New York Yankees Bomber Buzz, 4/8/17: James Kaprielian Update

In this edition of New York Yankees Bomber Buzz, we give an update on righty prospect James Kaprielian and Masahiro Tanaka’s opt-out rumor.

Beyond Friday’s 6-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, there’s a ton of buzz surrounding the New York Yankees that you need to catch up on.

First off, on Thursday, the team announced that stud right-handed prospect James Kaprielian was headed to the minor league disabled list with right elbow pain and will undergo an MRI.

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According to Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network, the 23-year-old prospect was evaluated in Tampa by Yankees Orthopedist Dr. Daniel Murphy and underwent the MRI on Friday. The results have been sent to head team physician, Dr. Christopher Ahmad.

The next step for Kaprielian is to head to Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon to meet with Dr. Neil ElAttrache to receive further evaluation on the elbow. No one likes to speculate, but this doesn’t sound like a pleasant process in terms of the news we could receive.

Update on James Kaprielian per #yankees PR: pic.twitter.com/WItl8ZTBhZ

— Meredith Marakovits (@M_Marakovits) April 8, 2017

According to the NY Post, the Yankees dismissed a report by the New York Daily News that they are prepared to let ace Masahiro Tanaka leave via free agency if the right-hander decides to opt out of his $155 million contract at the end of the 2017 season.

“I never heard any of this,’’ Yankees’ team president Randy Levine told The Post. “We normally don’t move until the event.’’

The report by the Daily News also stated that the team was angry at Tanaka’s agent, Casey Close, for using the threat of a potential opt-out over their heads. Yankees general manager shot that down as well:

“There is nothing to hold over our heads because we haven’t negotiated it,’’ Cashman also told The Post. “I have the utmost respect for Casey Close and his office. I don’t know where this came from. We haven’t had any discussions of an opt-out.’’

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That’ll do it for this edition of ESNY’s New York Yankees Bomber Buzz. Make sure to swing by every day for the latest surrounding the 27-time World Series Champions to ensure you never miss a beat.

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