New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman has indicated ace Luis Severino will need Tommy John Surgery, ending his 2020 season. While this isn’t what either party wants, the Yankees will be just fine without him.
When RHP Luis Severino was shut down due to forearm tightness, New York Yankees fans and the organization alike held their breath. Today, their worst fears were confirmed as Brian Cashman has said Severino will need Tommy John surgery.
Brian Cashman says Luis Severino needs Tommy John surgery.
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) February 25, 2020
After seemingly every player on 2019 Yankees dealt with injury after injury, including Severino, the Yankees hope that they would be healthier this season already seems shot with James Paxton and now Severino going down.
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If last season is any indication, the New York Yankees will be just fine without Severino in the 2020 season. It’s also not as big of a loss as you might think. In 2019, Severino only managed 12 regular-season innings and a few more in the postseason. Obviously it never helps when your Ace goes down, but the Yankees have an interesting depth that will have opportunities to contribute sooner than expected.
The biggest name is top prospect RHP Deivi Garcia who fans will be clamoring to see leave Florida and join the MLB team in NY. He’s got explosive stuff like Severino and questions over where his future role is. As the line between starter and reliever continues to blend, Garcia will get every chance to start. Also, his scouting report is hard not to drool over. From FanGraphs:
"Garcia has big stuff. He works 91-95, mostly at the top of the zone when he’s locating, and backs up that pitch with a knee-buckling, old school 12-to-6 curveball that has big depth and bite. He sells his changeup by mimicking his fastball’s arm speed but doesn’t create great movement on that pitch right now. A better third offering during the early part of his career will probably be his mid-80s slider, though that will be more dependent on command to play."
Two other names to watch are Johnathan Loaisiga and Michael King. Loaisiga may be diminutive in stature at 5’11” and 165 pounds but brings a blistering 97 MPH fastball. Both his secondary pitches, a curve, and changeup, are also above average offerings. The question for Loaisiga is what type of workload he could handle over a full season as he might fit best going 3-4 innings at a time.
Acquired from the Marlins, King has an excellent command that allows him to succeed without premium velocity. Throughout the minor leagues, King never posted a BB rate above 9% using a four-pitch mix. King has also posted strong ground ball rates across all levels of the minors ranging anywhere from the mid 40s to just under 60s.
The combination of Garcia, Loaisiga, and King offer the Yankees the ability to tandem two of these guys on start days. This will allow them to manage their innings and try to keep them healthy throughout a full season. The biggest upside here is Deivi Garcia who is very similar to Severino as an international signing with huge stuff and questions over whether he can start.
The New York Yankees have tons of internal options that can help in the regular season. At the deadline, they can trade for a front line pitcher if they need to or target interesting more interesting pop-up relievers to lengthen the bullpen. Yankees starters need only go 5 innings (if that) to give them a chance. The loss of Luis Severino definitely hurts the Yankees, just not as much as you think.