Second-year starter Jordan Montgomery’s season took a turn for the worse on Tuesday when the New York Yankees learned he is going to need Tommy John surgery.
Per reports from YES Network’s Meredith Marakovits, Jordan Montgomery will undergo Tommy John surgery on Thursday. This means Montgomery’s 2018 season is over, but it’s unclear how long he will be sidelined for. Hopefully, he can have successful surgery and return at full-strength at some point during the 2019 season for the New York Yankees.
This is a big blow to a Yankee staff with concerning depth. This may force Brian Cashman’s hand and compel him to start making calls in search of another starter. The Yankees won’t need to make any imminent moves considering that Montgomery was already out of the rotation and on the disabled list, but they will need to address the underlying issue of starting pitching.
They have some young guys in the organization who could be possible options like Chance Adams and Justus Sheffield, but the most likely scenario is that Cashman dips into the loaded farm system and deals some prospects for a starter.
Unfortunately for Cashman and the Yankees, the current Wild Card format lends itself to fewer teams looking to sell at the deadline. With the second Wild Card team added to each league, more teams are willing to hold on to their guys longer.
That’s not to say that a team like the Giants won’t trade away a guy like Madison Bumgarner by mid-July. But it means that the Yankees will likely be forced to play the waiting game for another month or so.
It’s apparent that the Red Sox are not going away anytime soon and another injury to the starting staff would be devastating. Luis Severino is carrying the staff through the inconsistencies of CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Sonny Gray, and Domingo German. if the Yankees are going to be a legitimate threat in October, Sevy is going to need some help.
