It appears as if the Yankees’ worst fears were realized with Zack Britton’s elbow surgery on Wednesday, as manager Aaron Boone revealed Thursday that Britton ‘essentially’ had Tommy John surgery.
“He ended up having a reconstruction and a repair, and they removed a bone chip,” Boone said, adding the “essentially” when asked specifically if that reconstruction meant Tommy John surgery.
The skipper wouldn’t get into any specific timetables, but the team is hopeful this is not the end of Britton’s time in pinstripes.
“I spoke with him today, but as far as timetable, I’m not going to speculate on that right now,” Boone said. “He’ll see Dr. ElAttrache again in a week or so, to kind of get more of an updated timeline, and there’s some optimism he could return toward the end of next year.”
The Tommy John timeline is roughly 12-14 months for starters if all goes well, and even 10 for a reliever like Britton with a lesser reconstruction would mean the 2021 All-Star break at the earliest. If it is longer, it could be the end of Britton’s career as a Yankee, as he is scheduled to be a free agent after 2022, and the Yankees are on the hook for both his $14 million salary and equal luxury tax hit.
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This news also puts a tough punctuation mark on an injury-filled season for Britton, who contracted COVID over the winter and was late getting up to speed in spring training, then missed the first 2 1/2 months after having bone chips removed from his elbow. Britton was back for just two weeks before missing another three with a hamstring strain, and he returned on July 15 only to be sidelined on August 23 by this latest elbow injury.
Overall, Britton had a 5.89 ERA in 18 1/3 innings over 22 appearances this season.
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