I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch, but Nestor Cortes pitched yesterday! It's the first time he has pitched since his move to the Injured List on September 25th with a left elbow flexor strain. Nestor says he is "feeling better" and hopes to pitch in the postseason. I hope he's not counting his chickens before they hatch.
Nestor and trainers have a plan, and the first hurdle was yesterday. He ended his session feeling fine. The second hurdle is waking up today with no pain. So now we wait and see what happens. Nestor's best case scenario is he returns to pitch in the playoffs, and is even holding out for an ALCS return if the Yankees make it that far, read that HERE.
Yesterday was the first time he threw a baseball since he went on the Injured List. Since then, he's been throwing plyo balls, so it will be interesting to see how he feels today. As excited as I am to hear he's feeling better, we all know elbow issues are no joke. The timing couldn't be worse. Not just because the Yankees are in the postseason but, if this treatment he received doesn't work and he has more elbow issues, that could turn into Tommy John surgery. If he has surgery, he's out a year and then he becomes a free agent. Not a good time for an elbow injury. So now, we sit and hope these platelet-rich injections did the trick and he can come back this season without further injury.
If Nestor does return, we shouldn't expect him in a starting role. The Yankees won't have enough time to stretch him out to handle a starting workload and using him as a reliever might help reduce some of the wear and tear on his elbow. It would be the smarter move to keep him as healthy as possible. Not to mention, before he got injured Aaron Boone said the Yankees were leaning towards using him as a reliever anyway. Now this would likely force their hand.
I love Nestor's determination. He says "the goal is to be back as soon as possible," and I love the competitive spirit, I just worry that he and the Yankees are going about this the wrong way. I've said it many times before, I don't trust the Yankees trainers and medical team. I hope they aren't being too aggressive with this.....it could cost us next season.
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