Yankees Chance Adams and the spectre of Luis Severino

He Never Did Take that Chance

Was it because the Yankees did not use many pitchers last year?

No, eleven different men started games for the Yankees; RHP Luis Cessa and LHP Caleb Smith were in that group. Why wasn’t their top pitching prospect? For that, we must turn to Brian Cashman. We already read how excited he was before the season.

However, this is what he said in July:

"Cashman added that top pitching prospect Chance Adams could end up getting a shot in the rotation, too. Adams is 6-3 with a 2.50 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts but the Yankees have said they don’t believe he’s ready for the bigs yet."

By All Reports

Really. because everyone else seemed to think he was more worthy of a shot than the retreads.

Cashman did not elaborate. This continued an odd trend; here he is previously, already in mystery mode by the end of May:

"Brian Cashman kept those answers close to the vest, stating something vague that performance would justify a call-up. We’ll see. My initial guess is that if he really is ready, but the rotation is filled, they could call him up as a spot starter, or use him out of relief just to get him reps against big league pitching. Or, they wait until September so he doesn’t accrue service time (that seems most likely)."

Cash might have already seen something he didn’t like, especially as his comments came at the end of a month in which everyone seemed to want to praise Chance. And, no, Adams was never called up to play, even in September.

Perhaps his most revealing comments came later, though, when speaking to Mike “The Pope” Francesa in July:

"When asked if there was a pitcher in the minors who could potentially help, Cashman mentioned Chance Adams, but he said the 22-year-old right-hander is more likely to be used as a reliever than as a starter this season."

But by the end of the season, facts and statements stopped adding up.