TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — New York Yankees left-hander Zack Britton had surgery Monday to remove a bone chip from his pitching elbow.
The reliever is likely to be out until at least May and perhaps until summer. The team has not specified a timeframe.
Yankees head team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad operated at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
“Want to thank Dr. Ahmad and his staff for their excellent work today,” Britton wrote on Twitter. “Excited to start the process of getting myself ready to rejoin the boys.”
Left-hander Aroldis Chapman is the Yankees’ closer, and manager Aaron Boone said he will mix and match during the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Boone has said right-hander Chad Green, side-arming right-hander Darren O’Day, right-hander Jonathan Loaisiga and left-hander Justin Wilson are options.
“I think it comes down to the incision being healed,” manager Aaron Boone said “That’ll tell him when he can start playing catch and start the ramp-up process. So don’t want to really put a timetable on it.”
Chapman is suspended for the first two games of the season by Major League Baseball for throwing a 101 mph fastball near the head of Tampa Bay’s Mike Brosseau on Sept. 1.
Britton, 33, is a two-time All-Star who was 1-2 with a 1.89 ERA and eight saves in 20 appearances during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He filled in as closer for the first 3 1/2 weeks while Chapman missed 21 games recovering from COVID-19.
Catcher Robinson Chirinos is scheduled for surgery on his right wrist on Tuesday with Dr. Douglas Carlan in Tampa, Florida, six days after Chirinos was by a pitch from Pittsburgh’s Blake Cederlind. Manager Aaron Boone said it appears estimated recovery time is four to six weeks.
Infielder-outfielder Miguel Andújar is receiving treatment for a muscle strain in in his right hand, and a nerve issue is being monitored, according to Boone.
NOTES: RHP Domingo Germán pitched four shutout innings, allowed three hits, struck out six and walked one in a 4-2 win over Philadelphia.
“Seemed like he was a little inconsistent maybe with the breaking ball a little bit early, but really dialed that in and got nasty with that. Again, the changeup was a great pitch for him,” Boone said. “Fastball was there. Good movement, good velocity. He looked really polished.”
In his return from a domestic violence suspension that started in September 2019, Germán has pitched nine scoreless innings, allowing five hits, striking out 13 and walking one. He is competing with Deivi García to be the fifth starter in a rotation with Gerrit Cole, Corey Kluber, Jameson Taillon and Jordan Montgomery.
Germán was 18-4 with a 4.03 ERA before the suspension in 2019.
“The decision for April 1 isn’t the final decision,” Boone said. “I go back to a couple years ago when DJ LeMahieu wasn’t in the starting lineup on opening day. I knew he was going to play pretty much every day, but it’s like somebody’s got to sit on opening day and that’s the story, but it’s a long season. And I just feel really good about where all our starters or — slash guys who give us length — I feel like we’re in a pretty good spot with them right now, and we’re going to need them all.”
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