New York Yankees pitcher James Paxton is expected to miss the next three to four months of Major League Baseball pre-season and regular-season games after undergoing back surgery Wednesday. The club announced the 31-year-old Canadian left-hander underwent a microscopic lumbar discectomy with the removal of a peridiscal cyst in Dallas. The news came one week before pitchers and catchers report to the Yankees' training camp in Tampa, Florida. Paxton reported the injury last September, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said, and received an injection, his recovery pushing back his first playoff start to game two of last year's American League Championship Series against Houston. Multiple doctors suggested treatment without surgery but Paxton told the club about four to six weeks ago that the pain was back and again the recommendation was for a conservative approach. Paxton went 15-6 last year with a 3.82 earned-run average over 29 starts for the Yankees in an injury-nagged season for New York. That leaves the Yankees with ace Gerrit Cole, Luis Severino, J.A. Happ and Japan's Masahiro Tanaka for the opening-day rotation. The Yankees also expect the return of pitcher Domingo German in June when his suspension expires under MLB's domestic violence policy. js/ch