Hicks, Tanaka will both have surgery
Aaron Hicks will miss the first part of the 2020 season after he has Tommy John surgery on October 30. The center fielder, who signed a seven-year extension last spring, was trying to play through a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in the playoffs, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman revealed.
Hicks, who was initially shut down Aug. 4 with a strained flexor tendon, was the biggest, but perhaps the least surprising, of the injury news to come out of the Yankees 2019 season wrap-up press conference with Cashman and manager Aaron Boone.
Masahiro Tanaka had surgery to clean out bone spurs in his right elbow on Wednesday, a part of his winter routine. An MRI showed that his partially torn UCL, suffered in 2014, is “status quo.”
“I don’t think it’s a complicated procedure, a simple procedure he’s had, I want to say, several times before,” Cashman said. “So as part of I guess the regular winter program for him.”
Luke Voit, who had been dealing with a sports hernia since June 30, had surgery to repair the bilateral core muscle injuries — sports hernia — in Philadelphia on Wednesday as well.
Both Tanaka and Voit are expected to be healthy and fully rehabbed in time for spring training.
Hicks suffered the partial tear of his UCL when he originally injured his elbow on Aug. 3, Cashman said.
“It wasn’t a small, it wouldn’t be a full, but it was something that was a big enough problem,” Cashman said.
After a dramatic return to play in the ALCS, Hicks still felt it would be an issue.
“He played great for us in the postseason, but obviously once the season ended, there was still the feeling of ‘there’s something here that’s still not right.’ The follow-up led to the ultimate decision, we got to get this thing fixed or it’s just going to blow up in February, March, April,” Cashman said.
After a season with a record 30 players going on the injured list, Cashman said that the Yankees’ medical/training/rehab procedures were a focus this offseason. He declined to say if there would be any personnel changes.
“Some focus is going to be in the area that might have been preventable, clearly…Are they preventable? Are these something that we’re missing? Is there something that in our process that is faulty? And I can assure you that has been a laser focus,” Cashman said. “I described it as the CSI: The Bronx that has occurred and has been occurring.”