Quick thoughts after Jasson Domínguez tears his UCL

Hopefully martian blood allows for quick healing.

The cursed 2023 season managed to get even worse Sunday. Jasson Domínguez has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right (throwing) elbow, Aaron Boone announced. “The plan is to go through surgery as soon as possible,” Domínguez told Pete Caldera, and of course a torn UCL means Tommy John surgery. The rehab will cut into the start of his 2024 season. Siiigh.

“He’s got a torn UCL. Obviously tough news to have,” Boone said (video). “Had some soreness Sunday he said in Houston, the last game. Started getting treatment on Wednesday but still wasn’t really anything impacting him. Then today when he was doing his BP and his routine and he was swinging, he couldn’t pop the ball or really hit it hard. So we brought him up and he went and got testing during the game, and he’s got a torn UCL.”

I was ready to tear into the Yankees for letting Domínguez continue to play after he experienced soreness Sunday, but it turns out he never told them. Domínguez told Brendan Kuty he tried to play through the soreness and it wasn’t until Wednesday that he told the trainers. The injury would seem to explain this powerless throw Wednesday night:

That right there might be the throw that turned soreness into a torn UCL. I hate hate hate when players do the play through injury thing, but I understand why they do it, especially a young kid like Domínguez. He just got to the big leagues. He doesn’t want to come out of the lineup, you know? This sucks so much.

Position players have a much shorter Tommy John surgery rehab than pitchers. Didi Gregorius* had his elbow rebuilt in October 2018 and was back playing in the big leagues in June 2019. I’m sure the Yankees will play it cautiously with Domínguez, so his rehab might stretch into July or even August. The kid is only 20, remember. No need to rush this and risk bigger complications.

* Aaron Hicks had his Tommy John surgery in October 2019, though we don’t know when he would have returned because the 2020 season didn't start on time. All we know is Hicks was ready to go for Opening Day in late July that year.

It should also be noted Sir Didi (and Hicksie) was initially diminished when he first returned from his elbow reconstruction, as was Bryce Harper this year. Harper returned in under six months (!) and hit only three homers in his first 58 games back. He also returned as a DH only. I can’t see the Yankees doing that with Domínguez. Let him rehab fully and properly.

In the short-term, the Yankees are out of excuses to not call up Estevan Florial now – he went deep twice Sunday and took a .280/.376/.547 (125 wRC+) line into Scranton’s game – though I’m sure they’ll come up with one. Franchy Cordero is the only healthy 40-man roster position player in the minors and, no offense, but no one wants to see him. I wonder if Billy McKinney will conveniently be ready to come off the injured list Monday? We’ll see.

As for next year, the Yankees now need to find a center fielder this offseason. At least a stopgap type to hold things over until Domínguez is healthy and ready to return. Maybe they reunite with Harrison Bader on a one-year deal? Kevin Kiermaier? My choice would be Korean star Jung-Hoo Lee. He’s a long-term solution, not a stopgap, but that’s fine. There’s room in the outfield for both Lee and Domínguez once El Marciano is healthy.

The Yankees have 19 games remaining and Domínguez was one of the few reasons to tune into those 19 games. Domínguez, Gerrit Cole’s Cy Young chase, Aaron Judge socking the occasional dinger, and that’s really it? We have all offseason to talk about the 2024 (and beyond) impact of Domínguez’s injury. For now, I don’t know what to say other than this is a massive bummer in a season full of bummers. Get well soon, Jasson.

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