The Arsenal-ization of the Yankees continues. On top of the "soulless, corporate new stadium full of tourists that prices the real fans out," the cheap management, and the failure to win the League in a long time, the injuries never seem to end.
Here's the intended starting rotation for the 2020 season:
* Luis Severino has been shut down, and will need Tommy John surgery. After going 19-8 and looking like a genuine ace in 2018, injuries limited him to 20 innings (including the postseason) in 2019, and now he will miss all of 2020, and may even miss the start of 2021.
* James Paxton underwent back surgery, and could be out until June.
* Domingo Germán is absolutely out until at least June 5, because of a suspension for domestic violence, a case from which no criminal charges were filed, but he had to be suspended, including the 2019 postseason, anyway, because, God forbid, MLB should be seen as giving the Yankees a fair chance against a bunch of cheats like the Houston Astros.
* Gerrit Cole, as far as we can tell after his 1st Spring Training start, is okay. And...
* Masahiro Tanaka, as far as we can tell, is okay.
Those are the intended 5 starters. Of the potential contenders to replace Sevy, Big Maple and Germán:
* J.A. Happ appears to be okay, but he had a 4.91 ERA last season, and is now 37 years old. Of these pitchers, he is the likeliest to contribute in 2020, but he's also the likeliest to have no more good MLB seasons.
* Jordan Montgomery missed most of 2019 in recovery from Tommy John surgery, and while he appears to be okay now, he hasn't been nearly as effective as any of the 3 pitchers he'd be subbing for were, or even as much as he was.
I realize that's a small sample size, but that same sample would also throw a question mark on it if he had pitched that well.
* Jonathan Loáisiga was limited by injury to 21 games last season, only 15 of those were in the major leagues, only 4 of those were starts, and none of those excited anybody.
* Luis Cessa made 43 appearances last season, all in relief, and was shaky. That he is even being considered for one of the rotation slots is crazy.
* Mike King was injured most of last season. He made 11 appearances between the minor leagues, and only 8 of them were starts. His entire major league experience consists of 2 innings of relief last September 27.
In other words, last September, the Yankees didn't consider him worth trying until the end was near and the competitive risk was minimal. And the Yankees are considering trying him despite that slightest of major league experience. Which is still more major league experience than...
* Deivi García, who is the current great prospect that Brian Cashman's apologists slobber over, but he wasn't too good in Double-A last season, and got rocked in Triple-A. The good news is, he's not yet 21, and could learn how to pitch at the major league level. The bad news is, he's not yet 21, and the Yankees need 3 major league level starting pitchers now.
Are they going to have ANY starting pitchers available for Opening Day? What next, is Tanaka going to need hip replacement?
(That would be just my luck. I couldn't even talk to him about it, or about baseball, or about anything else, without a translator.)
The 2020 New York Yankees could hit 300 home runs and go 81-81.
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