Yankees hope Sonny Gray can help end Luis Severino’s slump
Sonny Gray hasn’t helped the Yankees win many games this season, but Aaron Boone is hoping he can help get Luis Severino back on track.
If Yankees fans got an opportunity to vote for a least valuable player this season, Sonny Gray would likely win in a landslide. That doesn’t mean Aaron Boone has given up on him, though. In fact, the Yankees manager is gambling on Gray to help get Luis Severino back to his sparkling form from the first half.
That’s why Boone is giving Gray a rare start against the Twins on Tuesday night. The erratic right-hander hasn’t been a part of the starting rotation for quite some time, but the team is giving him another opportunity because it will provide Severino and Masahiro Tanaka an extra day of rest before their next starts.
Part of Boone’s motivation is to reward Gray for pitching with more confidence lately, but this move has far more to do with the team’s top two starters. The Yankees can only make noise in the postseason if the top of their rotation gets hot at the right time.
For Tanaka, it’s just a matter of getting him some additional rest. He dominated the Mariners during his last outing by pitching eight shutout innings. If the playoffs started today, the veteran would probably get the ball in the Yankees Wild Card game. That’s how good Tanaka has been of late.
Severino, in sharp contrast, has really struggled during the second half of the season. He went from the best pitcher in the AL to begin the year to arguably the worst member of Boone’s rotation over the last month or so. The organization is running out of ideas to help Severino pitch up to his full potential. Giving him an extra day of rest is an appropriately desperate move by Boone. It might just be crazy enough to work.
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The Yankees hope Gray can turn in a quality start on Tuesday night, but the team won’t know if giving him another chance will work until Severino pitches later in the week. This move is entirely designed to help the team’s most talented pitcher find his groove again. The Yankees’ playoff hopes may depend on Severino’s ability to find his best stuff down the stretch.