Yankees top prospect from Juan Soto trade suffers disheartening injury complication

Some may have believed former Yankees prospect Drew Thorpe's season ended in midsummer, when he placed on the injured list following a listless July 31 start against the Kansas City Royals. Other cynics will counter that his season ended when he was sent to the Chicago White Sox in the Padres' Dylan Cease trade, sentenced to Baseball Jail in the process.

In reality, though, Thorpe's freshman season officially ended over Labor Day weekend, cutting his inaugural campaign short at 44 1/3 innings pitched over the course of nine starts. It was announced on Sunday that Thorpe will undergo surgery to have a bone spur in his elbow shaved down on Sept. 7, with the expectation being that he'll return for spring training of 2025.

Thorpe missed a chance to face the Yankees during their mid-August series in Chicago by just a few weeks, an outing that surely would've gone well, based on this team's current vengeance precedent.

Notably, though, his promising season had gone off the rails one start before his final outing; he allowed eight earned runs in 2/3 of an inning against the historically terrible Mariners' offense on July 26, which should be cause for an immediate full-body medical scan.

White Sox starter (and former Yankees top prospect) Drew Thorpe to undergo bone spur surgery

Thorpe's ripple effect in Yankees history will continue shimmering this offseason, especially if the Yankees fail to bring Juan Soto back on a long-term contract. The Padres are already reaping the rewards of their addition of Michael King, while Kyle Higashioka is having a representative season behind the plate. Thorpe, of course, was spun off in exchange for Cease, someone the Yankees could've obtained without surrendering Spencer Jones. If only they'd had a prospect like Thorpe to dangle ...

Ultimately, the Yankees can't allow themselves to regret extending themselves for Soto. If they go down that road, they'll never roll the dice to maximize their competitive window ever again. They didn't go far enough this offseason; erasing the Soto trade would be the wrong lesson to take from their actions.

Still, expect fans to keep close tabs on Thorpe for quite a while. Hoping for the best from this procedure; ideally, those "tabs" can begin again on schedule next spring.