When the Yankees reconvene next week after the All-Star break, Luis Severino needs to be in the bullpen.
And Estevan Florial needs to be in leftfield.
It may seem odd to talk about leftfield after Severino was rocked for 10 hits and seven runs in 2 2/3 innings in the Yankees’ ghastly 14-1 loss to the Orioles at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night.
But the Severino problem, as vexing as it is to the Yankees, is not complicated. You can’t keep starting a guy with a 7.38 ERA who has given up 58 hits and 11 home runs in 42 2/3 innings.
Carlos Rodon is making his Yankees debut on Friday. He can join Gerrit Cole, Domingo German, Clarke Schmidt and Randy Vasquez in the post-All-Star break rotation while Severino tries to figure it out in the pen.
The Yankees sent Vasquez down to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday immediately after he started and threw five shutout innings against Baltimore. The rookie has a 1.17 ERA in three spot starts. Give him a shot. He can hardly be worse than Severino.
Leftfield has been such a sinkhole for the Yankees all season that the YES Network on Thursday felt compelled to show a montage of misplays at the position in the first three games of this series against Baltimore.
Oswaldo Cabrera on Monday. Isiah Kiner-Falefa on Tuesday. Jake Bauers on Wednesday.
And as if on cue, right after that Kiner-Falefa – who is NOT AN OUTFIELDER – took a bad route to a ball smoked over his head against Severino in the Orioles’ seven-run, eight-hit third inning.
None of the plays YES showed were easy. But the home team network showed them for a reason – the Yankees are getting subpar play in left.
The Yankees started the season without a leftfielder and still don’t have one on July 7. Here are the players who have started out there: Greg Allen, Bauers, Cabrera, Willie Calhoun, Franchy Cordero, Aaron Hicks, Kiner-Falefa, Billy McKinney and Giancarlo Stanton.
Meanwhile, Florial — who was once the Yankees’ top prospect…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply