Star Yankees pitcher Severino is out for the year
New York Yankees pitcher Luis Severino needs Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2020 season, general manager Brian Cashman said Tuesday.
The two-time all-star righty, who turned 26 last week, was sidelined until the final weeks of the regular season last year. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said last week that Severino has been feeling on and off discomfort since October.
Projected to win the AL East, New
York already expects to be without lefthander James Paxton for the first two months of the season following back surgery on Feb. 5.
Severino's injury leaves the Yankees with a rotation of newly signed ace Gerrit Cole, Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ and two openings until the return of Paxton and Domingo Germán, who must serve the final 63 games of an 81game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy. Germán is eligible to return June 5, barring any postponements.
Severino went 19-8 with a 3.39 ERA in 2018, signed a $40 million, four-year contract and was scratched from his first scheduled spring training appearance on March 5 because of rotator cuff inflammation in his right shoulder. The Yankees said April 9 he had strained his latissimus dorsi muscle. He did not make a minor league injury rehabilitation appearance until Sept. 1 and did not make his first appearance for the Yankees until Sept. 17.
Severino was 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA over 12 innings in three regular-season starts for New York, then was 0-1 with a 2.16 ERA over 81⁄3 innings in a pair of postseason outings.
Freeman sidelined: Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman wasn't in the Braves' starting lineup Tuesday because of irritation in his right elbow.
“We're trying to nip in the bud. He's been throwing balls and doing things,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It's better that it's in February than the end of March.”
Snitker said he is not sure how long Freeman will be out.
Freeman played with the injury for part of last season. Despite that, he set career highs in home runs (38), RBI (121) and runs (113).
He was 4 for 20 with a home run in the playoffs.