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The news we were all dreading is now a reality, as the Yankees announced today that RHP Michael Pineda has a torn labrum in his shoulder and will require surgery on May 1st.
Pineda is expected to miss a full year of time while recovering from the arthroscopic procedure, Brian Cashman told reporters. The Yankees are targeting May 1, 2013 for Pineda to be back on a big league mound.
Some fans will likely continue to rush to judgement and blame Cashman or the Seattle Mariners for damaged goods, but a complete physical was done prior to the trade's completion and if there had been a shoulder issue, we'd have heard about it. Cashman reiterated today that the tear happened during the last pitch of Pineda's extended Spring Training game, as all previous MRIs came back clean.
Dr. Christopher Ahmad, the Yankees team physician, noted that Pineda's rotator cuff is fine and that they are "cautiously optimistic" about the injury. Ahmad will assist Dr. David Altchek with Pineda's surgery next week. It's too soon to say what long term issues may arise from this injury for Pineda, but it's possible that we may never see the Michael Pineda we were hoping to get at the time of the trade. Hopefully that is not the case.
So much for having too much starting pitching...