As was feared when he injured his elbow last week, Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2015 season. MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan reported early Friday afternoon that Darvish will have the operation on Tuesday, March 17. 

 

Darvish met with Dr. James Andrews, who is very well-known for performing the operation, and chose to have the operation now rather than wait. Dr. Andrews will perform the procedure on Darvish.

In his only start during Spring Training on March 5, Darvish lasted only one inning before leaving with discomfort in his right elbow. Sullivan notes that the initial diagnosis was tightness in the triceps, but later examination revealed the torn UCL that typically leads to the Tommy John surgery.

The loss is a huge blow to the Rangers, who spent 2014 placing their most key players on the disabled list. In fact, Darvish himself ended the season on the 60-day DL because of elbow problems. He went on the DL on August 10 and missed the final 50 days of the season.

All looked good as camp started. Darvish was cleared for a normal offseason routine, and he showed no signs of injury until he made that March 5 start.

Sullivan described in his report that once the injury occurred, Darvish then had to choose between having the surgery or trying to rest and rehab -- similar to what the New York Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka has done. Sullivan writes,

"Darvish had a choice between surgery and trying to rest the elbow. That would have kept him sidelined for at least four months with no guarantee that it would fix the problem. Dr. James Andrews will perform surgery in Pensacola, Fla."

Now that Darvish is definietly having surgery, attention could turn back to Tanaka as he is making his comeback this spring and avoiding surgery as long as possible. 

Darvish is a true ace, and in his three years with the Rangers, he has shown why the team spent $51 million just to get the rights to sign him in 2012 and then gave him a six-year, $56-million contract on top of that. Darvish has a career record of 36-25, 3.27 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 127 ERA+, 680 K, 218 BB, and 12.8 WAR. He made the Americal League All-Star team in all three years, and he was the 2013 Cy Young runner-up.

Now, without Darvish, the Rangers will look to fill in his roster spot. Derek Holland or Colby Lewis could move into the #1 spot, but the Rangers will have to look to the Minors, the bullpen, or the trade wires to find another starter. 

As much as the Rangers had to use the disabled list last year, they and their fans hope that Darvish is the only significant name that appears on it in 2015.