The New York Yankees will be down a starter for the 2020 season. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman announced on Tuesday that Luis Severino will need Tommy John surgery, ending his 2020 season.
Brian Cashman announces that Luis Severino needs Tommy John surgery: pic.twitter.com/oHa1StBW1f
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) February 25, 2020
Last week Severino had been shut down after dealing with forearm discomfort. Severino has been dealing with forearm discomfort since game three of the American League Championship Series last year. He was evaluated by two doctors on Monday and has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament that will require Tommy John surgery. Cashman said that Sevy wants to get the surgery done as soon as possible.
“Sevy has agreed and acknowledged that Tommy John is necessary,” Cashman said. “The plan is to have it done as soon as possible, and he’s obviously contemplating the doctors that he’ll do it with.”
Severino made just three starts in the regular season last year due to injuries. He also made two starts in the playoffs last year. In 2018 Sevy had the best year of his career, going 19-8 with a 3.39 ERA and 220 strikeouts. Last year, Severino signed a four-year, $40 million contract extension. However, he has only pitched 20.1 innings since then.
Severino just wants to play.
“I just want to pitch,” he said last week after he was shut down.
Losing Severino is bad news for the Yankees because he is one of their best pitchers. He becomes the third pitcher the Yankees will be without to start the season. James Paxton might not be back until May after having back surgery, and Domingo German was suspended for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy.
Offseason acquisition Gerrit Cole will lead the Yankees rotation followed by Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ. Deivi Garcia, Jonathan Loaisiga, Michael King, and Clarke Schmidt are among the possibilities to fill out the rest of the Yankees rotation.
