TAMPA, Fla. – Whatever appeared on Gerrit Cole’s MRI Monday regarding his achy elbow, Yankees officials have surely been appraised of those results.
But nothing was made publicly available Tuesday, in this period of medical staff consultations and second opinions before setting a course of action and releasing its details.
At the very least, Cole was all but officially ruled out as the Yankees’ Opening Day starter on March 28, at Houston, with Marcus Stroman now a leading candidate for that assignment.
Across Tampa Bay at Dunedin, where the Yankees dropped an 8-1 afternoon exhibition game against the Toronto Blue Jays, manager Aaron Boone told reporters Cole was to receive additional medical tests Tuesday.
Cole made a cameo appearance Tuesday at Steinbrenner Field, but the right-handed Yankees ace did not address the media about his condition.
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To recap, Cole complained of a mid-season type of arm fatigue in his spring training build-up, which consisted of three outings but only one Grapefruit League game, March 1.
“He described it as his recovery, leading into his next start, has been more akin to what he feels in the season when he’s making 100 pitches,’’ Boone said Monday.
Cole’s previous outing was last Thursday, a controlled 47-pitch simulated game in which he was hit hard by the likes of Ben Rortvedt. Cole drew just three swings and misses in that outing, but he expressed afterward that he was generally pleased with his workday.
“To see him the other (day) when he’s still throwing 97-98 miles-per-hour – I know he’s not bouncing back the way he (expects) but he’s a perfectionist,’’ said Yankees captain Aaron Judge.
“So, I’m hoping for the best news, even if it’s him being out a couple of weeks, whatever it is. I’ll take that over anything worse.’’