Yankees right-handers Luis Severino will likely be put on the 15-day injured list by which manager Aaron Boone Described to reporters (including Joel Sherman of the New York Post) as an inferior Lat tribe. NJ Advance Media’s Max Goodman reported earlier today that Severino was scrapped from his scheduled start today, which was supposed to be Severino’s final jumping practice.
Severino becomes the third member of New York’s planned opening day rotation, which will instead begin the season on the IL. Carlo Rodon was paused with a slight forearm strain, but at least threw back during that time Frankie Montas‘ Season is in danger after shoulder surgery. These absences have led to Domingo German And Clark Smith be promoted to rotation jobs, and the Yankees will now have to dig deep again to replace Severino. Deivi Garcia, Johnny Brito, Matt KrookAnd Randy Vasquez are all on the 40-man roster and earmarked for rotation duty at Triple-A, but Garcia is the only member of that group with major league experience.
While the Yankees have two days off in the first nine days of the regular season, they need a fifth starter to make a lap through the rotation. At best, Severino might just miss a start or two considering Boone left a bit of leeway with the IL placement and the severity of the injury. However, Severino also missed more than two months last season with a similar lat strain on his right side, so there’s no guarantee this new injury could be a short-term concern.
It’s another injury setback for Severino, who played just 18 total regular-season innings in the 2019-21 season. Increased strain in the lats (as well as a rotator cuff issue) contributed to that layoff in 2019, and then surgery by Tommy John wiped out almost all of his next two seasons. Even when his 2022 season was also cut short by an IL stint, Severino still managed to pitch 102 innings and re-establish himself as a quality starter, posting a 3.18 ERA in his limited action, a strikeout rate of 27.7% and a walk rate of 7.4%.
The Yankees were emboldened enough by that performance to exercise their $15 million club option on Severino’s services for the 2023 season, in what seemed like a pretty easy call last November. As a result, the original four-year, $40 million extension Severino signed in February 2019 became a five-year, $55 million deal. That deal was a departure for a Yankees organization that doesn’t typically sign players for overtime, and given that Severino has pitched just 120 regular-season innings since signing the contract, the investment just hasn’t worked to date. Of course, if Severino can get back on the field relatively quickly, he still has plenty of time in the 2023 season to give something back to the Yankees and prepare for another deal when he enters the free-agent market this winter.
If the Yankees wanted to add depth to their rotation beyond their internal choices, the free agent market is pretty slim at the moment. However, a few more names could become available as teams make their final roster cuts towards the end of spring training. A pitcher facing an opt-out decision on his minor league contract, for example, might now consider New York a viable option if his current team doesn’t plan to put him on their opening-day roster.