Yankees’ Max Fried ‘bummed’ by bone bruise, but IL stint comes with silver lining

(Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images North America/TNS)

NEW YORK — The Yankees will be without their ace for at least a little while.

The team placed Max Fried on the 15-day injured list with a bone bruise in his left elbow on Friday. The decision follows the southpaw’s early exit from Wednesday’s loss to the Orioles, as well as a CT scan, an MRI and an examination from team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad, which all took place Thursday.

Dr. Neal ElAttrache will also review Thursday’s imaging imminently, manager Aaron Boone said, and Fried will undergo more tests in a few weeks or whenever he feels asymptomatic.

While losing Fried is certainly a blow for the Bombers, the good news is that the former Tommy John patient’s ulnar collateral ligament is intact. The three-time All-Star doesn’t need an operation, either.

“Definitely bummed that I’m gonna have to be missing some time, but overall happy that it doesn’t look like it’s gonna be anything serious,” Fried said before the start of the Subway Series on Friday. “No surgery required or anything like that. So I never want to go on the IL and miss games, but I also understand that the long-term outlook still looks good.”

With Fried adding that the additional imaging is just a matter of “due diligence” and that he’s “optimistic,” Boone also focused on the silver lining.

“In some ways, it’s good news in that the ligament’s in good shape,” the manager said. “It’s just a matter of how the timeline is going to shake out. But long-term, I feel like we’re in an OK spot.”

Speaking of timelines, Fried said his is “ambiguous,” and he didn’t want to set any kind of expectations for when he could return to throwing or game action. He said there’s a “wide range of recovery,” and he doesn’t want to push himself too far “because then it can get pretty bad.”

“With a bone bruise, if you keep throwing through it, it weakens the bone, and then that bone will break or fracture,” he explained. “Then you would probably need surgery or something like that.”

Fried added, “I’m going to do whatever I can to get back as soon as possible. I don’t like being hurt and not pitching.”

Fried’s bone bruise did not occur due to any sort of contact, but because the hyperextension of his arm and elbow resulted in “the banging of the two bones back there,” he said. That left his elbow “irritated” and “pissed” in his last start.