The announcement of Gerrit Cole undergoing Tommy John surgery could open the way for a New York Yankees spring training standout.

Two weeks ago in the Fantasy Baseball Today Newsletter, I said, "All I'm hoping for in the first week of Spring Training is for players to stay healthy." And, in the first week of Spring Training, we mostly got what we were hoping for.

That was because Gerrit Cole, the club’s ace pitcher, appeared destined for season-ending surgery. In baseball, elbow discomfort like the kind Cole complained of over the weekend is so often followed by Tommy John surgery. And when it was revealed that Cole had left Florida and journeyed to California for a second opinion, bad news felt inevitable.