“The
Yankees didn't
make a deal for a starter at the trade deadline, but they'll be adding a new
pitcher to their rotation next time through. Brian Cashman
announced
today that top prospect
Luis Severino would
be called up to make his next start with the big league club, likely replacing
the injured Michael Pineda. No date has been announced for Severino's big
league debut yet, as Cashman says Joe Girardi and pitching coach Larry
Rothschild will handle mapping out a schedule for the young right-hander.
Severino has dominated Triple-A since being promoted from
Trenton earlier this season. In 61.1 innings with the RailRiders Severino has a
1.91 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, and 50 strikeouts. Those are certainly some dominate
numbers that the Yankees could use at the big-league level right now with the
state of their rotation currently up in the air and one of their best pitchers
expected to miss at least a month.
Cashman showed a lot of faith in Severino by refusing to
trade him for an upgrade at the trade deadline. He'll have a chance to reward
that faith from the front office very soon. It's been a long time since Yankees
fans had a top prospect to look forward to making their big-league debut.
Severino is obviously a few cuts above
Rob Refsnyder and
that was very exciting before it was cut short. Hopefully we will all get a
much longer look at Severino.”
That was a post written by Pinstripe Alley’s Tonya Bondurant
on July 31, 2015. Take out Luis Severino’s name and put Just Sheffield’s name
in its place. Is history potentially about to repeat itself here in the Bronx
with a Yankees top pitching prospect? I have to believe so, yes. Why else would
the Yankees be looking at potentially upgrading their bullpen and offense, but
not their starting rotation? And why else, well there are a million and one
reasons in my opinion why, would the team refuse to offer up Sheffield in any
deal for Manny Machado plus potentially others like Zach Britton or Kevin
Gausman? Because they are planning on calling him up on August 1st
after adding him to the 40-man roster, something the team will have to do after
the season anyway to protect the left-hander from the Rule 5 Draft.
History is about to repeat itself in my opinion, and Justus
Sheffield is coming. Stay tuned.