations.

As for how the Yankees move forward, it’s got to be said that it’s going to be tough. Given how the team has performed, the loss of Cole for any period of time is going to be a significant blow. What we can expect to see is the rotation of players such as Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman, Clarke Schmidt, and Clayton Beeter i.e., those who were there before. While the Yankees have attempted to upgrade the roster in other places, the pitching department has largely stayed the same. When he was fully fit last year, Cole helped the Pinstripes to an 82-80 record which saw them finish 19 games behind the division-champion Baltimore Orioles. At this point, it remains to be seen whether the franchise dips into the free-agent market with pitchers such as Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery up for grabs, but rest assured such a move would require a complete U-turn on how the team positioned itself during this offseason.