Yankees' James Paxton to miss 3-4 months

ORLANDO — A Yankees rotation that on paper going into spring training is among the best in baseball took a hit with the surprising announcement that James Paxton will miss the next 3-4 months after undergoing back surgery Wednesday morning.

In a news release sent out late Wednesday afternoon, the Yankees said the lefthander “underwent a microscopic lumbar discectomy with removal of a peridiscal cyst,” a procedure performed by Dr. Andrew Dossett in Dallas.

General manager Brian Cashman said by phone Wednesday the timeline starting point is the day of the surgery, meaning with no setbacks the 31-year-old Paxton, who went 15-6 with a 3.82 ERA in his first season in pinstripes, could return as soon as May.

Cashman said Paxton’s rotation spot likely will be taken by one of these pitchers who emerges from what he called an “open competition” in spring training: Jordan Montgomery, Jonathan Loaisiga, Luis Cessa and prospects Michael King and Deivi Garcia.

“Anybody who wants it, it’s there for the taking,” said Cashman, who added the club also could choose the bullpen route in filling Paxton’s slot.

Paxton, who spent May 4-28 on the injured list with left knee inflammation, had his back flare up toward the end of last season. He was pulled after one inning in his final regular-season start on Sept. 27 in Arlington against the Rangers with lower back soreness — he and the Yankees called it “left glute tightness” — and, Cashman said, Paxton received an injection at that time.

Paxton, Cashman said, would have started Game 1 of the ALDS vs. the Twins but to give his back another day of rest, Masahiro Tanaka got the assignment instead.

Rest was prescribed by doctors in the offseason, and it was only in the last six weeks, when Paxton began “ramping up” his offseason baseball activities, Cashman said, the discomfort flared up again.

Dr. Dossett did not recommend surgery then and Paxton received another injection, the thought being for Paxton to “wait three weeks to see if it resolves itself,” Cashman said.

It did not, and the surgery was recommended.

The rotation, with Gerrit Cole at the top, remains formidable as it also includes Tanaka, Luis Severino and J.A. Happ, whom Cashman received plenty of interest in this winter from other teams but held on because of the uncertainty with Paxton’s back.

Still, with less than a week before Yankees pitchers and catchers report to Tampa, Wednesday’s news was a jarring reminder of the injury horrors visited upon the franchise last season, when the team placed an MLB-record 30 players on the IL.

Speaking several hours earlier in the day, and before the Yankees sent out their release on Paxton, owner Hal Steinbrenner addressed the overhaul of the club’s medical department this offseason. The revamping included the firing of strength and conditioning coach Matt Krause, naming Eric Cressey as the director of player health and performance — a newly created position— and the re-assigning within the organization of longtime trainer Steve Donohue.

“It was a very high priority and something Cash and his people spent months looking at,” Steinbrenner said during a break in the owners’ meetings at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando. “What needs to be fixed, and then you got to go through the process of getting the right people in. So as much as a lot of people would have wanted change sooner, if you don’t do it right, it takes time. And I think we did it right.”

Earlier, Steinbrenner brought up health when asked his primary questions about his team entering the spring.

“Look, I just want to get through spring training healthy,” he said. “Bringing Eric Cressey on board...I think all the changes we made are going to enable us to be a much healthier, stronger team. That’s my hope and my belief. But my main concern, just having gone through what we went through last year, is just getting through spring healthy.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.