Michael Pineda has a torn labrum. That's a thing in his shoulder, and that's a lousy thing for a pitcher to tear. If there's any silver lining for the New York Yankees, it's that the tear is small and should be able to be repaired arthroscopically. But it's still a torn labrum, and a torn labrum is still one of the worst things that can happen to a pitcher's body.

So when did this happen? Has this been the problem the whole time, or is this a new thing? Brian Cashman has his suspicions:

Cashman: "We believe this took place on the last pitch of his rehab outing."

— Mark Feinsand (@BloggingBombers) April 25, 2012

Pineda supposedly felt a sharp pain in his last game. That would seem to correlate to the injury. The question, then, is if the labrum injury is new, why was Pineda's velocity down all spring? Were the two unrelated? It's curious. It's also not what's important at the moment.

Here's the present outlook:

Dr. Ahmad said if rehab goes well, Pineda could be ready to pitch in major league games in 12 months. Best-case he's looking at late-April.

— Mark Feinsand (@BloggingBombers) April 25, 2012

"If rehab goes well." You can never know with these things. I like how Dr. Ahmad skipped right over saying "if surgery goes well, too". There's a guy who's confident. The best the Yankees can hope for is that come next May, Michael Pineda is the Michael Pineda they thought they were getting. I don't know how probable that is, but this isn't the time for pessimism. The time for pessimism was when Michael Pineda was throwing with reduced velocity, and now look where we are. It's time for optimism. Michael Pineda will be fine! Baseball would be better if Michael Pineda turns out fine.