Before the offseason officially began for the New York Yankees, owner Hal Steinbrenner was happy with his starting pitching rotation, especially with the return of Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery in 2020.
New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner stated:
“If the 2020 season was to start tomorrow, I would feel considerably more confident than I did a year ago at this time,’’ Steinbrenner said. “We will have both Severino and Montgomery back. We now know that [Domingo] German can pitch effectively at this level. And we know [James] Paxton can be the guy that we were hoping for when we made that trade. We have [Masahiro] Tanaka, [J.A.] Happ, [Jonathan] Loaisiga, and perhaps [Deivi] Garcia at some point. A very good rotation.’’
Fast forward several weeks, and the Yankees signed Gerrit Cole to a nine-year, $324 million, shattering the record for starting pitchers, hauling in $36 million per season. Cole will undoubtedly be the Yankees’ top option moving forward, but that shouldn’t discount the remaining two options that have ace-level potential.
Let’s start with Luis Severino, who missed virtually all of 2019 with injuries, making his comeback for the playoffs and the final three games of the regular season. However, in 2018, Severino put together an All-Star performance, boasting a 19-8 performance with a 3.39 ERA. The second half of 2018 went poorly for Severino, who ended up having a higher ERA in 2018 than 2017 when he finished at 2.98.
That’s two consecutive seasons that he had a sub-3.40-ERA, though, making him an incredible bounce-back player for the year ahead. Slotting him in behind Cole will give the Yankees the 1-2 punch they need to dominate important series, especially in the playoffs.
While Severino is set to have a significant impact, James Paxton can’t be forgotten. Paxton had a stellar second-half of 2019:
| HALF | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | ERA | GB/FB Ratio | Soft Hit % |
| First | 76.1 | 11.20 | 3.54 | 4.01 | 1.03 | 14.3% |
| Second | 74.1 | 11.02 | 3.03 | 3.63 | 0.79 | 20.3% |
Across the season, Paxton posted an ERA/FIP of 3.82 & 3.86, across 150.2 IP. Big Maple’s 3.82 ERA last season was his highest since 2015, which is quite impressive considering his injury history and streak of sub-4.00 seasons. If he can pitch an entire season’s worth of innings and remain consistent during 2020, the Yankees will have an intimidating top three starters.
Factor in Masahiro Tanaka, the postseason menace, and Montgomery’s return, and new pitching coach Matt Blake might be in for an excites season.