NEW YORK — The Yankees had two of their best wins of the season at the start of this week.
It gave them a chance to win a pivotal series against Baltimore and make up ground in the American League East with Tampa Bay scuffling. New York led 2-0 after five innings in Game 3 against the Orioles on Wednesday with rookie starting pitcher Randy Vasquez on the mound. The bullpen, which has undeniably been the best group for the Yankees this season, gave up six runs and lost the game.
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The Yankees then fell flat on their faces in the final game of the series, losing 14-1, failing to make up ground against the Orioles.
Thursday’s game was an embarrassing showing for the Yankees, a team that has struggled to have much consistency all season. All of their flaws were on full display in this game.
Let’s start with starting pitching. They have only one starting pitcher in Gerrit Cole who fans should feel confident in. Carlos Rodón makes his debut Friday night versus the Cubs; theoretically, he should form one of the best one-two punches with Cole. Nestor Cortes, on the injured list, did not look like the All-Star he was prior to his shoulder injury. Domingo Germán is not consistent enough. Clarke Schmidt is trending upward, but he is quickly approaching a career high in innings and doesn’t last long in games. And then there’s Luis Severino.
Severino toldThe Athleticin spring training this was his “most important year” because he enters free agency this offseason. With free agency approaching, Severino is in the middle of the worst season of his career. His ERA is 7.38 after he lasted just 2 2/3 innings with seven runs allowed Thursday night. It’s Severino’s third outing this season lasting fewer than four innings with at least seven runs allowed, the most in MLB. In his last seven outings, he’s given up 37 runs and 53 hits. According to Stathead’s Katie Sharp, the only other Yankee pitcher with as bad of a seven-game stretch was A.J. Burnett in 2011.
Severino’s physical health is always the No. 1 conversation topic around any performance issues, but Severino said he’s 100 percent healthy. That’s concerning because it may mean two things: All the injuries have finally caught up to Severino and his stuff has diminished as a result; and secondly, a potential change in mechanics as a result of all the injuries is leading to him no longer being a quality starter.
Young Gunn starting off hot 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6neckGXavt
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 6, 2023
“I feel like there’s a physical component of being a major-league starter that’s hard to be consistent at,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said. “I feel like he’s going through it right now as far as just making sure he’s healthy for his outings, getting good work in and being ready for his next start. I do feel like he’s in a good spot. Over time, I think his delivery has adjusted because of some of the injuries and just trying to revisit what he looked like when he was at his best in ’17 and ’18 and, at times, ’22.”
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Opposing hitters are hitting .315 against Severino this season. Or put in a concerning context, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar first baseman Freddie Freeman entered Thursday hitting .315 this season. Blake said there wasn’t one particular issue with Severino’s season. He called it a “moving target,” with fastball execution being near the top of Severino’s problems. He came into Thursday’s outing with a .300 opposing batting average against his fastball and a 52 percent hard-hit rate. Blake also mentioned working with Severino on the shape of his breaking ball.
“I don’t feel good about any of my pitches right now,” Severino said.
It’s left the Yankees searching for answers with what’s happened to him.
“I just really haven’t been myself,” Severino said. “I’ve never been this bad of a pitcher my whole life. It’s a little tough to get my head around. I can’t do nothing else but keep trying to get better.”
Severino won’t make another start before the All-Star break. When Cortes comes back at some point after the break, the Yankees will have a decision to make on who he replaces in the rotation. If everyone stays healthy until Cortes gets back, the Yankees are going to have no choice but to make the difficult decision to remove Severino from the rotation and hope he can figure out his problems either out of the bullpen or in the minor leagues, which is what Toronto has done with Alek Manoah. Unlike Manoah, who still has minor-league options, Severino would have to consent to being optioned because he has over five years of MLB service time. Statistically, Severino has been one of the worst starters in baseball. He’s not giving the Yankees the best chance to win. When asked if skipping Severino’s next start would be a consideration, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said it wasn’t a thought in the moment.
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“It’s just not a real question right now 10 minutes after the game,” Boone said. “We have the break coming up, and we’ll obviously dive deep here in these next couple of days and continue to try and get him right.”
Another concern the Yankees have to address, either internally or externally, is the revolving door in left field and how poor the defense has been at the position. In every game this series, there was at least one play in left field that hurt them. In Thursday’s game, Isiah Kiner-Falefa couldn’t come up with a Gunnar Henderson hit that Statcast had as a 95 percent catch probability play. The following hitter, Adley Rutschman, grinded out a 12-pitch at-bat against Severino that preceded his nightmarish third inning. Kiner-Falefa then took a poor route in the third inning on a double that Ryan O’Hearn hit over his head.
Our kind of triple double. pic.twitter.com/OWbQTz7Is3
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 7, 2023
The Yankees entered the game with minus-4 outs above average in left field this season, tied for eighth worst in MLB. They’re third last in defensive runs saved and ultimate zone rating. The Yankees went into the season with Oswaldo Cabrera and Aaron Hicks as the top two options, but neither panned out. They’ve gotten varying degrees of success from everyone else they’ve trotted out there.
“I think when (Billy) McKinney’s out there, he’s done a nice job,” Boone said. “Oswaldo, I think, plays a really good left field. (Kiner-Falefa) has gone out there and played well. Hicks, when he was out there. We’ve also had some mistakes out there. It’s probably been a little mixed bag overall. It’s probably been all right.”
Left field is a clear need for the Yankees ahead of the trade deadline. Jake Bauers, who’s produced at the plate but is a poor fielder, is likely headed for the injured list with a bruised rotator cuff. McKinney had a stretch where he was the team’s best hitter but has since fallen back to earth. The team does have Estevan Florial in Triple A; he hit his 21st home run of the season Thursday. Florial is a good fielder who would be a better option defensively than anyone else available. He’s not on the 40-man roster and a corresponding roster move would have to be made. The Yankees could move Greg Allen to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot and give Florial a chance. All of the team’s moves up until now would suggest they do not believe in Florial’s potential; they’ve had plenty of opportunities to call him up in the past but have not. A permanent solution, though, is a must. Left-field defense is costing them.
“We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks,” Boone said. “We absolutely feel like we have capable guys to throw out there. It’s been a lot of people out there, obviously. But I feel like a handful of them are able to play average-to-plus defense out there. That’s what we expect.”
And then there’s the third base combination of DJ LeMahieu and Josh Donaldson, who continue to not hit. LeMahieu’s batting average is down to .219 and his OPS is .643. Donaldson is hitting .144, but nine of his 13 hits have been home runs. An upgrade at third is a challenge because of their salaries. But the Yankees need bats at the deadline. Aaron Judge isn’t fixing the lineup himself.
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The Yankees view themselves as a championship-caliber team, but there are major cracks that need to be filled. Kiner-Falefa made his fourth pitching appearance this season Thursday. The team has already had five position player pitching appearances. The Yankees had five such occurrences since 2016 entering the season. The jokes of Kiner-Falefa being the Yankees’ version of Shohei Ohtani were funny in the first two outings. It’s a problem they’ve had to use him this many times before the All-Star break.
“Unfortunately, he’s been very good,” Blake jokingly said.
(Photo of Luis Severino: Brad Penner / USA Today)
Chris Kirschner is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the New York Yankees. He previously covered the Atlanta Hawks from 2018-2022 for The Athletic. Chris was named Georgia's Sportswriter of the Year in 2021 for his work covering the Hawks. Chris is a native of Bronx, NY. Follow Chris on Twitter @chriskirschner
