NEW YORK – Ever since those sunny, carefree days in spring training, when the Yankees looked great on paper and the road to October was a lock, they counted on the starting rotation to become the armor. And why not?
Lining up behind Gerrit Cole, the Bombers had power (Carlos Rodon and Luis Severino), deception (Nestor Cortes) and a greyhound with a killer curve ball (Domingo German). There it was — the shifting of the tectonic plates the franchise had been waiting for since 2009.
Except none of it has gone according to plan. Not one thing. Injuries and inconsistencies have turned the Yankees into an unwatchable .500-ish team. Even with their damaged parts (Rodon and Cortes) returning soon, there’s a mystery that hangs over the Bombers that no one can explain.
You only had to sit through Severino’s disastrous performance at the Stadium on Thursday, where the Yankees were destroyed, 14-1 by the Orioles, to know something’s very wrong with this once-elite pitcher.
The right-hander was knocked out in the third inning during an unusually brutal assault by Baltimore’s lineup. Six of the eight batters Severino faced reached base, including three doubles. In all, he was charged with seven earned runs in 2.2 innings, extending a crisis that began last week against the Cardinals.
Over his last 6.2 innings, Severino has given up 14 earned runs, raising his ERA to 7.38., Opponents are batting .315 against him this season, the 65th worst average in the American League.
Confident and brash, Severino looked and sounded shell-shocked after the game, his voice barely raised above a whisper.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this bad of a pitcher my whole life,” is what Severino told reporters. “It’s sort of tough to get my head around this. There’s nothing I can do except try to get better.”
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The Yankees are obviously deeply concerned. While there’s no talk of removing Severino from the rotation, manager Aaron Boone said pitching coach Matt Blake will conduct a “deep dive” to identify the problem. Until then, it’s impossible to know how effective the rotation will be in the second half of the season.
Rodon will make his 2023 debut on Friday against the Cubs. The Bombers are eager to raise that curtain. And Cortes, who’s been out since May 30 with shoulder problems, is finally throwing bullpens. He should be back in late July.
Those are both promising developments — but only in theory. Rodon and Cortes must stay healthy down the stretch for the Yankees to survive without Aaron Judge. And that’s why Severino’s regression matters.
He was supposed to be a pillar in ’23, one of Cole’s two wing men. But as of today, all bets are officially off.
It’s not just Severino, though. The entire night was a boomer. Albert Abreu, the first responder out of the bullpen, was no help, allowing six runs in two-thirds of an inning. The Yankees were down 12-0 by the fourth. The Stadium crowd, restless and snarky, was actually cheering the Orioles every time didn’t score a run. And of course — of course — the Yankees’ offense was invisible.
On YES, meanwhile, Michael Kay and Paul O’Neill were sentenced to three hours of empty, on-air torture – so bored they devolved into a long discussion about reporter Justin Shackil’s hair.
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The real topic, of course, was the disappearance of Severino’s signature swing-and-miss arsenal. Of his 23 four-seam fastballs, the right-hander generated only three swings and misses.
“This is one of the more challenging (times) of his career in terms of the lack of success,” Blake said. “When he’s healthy, he’s good. But I think this is the first time we’ve seen him take a handful of starts in a row and feel physically fine and not have the results follow.”
There are a number of theories that might explain what happened to Severino. Some are credible, some are stabs in the dark.
*Injured: Even though he insists he’s physically fine, it’s possible Severino is experiencing a lingering weakness in his lat muscles, which he strained in spring training.
*Tipping: This has been a problem for Severino in the past, although neither he nor Blake say that’s the case this time around.
*Loss of velocity: This doesn’t seem to be an obvious culprit, either. Severino’s fastball averaged 96.5-mph, which was actually a .01-mph uptick over his 2023 average.
The same goes for his slider (85.1-mph average, a full 1-mph quicker than usual) and his cutter (an even bigger jump; 89.7-mph average, a 1.7-mph improvement.)
*Fear of injury: Eureka. This could be worth exploring. Severino is barely pushing off his back leg lately, resulting in reduced stride length and ground force.
That’s usually a tip-off of a pitcher protecting a weak link in the kinetic chain – an aching knee, or a bad back. Or, if it could be a subliminal worry that max effort will result in a blowout.
Blake called it a “rehab state,” where a pitcher is babying his arm back to health. The pitching coach acknowledged Severino had, consciously or not, modified his delivery to the point where he’s almost standing straight up and flinging the ball. All arms, no legs.
“It’s something we have to look closely at,” Blake said.
The good news for the Yankees is that Severino could have as many as 10 days before his next start. That’s plenty of time to get his confidence and mechanics back.
The bad news is that he’s got a lot of work to do, mentally and physically. Severino needs more than a pitching teacher. He needs a therapist.
All this while the Yankees themselves plot a course for the rest of the summer.
As of today, it feels like they’re going nowhere. What started as a promising conquest of the Orioles in this four-game series turned into a pointless split.
Put it this way: The All-Star break can’t get here fast enough for this depressingly mediocrity team.
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Bob Klapisch may be reached at [email protected].