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Yankees reliever Zack Britton underwent a rebuild procedure to repair the UCL in its launch elbow, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including Erik Boland from Newsday). The operation will put him on the sidelines for at least a significant part of the 2022 season, although Boone isn’t ruling out the possibility that Britton will return at some point next year.
This is disappointing and somewhat surprising news. Britton was known to have elbow surgery, but the southpaw played down the possibility of significant structural damage at the time of this announcement. Instead, the belief had been that doctors only needed to remove bone shards from the joint. Obviously, there was a bigger problem than initially anticipated.
Britton wasn’t going to return this season either way, but the presence of ligament damage requires a longer recovery time than loose bone shards would have on their own. While the Yankees did not provide a specific timeline for Britton’s return from the bone chip procedure, it seemed from the outside that he had some chance of being ready for opening day of next season. This is obviously no longer the case, and it is now a question of when he will arrive on the mound in 2022.
New York has yet to announce a target date for Britton’s recovery, although the procedure he underwent was similar to a full operation on Tommy John. These typically require rehab spells of twelve to fourteen months, which would seemingly threaten his entire 2022 season. At the very least, he shouldn’t return until well after next year’s All-Star Break.
The Yankees were counting on Britton to be a highly leveraged backup option. The closest to the longtime Orioles have adapted extremely well to the Bronx after heading for a trade in 2018, posting a 2.14 ERA in 105 1/3 innings through the end of 2020. This Continuing elite performance inspired the Yankees to exercise Britton’s $ 14 million club option spanning the 2022 season last winter. (If they had turned down the option, Britton would have had the right to elect free agency during the last offseason).
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they’ll get much return on this investment due to Britton’s elbow issues. He missed the first two months of this season after undergoing arthroscopy to correct broken bones. He returned to Diamond in mid-June but had some ups and downs in 22 appearances before returning to IL with his current injury. He is now set to miss at least the majority of next season before reaching free agent status at the end of this year.
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