3. Luis Severino
It wasn’t all that long ago when Severino, not Cole, was the unquestioned ace of the Yankees’ pitching staff. Unfortunately, injuries have sidelined the 25-year-old right-hander for almost all of the last two seasons.
The franchise believes he will return from Tommy John surgery sometime in either June or July to impact the big league roster. That’s not ideal for Boone as he tries to piece together his starting rotation for Opening Day, but it does position Severino to be a major x-factor for the Yankees in 2021.
The Yankees can’t expect him to come back and immediately pitch like the team’s No. 2 starter, but it’s possible he can grow into that kind of role by the time the postseason arrives. The team desperately needs someone besides Cole to step up and win high-pressure games in the playoffs. At the moment, Severino looks like the franchise’s best hope of reaching that level of performance.
If Severino can come back and enjoy a healthy finish to the regular season and playoffs then suddenly the Yankees’ long-term pitching rotation starts to look formidable again. If he has, in fact, lost the magic that made him an ace in 2018, then he’ll become another overpaid member of the Yankees’ roster. The stakes are high for Sevy in 2021.