Prior to the start of spring training for the New York Yankees, they had one of the most intimidating rosters in baseball. Their starting pitching rotation consisted of Gerrit Cole, Luis Severino, and James Paxton — three elite to borderline elite arms.
The three-man grouping that was supposed to carry the Yankees into a postseason birth and potentially a World Series appearance in 2020, but that hope has dampened in recent days, as Severino will miss the entire 2020 season after succumbing to Tommy John surgery, and Paxton will be out for at least three months after having a cyst removed from his lower back.
Luckily, Cole has remained healthy, but he allowed four home runs in the first two innings of his outing against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday afternoon. On a windy day, Call was thrashed, proving to everyone that he is, in fact, human.
Is the starting rotation for the New York Yankees in trouble?
The Yankees managed to survive a tumultuous starting pitching rotation in 2019, thanks to a solid bullpen. However, they’ve invested significant assets into a bonafide ace with Cole, and they expected Severino and Paxton to be there one, two, three punch.
A few weeks into Grapefruit league play, and it is fair to say that the rotation is suffering through a bad spell of luck. Considering Cole and Jordan Montgomery gave up a combined 11 runs in five innings doesn’t support any optimism. However, it might have just been a poor outing from the pair, as they have proven in the past they are more than capable of being quality pitchers.
I am not as concerned about Gerrit Cole as I am about the back end of the rotation, though. The Yankees will utilize a bevy of options to supplement the loss of Severino and Paxton in the coming months. I anticipate Jonathan Loaisiga, Jonathan Holder, Michael King, and potentially Clark Schmidt to earn opportunities as the fifth man in the rotation.