The New York Yankees showed their hand a bit this week and
into last weekend when manager Joe Girardi flipped his starting rotation around
and you know what, for once it was the right move to make for the Yankees. Of
course Girardi didn’t say as much when he was asked over the weekend the reason
for his rotation juggle but looking ahead at the schedule you can easily see
why the moves were made as their ace Luis Severino is now perfectly set up to
start either a Game 163 tiebreaker or the AL Wild Card Game for the Yankees.
CC Sabathia was pushed back from Sunday to tonight against
the Minnesota Twins to “keep him off the turf” next week when the Yankees
travel to the Rogers Centre to take on the Toronto Blue Jays while Sonny Gray
took the ball on Sunday in a loss against Baltimore. Jaime Garcia started
yesterday and Masahiro Tanaka will start tomorrow in the finale of the series
leaving Severino to start Friday in Toronto. I guess it makes sense to not have
Severino start against a Minnesota Twins team who currently lead the 2nd
Wild Card chase in the American League, huh? I mean, because CC has a balky
right knee and all.
The way things look now Severino will make one more regular
season start for the Yankees after his turn through the rotation this Friday in
Toronto lining him up perfectly for an October 3rd start (currently)
in the Bronx against these same Minnesota Twins.
It’s risky but it is a risk worth taking. The Yankees wouldn’t
have Severino available for the final weekend assuming they needed him, but
Fangraphs and their percentages and likeliness of making the playoffs says that
they won’t, unless the team brought their ace back on short rest. If they did
that, which they likely won’t, then Masahiro Tanaka could start the Wild Card
Game for New York. Win, win. This is the right move to make and frankly I am
surprised that Joe Girardi did it to be completely honest. Great move, keep
them up and this team will go far.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)