With the regular season being pushed back until April, the New York Yankees have more time to recover from their injuries and ailments. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have a good shot as returning to the team before the season officially begins, especially Stanton, who is dealing with a minor calf strain.
However, the unit that was previously under the most pressure was the starting pitching rotation, as they lost Luis Severino for the season and James Paxton for a minimum of three months. Paxton, who has a cyst removed from his lower back, tossed a baseball from 60-feet this past Wednesday, marking the start of his physical recovery program.
The expectation is that Paxton will be available in mid-May, which will solve the Yankees’ problem at the back end of the rotation. However, with the regular season on hold for the time being, a rotating 5th-man is seeming like a short stop-gap decision that a long-term one.
The consensus was that Jonathan Loaisiga would earn more innings as a starter at the back-end of the rotation, alongside rising prospects like Clark Schmidt and Deivi Garcia. That idea is now put on the backburner as Paxton will likely miss minimal time after surging ahead with his recovery.
How did James Paxton feel in his first action back with the New York Yankees last week?
“It was all great. My back didn’t hurt at all,†said Paxton, who can be a free agent at the end of this season. “Just working on getting my arm to feel normal again. I haven’t thrown in a long time. But that’ll come with playing catch.â€
The only silver lining we can extract from the viral contagion plaguing the globe is time for the Yankees to recover, ironically. Nonetheless, the severity of the Corona Virus is real, and taking all precautions to stop the spread of it is necessary. The Yankees have already set up camp in Tampa, away from the general public.