The Yankees are not sure when Luis Severino and CC Sabathia will return to the rotation. Severino injured his shoulder and is a month behind the rest of the squad, and Sabathia, even without his suspension, is still working his way back from surgery and heart problems*.
*He’s the poster child for why it should be called the illjured list.
That still leaves New York with three excellent starters in Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ, and James Paxton. The Yankees could fill in with two youngsters, or they could take advantage of their real pitching strength and put more weight on the bullpen.
While one strategy for this is to use an opener, the Yankees could also opt to limit their starters to a low number of pitches and and them go every fourth game. There are plenty of off days during the first two weeks of the season, so the Yankees should be able to get their top three starters five starts in the first 19 games (23 days) without taxing them too much. They may not get any decisions, but they also may stay healthy the rest of the season.
It’s an excellent opportunity for the Yankees to try something unconventional as the use of pitchers continues to evolve.
from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2W4VilQ
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