Spinal Surgery Knocks James Paxton Back 3-4 Months

The Yankees’ path to a second straight AL East title got a bit easier with Red Sox’s trade of Mookie Betts to the Dodgers, but they won’t emerge from this week unscathed. On Wednesday, the team announced that lefty James Paxton, their most effective starter in 2019, will be out of action for three to four months after undergoing surgery to alleviate a herniated lumbar disc. Even with the addition of Gerrit Cole to the fold, this is a loss that will test the Yankees’ depth.

The 31-year-old Paxton, whom the Yankees acquired from the Mariners in a four-player deal in November 2018, had an uneven first season in pinstripes. He surrendered 29 runs and 12 homers in the first innings of his 29 starts, and was cuffed for a 6.38 ERA and 5.84 FIP in June and July, shortly after he returned from a 25-day absence due to left knee inflammation. Even so, he was strong enough on either side of that two-month stretch that he still finished the season with 3.5 WAR, a 3.82 ERA, and 3.86 FIP (the last two both good for an 83 on their respective “minus” scales), all tops among the team’s starters; he was the only one to take a substantial workload (150.2 innings, third on the team) while finishing with either an ERA or a FIP under 4.28. Indeed, in a season where Luis Severino was limited to a grand total of 12 innings due to a bout of rotator cuff inflammation and then a Grade 2 strain of his latissimus dorsi, Paxton was something of a staff savior.

Paxton wobbled a bit through three postseason starts, allowing five runs in 13 innings while striking out 20. The first two were shortened, but he was at his best in Game 5 of the ALCS against the Astros. With the Yankees down three games to one, he worked around four walks and a wild pitch to turn in six innings of one-run ball while striking out nine; the team won 4-1 and sent the series back to Houston. His October work came on the heels of a bout of nerve irritation in his left glute, which forced him from his final regular season start after just one inning and led to a cortisone shot. Per the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, his surgery is connected to that issue.

Via the Yankees:

The timeline of three to four months is relative to the surgery, meaning that a best-case scenario puts Paxton back in pinstripes in early May, or June at the latest. Of course, there’s always the possibility of a setback, and Paxton isn’t exactly known for his durability. In his seven major league seasons, he has yet to reach the 162-inning threshold to qualify for the ERA title even once, and has averaged a modest 142 innings over the past four seasons. He’s made an annual thing of trips to the disabled/injured list: a strained latissimus dorsi (2014), a strained tendon in his left middle finger (’15), a left elbow contusion (’16), left forearm and pectoral strains (’17), a lower back strain (’18) and the aforementioned knee inflammation (’19). His latest trip means that he’ll extend his dubious streak in the final year before he reaches free agency.

With Paxton on the shelf for at least the season’s first month, the Yankees’ rotation depth will be put to the test. Already, the team will be without Domingo Germán for the season’s first 63 games (i.e., until June 5), continuing his hefty 81-game suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence policy. Behind Cole, Severino, and Masahiro Tanaka — who had a bone spur removed from his elbow in October — the most likely candidates to round out the rotation to start the year are lefties J.A. Happ and Jordan Montgomery:

Yankees Rotation Depth Chart
Pitcher IP K/9 BB/9 HR/9 BABIP ERA FIP WAR
Gerrit Cole 215 12.5 2.5 1.2 .303 3.26 3.17 6.4
Masahiro Tanaka 180 7.9 2.1 1.7 .309 4.54 4.65 2.5
Luis Severino 168 9.8 2.6 1.4 .305 3.98 4.05 3.6
James Paxton 130 10.5 2.9 1.4 .301 3.86 3.97 2.8
J.A. Happ 103 8.5 2.8 1.7 .304 4.65 4.78 1.3
Domingo Germán 75 9.3 3.0 1.7 .303 4.69 4.79 0.9
Jordan Montgomery 38 8.9 3.0 1.6 .305 4.55 4.69 0.5
Jonathan Loaisiga 19 10.2 3.3 1.4 .304 4.11 4.18 0.3
Deivi Garcia 18 9.4 4.4 1.8 .302 5.20 5.34 0.1
Michael King 9 7.7 2.3 1.5 .305 4.46 4.64 0.1
Total 955 9.9 2.7 1.5 .305 4.09 4.15 18.5

Prior to the announcement of the injury, the Yankees rotation topped our Depth Charts rankings with a cumulative projection for 19.2 WAR. With Paxton’s innings projection dialed down from 185 (talk about fantasy, given the history above) to 130, they’re now second behind the Nationals.

The 37-year-old Happ, who appeared to be on the trading block in December, after Cole signed his record-setting $324 million deal, is coming off his worst season since 2014, one in which he was roughed up for a 4.91 ERA and 5.22 FIP in 161.1 innings. Though his average fastball velocity declined only slightly (from 92.7 mph to 92.1) and his swinging strike rate remained just above 10%, his strikeout rate plummeted from a career-best 26.3 % to just 20.7% while his walk rate held nearly constant around 7%. Meanwhile, his home run rate soared, from 1.37 per nine innings to 1.90. According to general manager Brian Cashman, when Paxton reported discomfort upon ramping up his workouts about a month ago, the Yankees decided to hold onto Happ as insurance.

The 27-year-old Montgomery started 29 games as a rookie in 2017 and more than held his own, pitching to a 3.88 ERA and 4.07 FIP in 155.1 innings, good for 2.6 WAR. He made just six starts in 2018 before undergoing Tommy John surgery and finally made it back to the majors on September 15 last year, about 15 months later; he pitched four innings in two appearances nine days apart. While rehabbing, he worked on ironing out his mechanics, which he described as “pretty rough.”

If Happ and Montgomery can’t cut it, or the team otherwise needs to dig deeper, familiar faces Jonathan Loaisiga and Luis Cessa, and rookies Deivi Garcia and Michael King — all righties — could be in the mix. The 27-year-old Cessa, who’s otherwise ticketed for a long relief spot, is the most experienced of the bunch, with 232 career innings and 19 starts from among his 86 appearances. In 43 appearances last year, all in relief, he pitched to a 4.11 ERA and a 4.87 FIP. The 25-year-old Loaisiga, who made four starts and 11 relief appearances last year, posted a 4.55 ERA and 4.95 FIP in 31.2 innings, with a tantalizing 26.6% strikeout rate thanks to an outstanding curveball against which batters went just 4-for-40 with a double while swinging and missing 20.4% of the time.

Garcia, who doesn’t turn 21 until May 9 and lists at just 5-foot-9 and 163 pounds, is the team’s top pitching prospect and was number 61 overall in our late-season rankings on THE BOARD. Splitting time between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A last year, he rode his high-spin combination of a 91-97 mph fastball and curve, a newish slider, and a solid changeup to a 4.28 ERA while striking out an eye-opening 33.5% of all hitters in 111.1 innings. King is a 2016 12th-round pick by the Marlins who was the return in the Garrett Cooper/Caleb Smith trade in November ’17. A command-and-control guy who gets by on a two-seam/changeup combo, he placed 29th on the team’s prospect list last February as a 40 FV prospect. The going-on-25-year-old was limited to 48 innings at four stops last year due to a stress reaction in his elbow, but he did make his major league debut with two scoreless innings on September 27 versus the Rangers.

While the injury is a significant bummer for Paxton, it rates as something closer to a modest inconvenience for the Yankees, who have their contingency plan in place. So long as Paxton is able to return within the timeframe that’s been laid out, everything should turn out all right for the pitcher and the team.





Brooklyn-based Jay Jaffe is a senior writer for FanGraphs, the author of The Cooperstown Casebook (Thomas Dunne Books, 2017) and the creator of the JAWS (Jaffe WAR Score) metric for Hall of Fame analysis. He founded the Futility Infielder website (2001), was a columnist for Baseball Prospectus (2005-2012) and a contributing writer for Sports Illustrated (2012-2018). He has been a recurring guest on MLB Network and a member of the BBWAA since 2011, and a Hall of Fame voter since 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jay_jaffe... and BlueSky @jayjaffe.bsky.social.

18 Comments
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Fungo4444
4 years ago

Would be great to revist all the “Paxson is an ace” articles on FG. Would never say I told you so but:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-yankees-now-have-a-second-ace/

“Fungo4444
Baffling article. Paxson is not close to an ace. Wish him luck, but this is an even trade. Paxson Will give yanks 10 good starts, if they are lucky, 12 or 13”

emh1969
4 years ago
Reply to  Fungo4444

75 downvotes. Not bad. Though only second place on that article, behind Pepper Martin’s 80 downvotes for the following comment:

“That’s… nonsense. As a Yankees’ fan, I’ll put it this way: Paxton is not as good as Luis Severino, and Severino isn’t quite an ace. Like, a cut-rate ace.

As far as ace pitchers go, you’ve got Kluber and Verlander and Sale and Kershaw and Scherzer and that’s basically it. I could see an argument for deGrom but I’m just not quite able to put him there yet.

On the 2018 WAR list, Paxton finished just behind Mike Foltenywicz and just ahead of Jameson Taillon. That’s “very good #3 or serviceable #2” range, not “ace” range.”

emh1969
4 years ago
Reply to  emh1969

BTW, best line from that article: “There are a lot of similarities between Paxton now and Gerrit Cole a year ago.”

Hmmm…not sure much anymore…

Pepper Martin
4 years ago
Reply to  emh1969

I stand by it.

wOBA Fett
4 years ago
Reply to  Pepper Martin

All of it? Even the part about Kluber being an ace and not deGrom?

Pepper Martin
4 years ago
Reply to  wOBA Fett

Kluber obviously had the injury issue which prevented him from really having the season people expected of him. And, I don’t know, I’m a New Yorker and I watch my fair share of Mets games, and I can’t shake the feeling that Syndergaard is better than deGrom and that Syndergaard hasn’t really reached his full potential so deGrom can’t be that good. I know that sounds irrational, and it probably is, but, eh.

docgooden85Member since 2018
4 years ago
Reply to  Fungo4444

It is still impossible to predict pitcher injuries. Congrats on your lucky guess though.

kozilla
4 years ago
Reply to  docgooden85

Past injuries are strong indicators of future injuries. Paxton seems like a perfect example of this.

docgooden85Member since 2018
4 years ago
Reply to  kozilla

Of course they are. But nobody knows when or what the next injury will be, and almost all pitchers get hurt eventually. Anyone claiming to know specifically what will happen to a player’s injury future is selling snake oil. Team doctors don’t even know this. All we can say is maybe one guy is *marginally* more likely to get hurt than another.
(Also fwiw, most of Paxton’s injuries are not re-injuries but misc. new issues.)

Fungo4444
4 years ago
Reply to  docgooden85

Nobody except me clearly As I did predict it

sadtromboneMember since 2020
4 years ago
Reply to  Fungo4444

By my count, he gave the Yankees 29 starts total, 15 that were unambiguously “good”, 7 that were unambiguously “bad” and the rest it depends where your cutoff is for good vs. bad. So, quite literally, you did not predict it, since you said he would give the Yankees, if they were lucky, 12 or 13 good starts.

If you had predicted “there is a good chance at some point in the next 2 years, he will be seriously hurt and miss a couple consecutive months” you would have been right, but also, virtually no one would have disagreed with you. He’s a pitcher with an injury history, so that part is uncontroversial.

I’m all for taking victory laps for stuff you got downvoted on, but it’s even better if you take victory laps for things you were right about.

Original Greaser Bob
4 years ago
Reply to  docgooden85

Except he had never been healthy.

User79
4 years ago
Reply to  Fungo4444

Back in 2018, it seemed that Paxton could be an ace if he stayed healthy. He still pitches like one, when he’s healthy. Granted, he’s never healthy, and with the benefit of another year of data in 2019 and now this data for 2020, we can of course all laugh at someone speaking from 2018.

But the Yankees probably don’t need a “durable ace,” to get to the playoffs. What they need is a guy who performs like an ace by the time they get to the playoffs. With this surgery sidelining Paxton for half a season, maybe the timing will be right for Paxton to peak at the right time in October.

Original Greaser Bob
4 years ago
Reply to  Fungo4444

LOL was coming here to post the save thing. But dude’s an ACE (if you extrapolate).

Eminor3rdMember since 2019
4 years ago
Reply to  Fungo4444

You don’t even know his name