When Luis Severino Becomes a Free Agent, Say Goodbye

The Yankees wrapped up a pretty disappointing road trip by losing two of three to the last-place Cardinals after winning just two of three against the horrendous A’s. So, 3-3 altogether, and that simply isn’t good enough against the level of competition they were facing. Then again, are we surprised? This is who the Yankees are this year.

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When you hear a player come right out and say that he’s concerned about his performance, that’s something you stand up and take notice of because rarely do today’s professional athletes admit fallibility.

These guys ooze confidence and bravado and they usually shrug off a bad day with some canned and/or shallow quote which they believe will gloss over what actually happened. Almost never do they say what Luis Severino did Saturday after he got lit up by the Cardinals in that ugly 11-4 loss in the first game of the doubleheader.

“I think this whole year has been concerning for me,” Severino said. “I want to be able to go out there and help my team. It’s frustrating that I can’t do that right now.”

I’ll give Severino credit for admitting that because he was awful, and has been for the better part of a month. It looked like he was throwing batting practice as he got tagged for nine runs (seven earned) on nine hits and three walks and wasn’t able to get an out in the fifth inning before Aaron Boone sent him to the showers. Five of his last six outings have been poor or downright terrible and his season ERA is now up to 6.30 and his WHIP (walks, hits per innings pitched) is an abominable 1.650.

“Right now, I’m not at my best moment,” Severino said. “I can’t make excuses. I just need to figure out a way to be consistent and get people out.”

I’m so done with Severino and when he hits the free agent market at the end of this season, the Yankees would be well-advised to pat him on the back and wish him well in his future endeavors.

There was no much promise when he first came up in 2015, then had those two fine seasons in 2017 and 2018 when he was healthy and started 63 games, went 33-14 with a 3.18 ERA, had a dazzling 1.092 WHIP, and a 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings ratio across 384.2 innings.

With CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka aging out, Severino - despite some postseason struggles in 2017 and 2018 - was still on the precipice of becoming the next Yankees ace and what was cool about that is he was home grown. The Yankees signed him out of the Dominican Republic in 2011 when he was just 17 years old and then developed him through their minor league system until 2015 when he made his MLB debut and had a 2.89 ERA in 11 starts.

He was already a two-time All-Star who finished third in the Cy Young balloting in 2017 and ninth in 2018, a cornerstone upon which the Yankees could build a potential World Series winner around, and then everything changed. He signed a new contract, and almost before the ink was dry, then came the injuries.

Following that 2018 season the Yankees signed him to a four-year, $40 million deal with an option year for 2023 (which the Yankees exercised) and honestly, that was a pretty good price for a pitcher who had already accomplished what Severino had. Instead, it turned out be a complete bust.

Since that contract went into effect, this is what they have gotten so far for that $55 million investment: 34 appearances (30 starts), 10 wins, 160 innings, a 3.71 ERA and 1.144 WHIP. When you total it up across the 4 ½ years, the Yankees have essentially gotten the equivalent of one pretty solid season.

Severino turns 30 in February, and for most pitchers that’s right in the middle of the prime of their careers. And perhaps all of Severino’s injury issues are behind him and he’ll be able to return to his former glory. It sure would be nice if that happens this season, but even if it does, the Yankees can’t sink anymore cost into a player who can’t stay healthy. No matter what happens the rest of this season, they need to say goodbye to Severino and go out and find someone more durable and more reliable.

Here are my observations on the three games against the Cardinals.

July 1 (Game 1): Cardinals 11, Yankees 4

➤ As I said, Severino was brutal and you could tell right away that it was going to be a rough one in the first inning. He got a quick first out but couldn’t put away Paul Goldschmidt and walked him on nine pitches, then needed 13 pitches to retire Nolan Gorman and Nolan Arenado. No runs, but an ominous 25 pitches. When he had an easy 1-2-3 second I was thinking OK, maybe he found something. Nope. The Cardinals sent 10 men to the plate in the third and scored five runs on five hits, a walk, and one big throwing error by third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera that made two of the runs unearned. In the fourth, Severino gave up two doubles and a two-run homer to Gorman, and when the first two men reached in the fifth, he was done.

➤ At that point mop-up man Matt Krook came on and he allowed both of Sevy’s men to score, plus two of his own as he gave up two hits, two walks, threw a wild pitch, and was hurt by a Kyle Higashioka passed ball. It was one of the worst halves of a game the Yankees have played all season.

➤ After two rain delays totaling 2 ½ hours, the Yankees put up a meaningless three-run rally in the ninth capped by Jake Bauers’ two-run homer.

➤ Hey, on the positive side, the Yankees found another worthy position player pitcher in Josh Donaldson. He needed only 11 pitches in the eighth to go 1-2-3 in his first appearance on the mound since his college days at Auburn.

BOX SCORE

July 1 (Game 2): Yankees 6, Cardinals 2

➤ We all know it’s so tough to sweep a doubleheader these days and the Cardinals couldn’t do it because the Yankees, forced into a bullpen game, pitched great. Ian Hamilton started and had a rough first inning - one run on three hits. Ron Marinaccio handled 1.2 innings and was not good either as he allowed a run on three hits and two walks. But from then on, the Yankees bullpen was nearly perfect.

➤ Michael King, who had a lousy June with a 6.97 ERA in eight appearances, delivered his longest and perhaps best outing of the year. He got out of the bases loaded mess Marinaccio left him in the third, then pitched three scoreless innings allowing just one hit. Wandy Peralta, Tommy Kahnle and Clay Holmes followed with a hitless, scoreless inning apiece to close it out.

➤ DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo all singled in the first inning, but the Yankees only run came home on Harrison Bader’s sacrifice fly so that felt like a wasted opportunity. But in the second, Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled and red-hot Anthony Volpe tripled to make it 2-1, and Volpe scored on a sacrifice fly by LeMahieu for a 3-1 lead.

➤ That was it for the Yankees scoring until a big three-run ninth when IKF walked, Volpe singled, and Jose Trevino executed a perfect safety squeeze bunt with IKF just beating the throw home. After LeMahieu walked to load the bases, Gleyber Torres drilled a two-run single to put it out of reach.

➤ IKF just continues to help the team in any way he can. He was 3-for-3 with a walk and in his last eight games he’s hitting .455 with two homers and seven RBI. His speed and excellent slide was key in scoring the run on Trevino’s squeeze.

BOX SCORE

July 2: Cardinals 5, Yankees 1

➤ Another absolutely miserable day for this offense. Ex-Yankee Jordan Montgomery had a no-hitter two outs into the sixth before Torres doubled and New York finished the game with three hits and one unearned run. Ridiculous.

➤ Remember the momentum the Yankees seemed to be gathering last weekend when they took two in a row against a very good Texas team and then were looking at this road trip against two shitty teams as a real chance to make some headway. Instead, a 3-3 record and they stayed right where they were in the standings when the trip began - 9.5 games behind the Rays who had a middling 3-3 West Coast trip of their own, though against two much better teams, the Diamondbacks and Mariners.

➤ Montgomery, who has been St. Louis’ most consistent starter all year - which isn’t saying much given the Cardinals are 13 games under .500 - just toyed with his old mates. The only reason the Yankees scored was because in the seventh inning, catcher Andrew Knizner couldn’t handle a pitch on which IKF whiffed, so he made it to first base. And after a Volpe sacrifice, Jake Bauers doubled IKF home to cut the Yankee deficit to 2-1.

➤ Here, with two outs and Bauers at second, bench coach Carlos Mendoza (Boone was ejected yet again for arguing balls and strikes) made a bizarre decision, one that was likely made by Boone in the pregame meeting. He pinch hit Billy McKinney for Trevino with another ex-Yankee, righty Giovanny Gallegos on in relief for St. Louis. McKinney instead of Anthony Rizzo who wasn’t in the starting lineup. McKinney had a nice little run going for a while, but he whiffed and now is hitless in his last 14 at bats. Just another weird, wacky move by the Yankees braintrust that failed.

➤ The Cardinals then put it away when Jimmy Cordero relieved Gerrit Cole in the seventh and immediately gave up a two-run homer to Brendan Donovan, and in the eighth he allowed another run thanks to a single, a wild pitch and a throwing error by Higashioka as he tried to nail Dylan Carlson stealing third. He threw it into left field and Carlson trotted home. Cordero has been a nice surprise this season, but this was a dud - three runs on five hits.

➤ Cole was named to the All-Star Game, joining Aaron Judge - who won’t be able to play - as the only two Yankees. He pitched well with the exception of the fourth inning when he gave up three straight hits for the first run, and then a fourth hit that drove in the second run. Otherwise, he allowed only two other hits and two walks across six innings. Again, for most teams that’s a winning outing but for the Yankees, it’s not good enough because they can’t hit or score.

➤ Volpe was hitting .186 on June 11 but in the 16 games since he’s 20-for-54 and he had a streak of five straight games with at least two hits snapped Sunday, though he did get one hit, raising his average to .221. One of the keys has been Volpe going to the opposite field which seems to be when he’s at his best. “I think he’s barreling up balls, so I don’t care where it goes,” Boone said. “He’s doing a better job of not expanding as much. We’ve seen that now for two or three weeks where it’s just been consistent at-bats.”

BOX SCORE

 ➤ July 3, 2013: We really don’t pay much heed these days to pitcher wins because they are a bit meaningless compared to so many far more important and illuminating numbers that determine how good, bad or indifferent a pitcher is.

But when someone achieves a nice round number milestone it’s always meaningful, especially to the player. So on this day 10 years ago, CC Sabathia was feeling pretty good about himself when he recorded the 200th victory of his then 12-year career.

The Yankees beat the Twins 3-2 at Target Field as Sabathia went seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and three walks, while striking out nine. He then handed the game over to the formidable duo of David Robertson and Mariano Rivera, who allowed just one baserunner between them over the final two innings.

“I don’t know if it means anything right now,” said Sabathia after becoming just the eighth pitcher since the expansion era (1961) to win his 200th game before turning 33. “I’ll be ready in five days to go again and I guess try and get 201.”

The Yankees were trailing 2-0 but they pushed across their only three runs in the sixth as Robinson Cano came through with a two-run double and later scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Lyle Overbay.

Sabathia went on to pitch through 2019, but that was really the start of the era in baseball where pitch counts and not pushing starters really began to take hold. He was credited with only 46 victories over his final six years and finished with 251 which right now ranks him tied for 46th in MLB history.

The Yankees begin a big four-game series at home Monday night against Baltimore, the team directly above them in the AL East standings. The Orioles (49-33) have had a terrific season, but they did lose four in a row before Sunday’s 2-1 win over Minnesota, a game in which the O’s scored both runs in the eighth with the winner coming home on a bases-loaded hit by pitch.

Oh, the first run of that rally? It was driven home by none other than Aaron Hicks. You remember him, the guy who was literally one of the worst players in MLB as his Yankee career died an ugly death? Since signing with the Orioles, Hicks is a new man. In 25 games he has a .260 average, a .380 on-base percentage, plus four homers and 11 RBI. He’ll be licking his chops this week to shove it up the Yankees’ collective ass.

The Orioles have a few injury issues. First baseman Ryan Mountcastle is on the injured list and it looks like he won’t be available, and outfielder Austin Hays got hurt Sunday and he’s now day-to-day. That’s good for the Yankees, but they still have to deal with center fielder Cedric Mullins (who just returned to action last week after missing nearly a month), catcher Adley Rutschman, outfielder Anthony Santander, and third baseman Gunnar Henderson.

And then there’s the Baltimore bullpen which is fantastic, led by the nearly unhittable Felix Bautista (1.16 ERA, 0.96 WHIP) and Yennier Cano (1.12 and 0.84). Bautista has 79 strikeouts in 38.2 innings. Do the math, that’s more than two per inning.

Here are the scheduled pitching matchups: Monday, 7:05 p.m. on YES, Domingo German (4.54) against Tyler Wells (3.21); Tuesday at 1:05 on YES it’s Clarke Schmidt (4.37) against Kyle Gibson (4.66); Wednesday at 7:05 on Amazon Prime, the Yankees aren’t sure who will face Dean Kremer (5.04); and Thursday at 7:05 it’s Severino (6.30) against Kyle Bradish (3.58).