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Maybe it is an outlook honed by having made 192 appearances over the last three-plus years coming in from the bullpen, stepping into situations where the game is usually on the line in the late innings.
Or, perhaps, it is just acquired mentality of somebody for whom success has never come easy but has had to be painstakingly earned and determinedly ground out at every turn.
Here was San Diego Padres All-Star closer Kirby Yates sitting in an airport in Dallas Thursday, less than 24 hours after elbow surgery likely cost him the rest of this season and his big-money, free-agency year declaring resolutely, “This is something that I will deal with. I’m not really necessarily worried about it. I’ll be OK. I’ll be back.”
This is how the Kauai High graduate tends to look at the future having been through a two-year layoff after Tommy John surgery, been bypassed in the MLB Draft out of junior college, been waived by four teams in three years and had to re-imagine and repackage himself and his assortment of pitches to cobble together a seven-year big league career.
Thirteen months after being selected to the National League All-Star Team in a 2019 season in which he would lead MLB with 41 saves, Yates underwent surgery Wednesday to remove bone chips from his right (pitching) elbow. And while he says, “everything is very encouraging” there is the realization that he has a six- to eight-week recovery ahead of him, “so it is looking like my season is done.”
But, Yates added, “If all goes well, and we are still playing in the middle of October, I wouldn’t rule that out. But we have to see how this all plays out and I have to be cautious about it.”
When the COVID-19 truncated season, the last one of his current contract before free agency, finally got underway Yates became hampered with soreness in his elbow. Last Friday, after six pitches in an appearance in Arizona, he finally had to take himself out. “I tried to pitch through (the injury), but I couldn’t,” Yates said.
An MRI confirmed the bone chips and he was placed on the injured list, sent to a specialist, Dr. Keith Meister, in Arlington, Texas, for a second opinion and, finally, surgery.
“Other than (the chips), everything else is good,” Yates said following surgery. “(Meister) said my elbow looked really good for being a 14-year-old Tommy John survivor.”
Named after the first pitcher to undergo the surgery, it is a surgical procedure in which a healthy tendon extracted from an arm or leg is used as a replacement for an arm’s torn ligament. The tendon is then threaded through holes drilled into the bone above and below the elbow.
Given his age (33), history and the amount of wear and tear, “It could have been worse,” Yates said. “I think this was kinda coming at some point. It is never easy to go through but I’ve had a good run. Really, it is the first issue with the elbow in 14 years and that is kind of unheard of in the business we’re in. I’ve been very fortunate.”
As for an extension of his
$7.06 million contract, Yates knows that is unlikely now and expects to be rendered a free agent at season’s end. “It is what it is. I’ve got a decision to make for my family’s future and the Padres’ front office has a decision to make for their future. If that doesn’t match up…(well) I’ve been blessed to be here for the past four years.”
When you are Kirby Yates, it is always about taking on and mastering the next challenge.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
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