Yankees Rotation After Luis Severino Tommy John Surgery

Tuesday afternoon brought heartbreak for New York Yankees fans, as they found out that Luis Severino, their supposed No. 2 starter for 2020, will have to get Tommy John surgery and miss the entire upcoming season. This comes on the heels of a 2019 where Severino only threw 20 innings in the regular and postseason due to injury, as well.

The ineptitude of the Yankees' training staff will force manager Aaron Boone to have to look elsewhere for starters in a rotation that already had a question mark at the five spot.

New York Yankees Opening Day Rotation

Taking a look at the five spots for 2020, there are a few that are set completely in stone. Gerrit Cole, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, is undoubtedly manning the No. 1 spot, as long as he's healthy. With Severino down for the count, and James Paxton out until at least May, Masahiro Tanaka now takes over in the No. 2 role, and Brian Cashman looks like a genius for keeping J.A. Happ, who can now step into the No. 3 spot in the rotation.

The four spot is where things start to look shaky. It, of course, can always be given to an unproven prospect, but Jordan Montgomery earned a spot after a great 2017 rookie year. He unfortunately was injured for 2018 and 2019, but now he looks good coming back, throwing 94 in early tuneups. In his first Spring Training start, he threw for two scoreless innings, while striking out three.

And now, the five spot looks to be open until Domingo German comes back over the summer from a domestic violence suspension that he received just before the 2019 playoffs. Until then, the Bombers will have to draw from less established MLB guys like Luis Cessa, Jonathan Loaisiga, and Chad Bettis, though they may give a chance to a plethora of pitching prospects, including Deivi Garcia, Clarke Schmidt, and Michael King

It's easy to see Cessa, Loaisiga, and Bettis making spot starts in the five spot until Garcia, one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, makes his MLB debut. Even if Garcia proves not to be ready, Schmidt and King can come up and make their impacts felt as well. When asked, Cashman even talked about employing the opener tactic, as the Yanks did very successfully in 2019 with Chad Green.

Regardless, you're likely looking at in-house candidate here, rather than a big swing for someone else's talent.

Many fans are blowing the Severino injury's impact on the Yankees out of proportion. The Yanks' pitching will be good without Severino and Paxton (who will come back by May, hopefully). The Bombers have enough pitching depth to weather the storm and allow their offense to shake the foundation of the AL.