The Yankees have won nine of 14 games since selling at the deadline, but their plans to climb back into the AL postseason race took a hit Tuesday. Righty Nathan Eovaldi will miss the rest of the season -- and all of next season -- due to major elbow surgery.

Eovaldi, 26, has a 4.76 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP in 124 2/3 innings this season overall, though he was rock solid through the end of May (3.76 ERA and 1.17 WHIP). Since the calendar flipped to June, he's pitched to a 5.77 ERA and 1.44 WHIP. It's fair to wonder whether the compromised elbow led to the poor performance.

The Yankees currently have two rookies (Chad Green, Luis Cessa) in the rotation alongside Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, and Michael Pineda. Young righty Luis Severino, who was expected to be one of the team's best starters in 2016, has been terrible and was recently sent back to Triple-A.

Nathan Eovaldi needs a pair of major elbow surgeries. USATSI

Losing Eovaldi takes away from the team's depth and forces them to rely on some kids as they try to get back in the race. The Yankees are 4 1/2 games back of the second wild card spot with a ton of head-to-head games remaining against the Orioles, Blue Jays, and Red Sox.

Eovaldi, 26, has had Tommy John surgery once before, back in high school. The second procedure is much riskier than the first, however. He is scheduled to become a free agent after next season, so it wouldn't be a surprise if the Yankees non-tender him this winter a la the Royals and Greg Holland.