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Masahiro Tanaka put on the 15-day DL with tendinitis in right wrist and mild forearm strain

It felt a lot worse at the time when the news was vague, but at least it seems like Tanaka will only miss a handful of starts.

By Andrew Mearns
Get well soon, you brilliant pitcher.
Get well soon, you brilliant pitcher.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Going into the season, Yankees fans knew that Masahiro Tanaka would be pitching in mostly uncharted waters in his medically approved attempt to rehab his minor UCL tear and avoid Tommy John surgery. Today brought the first major bump in the road since he began his rehab last summer. In the middle of tonight's Yankees/Rays game, GM Brian Cashman announced that Tanaka would go to the 15-day DL to recover from a couple injuries:

The news is obviously not great, but if there is any solace, it's that as Marakovits reported, it's a very minor forearm strain. Cashman did mention that there was a possibility that it could be a precursor to Tommy John surgery. However, since this seems that this is more of a wrist injury, we're definitely not at the point of SHOULDA GOT TOMMY JOHN already. If he needed it, the doctors would have said so.

At this juncture, we can only hope that Tanaka just needs the one month to recover. In the meantime, the Yankees are likely to make do with a rotation of Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, Nathan Eovaldi, Adam Warren, and Chase Whitley, who was called up today to help give extra rest anyway. Instead, the rotation will likely resume normal rest with Pineda pitching tomorrow afternoon. Infielder Gregorio  Petit, optioned to make room for Whitley, will return to the team tomorrow since the Yanks played with a short bench Wednesday and Petit can be recalled due to an injury. Jose Pirela is still on a rehab assignment with Double-A Trenton from his concussion, so it's certainly fine to just bring Petit back.

Get well soon, Tanaka!

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