Luis Severino has been battling injuries for what seems like forever now. His dominant 2017 season is nothing but a distant memory now for Yankee fans. Severino has a low grade LAT strain that, as of right now, is likely to keep him out for 1-2 starts. However, as many know, he was out two months last season with the same injury. Severino has been healthy for one Opening Day since 2018 but the mountain of injury issues continue to pile up. The pitching depth is going to be tested right away.
This now puts the Yankees in a huge bind. The Yankees were projected to have one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Nestor Cortes, Luis Severino, and Frankie Montas. Three of them will start the season on the IL (Rodón, Severino, Montas) with Cortes still working through his injury that he had.
If the Yankees decide to move to the trade market, teams know how desperate they are for starting pitchers. Everyone knows how trades have worked out for the Yankees in the last two seasons. This now makes a Gleyber Torres or Isiah Kiner-Falefa trade even more likely.
The Bombers also have some in-house options as well. Clarke Schmidt is expected to slide his way into the rotation along with Domingo Germán. They have No. 9 prospect Will Warren, No. 14 prospect Randy Vásquez, and No. 27 prospect Jhony Brito.
Stated above is the Yankees unlucky trades they have made in recent history. This pitching depth would be even stronger without some of those trades. Hayden Wesneski, former No. 7 prospect in the Yankees organization, is turning heads in the Cubs camp, he was traded for Scott Effross last season. Effross is likely out the entire 2023 season after getting Tommy John surgery. Ken Waldichuk, JP Sears, and Luis Medina were all traded to the Athletics for Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino. Lastly, TJ Sikkema was traded to the Royals for Andrew Benintendi.
These trades all had mixed emotions surrounding Yankee fans. At the end of the day, the Yankees gave up a lot of pitching in exchange for a bunch of IL stints. The Luis Severino news is just another domino to fall for the club. The injury bug hit the Yankees camp quite quickly this season.