The Yankees placed Fernando Cruz on the 15-day injured list on Wednesday, even before checking his elbow, indicating they were concerned he would need time off regardless of what an MRI might reveal.
The news from the MRI was not good.
Manager Aaron Boone announced that Cruz has a partial UCL tear and will be seeking further opinions on the matter.
This type of injury typically leads to Tommy John surgery, which is definitely a possibility for him.
At 35 years old, Cruz is now out for the remainder of 2026 and possibly all of 2027. This is tough for both the team and Cruz, who had found a niche for himself in New York.
Something hadn’t seemed quite right with Cruz for a while. He had been impressive in his first season with the Yankees—striking out 72 batters over 48 innings—but his performance dipped significantly after mid-July. He had given up nine earned runs in just 13 and two-thirds innings leading up to his last outing, during which he allowed a two-run homer to Jeremy Peña.
After the loss, Cruz spoke with trainer Tim Lentych in the locker room and walked out to chat with reporters. Interestingly, he insisted then that he wasn’t experiencing any physical issues.
This offseason, Cruz will enter his second year of arbitration while remaining under team control until 2028. If he can make a comeback, he would be playing at the age of 38.
Meanwhile, Ryan McMahon is set to be activated from the injured list this Sunday, but the Yankees may opt to wait until Tuesday when they can add both a position player and a pitcher.
“We might take it a couple extra days, especially with September 1st coming up,” Boone mentioned prior to the Yankees’ 9-3 victory over the Astros. “He might even play in a couple of rehab games beforehand. But he’s trending in a good way.”
McMahon has been running in the outfield and practicing ground balls at third base.
Even while on the injured list, McMahon had been taking swings indoors following a Grade 2 thumb sprain.
Initially, McMahon was a liability offensively, but he had improved, achieving a .731 OPS with seven home runs over his last 61 games before getting hurt.
In McMahon’s absence, José Caballero has been handling most of the work at third base, though he’s struggled lately, going just 2-for-21 over the last six games.
As for Max Fried, he’s a candidate to pitch during Saturday’s doubleheader against the Red Sox, which would mean he would have been out for the minimum 15 days.
Fried is scheduled to throw a side session on Thursday, and the team will assess how he does before making any decisions.
Aaron Judge, after hitting on Tuesday, has started increasing his baseball activities and was throwing during practice before the game.
In conjunction with Cruz’s placement on the injured list and Elmer Rodríguez’s activation, the Yankees have also optioned Bradley Hanner, who allowed three runs over his first four major league innings.
Before the game, the Yankees held a moment of silence for Dolly Parton, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 80.
