The New York Yankees will likely be without Luis Severino to start the season. Do they need to sign another starter to carry the load while he’s gone?
Last year, even with his rough second half, Luis Severino was the rock of the New York Yankees rotation. Because of this, the news that he is going to miss an unknown amount of time at the start of the season might make you panic a little if you’re a Yankees fan.
Don’t panic.
Things are going to be OK.
The Yankees have a bevy of options in front of them right now. Honestly, if it turns out that Severino is only going to be out for a week or two to start things off then they could probably get away with doing little to nothing.
Having Jonathan Loaisiga start a few games in the first month of the season won’t kill them, and the team’s bullpen is more than capable of picking up the slack if there are a few weak starts. Aaron Boone has said he might even give the opener a try, which could potentially be deadly (for other teams) with the squad the Yankees have.
If it turns out that Severino will be out for a longer period of time, then things get a little more complicated.
Loaisiga, at least from what we saw last year, is more cut out to be a spot starter than a fifth starter at this point, and in a hyper-competitive AL East, any weak spot will be exploited. The Yankees wouldn’t necessarily be in a crisis situation thanks to other areas of strength, but they still would need to do something to ensure they don’t fall behind to start things off.
Which brings us to Dallas Keuchel and Gio Gonzalez.
Keuchel and Gonzalez are the two best starters on the market right now, and they’re also pretty different players. Both have come up throughout the offseason as possible targets for the Yankees, so it wouldn’t be super surprising to see one of them in pinstripes come March 28th.
Which one the Yankees sign (if they sign either) has a lot to do with how Severino’s injury shakes out.