Sports Time Radio

The New York Yankees won 103 games last season which was enough to win the American League East title. They advanced through the American League Division Series with a sweep of the Minnesota Twins before their season came to end in when they lost to the Houston Astros 4 games to 2 in the American League Championship Series.

While the Yankees goal of getting to and winning the World Series just the fact that they played as well as they did dealing with the injuries they had was a surprise. I’m not sure if there was a team in baseball that suffered as many injuries as the Yankees did.

Now coming into the 2020 season the Yankees already knew they’d be playing this season without centerfielder Aaron Hicks who under went Tommy John surgery an will miss the entire season. Knowing that Hicks would be down for the entire season as earlier as the Yankees did will give them the opportunity to cover his at bats.

You’d think after dealing with the injurie the Yankees did last season missing one of your regulars would be something this team could handle. Well unfortunately yesterday the Yankees announced that starting pitcher Luis Severino would miss the entire 2020 season and some of the 2021 season as he will undergo Tommy John surgery.

During a spring training throwing session Severino felt pain in his forearm which was a similar pain to what he felt in his post season start again the Astros last October. After further examination by the Yankees medical staff and an MRI it was concluded that he would need surgery.

Severino made just 5 starts last season; 3 in the regular season and 2 in the post season as he dealt with shoulder and lat injuries. Severino totaled just 20 1/3rd inning overall last season and was looking to bounce back with a full season in 2020.

Don’t forget that Severino isn’t the only Yankees pitcher that is currently injured. James Paxton is still recovering from back surgery and isn’t expected to return until May. You also add in the fact that Domingo German still has 63 games left on a suspension to serve. This leaves the Yankees with two big rotation spots to fill at the start of the season.

As of now the Yankees have Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ set for their starting rotation, but how do they fill those final two spots? They have what appears to be 7 pitchers in camp that could fill those spots. Jordan Montgomery, Jonathan Loaisiga, Mike King and Deivi Garcia are joined by two non-roster invitees Chad Bettis and Nick Tropeano as contenders to fill those two spots. Are there a couple of names that stick out to you that you’d like to see in the Yankees rotation to start this season?

It’s also possible if the Yankees don;t like what they’ve seen or will seeout of these pitchers there are a few free agents left on the market. Andrew Cashner has just let it be known that he’d be willing to itch out of the bullpen, but he’s been a starter for the majority of his career.

There are also a couple of interesting younger pitchers still out there. Danny Salazar is just 30 years old and at one time was looked at as a top of the rotation starter by the Cleveland Indians. Injuries have derailed Salazar the last two seasons as he’s pitched in just one major league game last season. Before those injuries Salazar was an All-Star in 2016 and won 14 games in 2015. Aaron Sanchez is also available. Sanchez is just 27 years old, but has battled injuries for about the past four seasons. In his last full healthy season Sanchez went 15-2 with an ERA of 3.00 and finished 7th in the American League Cy Young voting that season. Could either of these injury prone starters stay healthy long enough to help out an injured Yankees staff?

There are some other veteran names out their if the Yankees where interested. There’s 35 year old Clay Buchholz, 36 year old Marco Estrada and 37 year old Jason Vargas. The could also bring back Matt Harvey back to New York albeit on for the other New York team as he’s a free agent.

I’m not exactly sure what the Yankees will end up doing, but those are some of the pitchers they could use to fill out their rotation. There is one other in-house option that I haven’t heard anyone mention yet.

How about C.C Sabathia. Now Sabathia announced his retirement last season, but that means he hasn’t been out of baseball for that long and after spending 11 seasons with the Yankees he’d obviously be able to fit right back into the clubhouse. Sabathia started 22 games and pitched in 23 games overall last season covering 107 1/3rd innings. He went 5-8 with an ERA of 4.95. Now it’s not like Sabathia would be any type of long term solution for the Yankees rotation, but with the veteran starters that are available bringing back a pitcher that is familiar with the team and the players around him might be much easier than bringing in someone who would be totally new to the organization.

You’ve seen the choices that the Yankees might be able to use in their starting rotation. Who do you think that they might go with to fill those two starting rotation spots to start the season?

While I was writing about Yankees injuries I noticed that there was another one that they just announced. The Yankees are saying that Giancarlo Stanton is now questionable for opening day with a calf injury. Stanton injured his calf yesterday while working in the outfield. After an MRI Stanton was diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain of his right calf. Aaron Boone used the phrase “down for a bit” when asked how long Stanton would be out, but did mention this injury could carry over into the regular season.

If the Yankees where hoping for a clean slate injury wise to start the 2020 season it sure doesn’t look like they’re going to get that.

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