Judge, Severino & Sheffield. Oh My!

Tomorrow will be three weeks since Aaron Judge went down with his injury which basically happened at the worst possible time you could imagine. I’ve been anxiously waiting and waiting for some good news. We could use some good news right about now. It’s been a rough August. There has to be some good news soon, right?

Well, not three weeks soon. I had a feeling Judge would be out longer but according to the New York Post HERE, his pain still hasn’t gone away. He still hasn’t picked up a bat and is still running bases and taking fly balls in the outfield.

Rushing Judge back before he is 100% again obviously isn’t the answer but boy could we use hit bat and presence in the game. I laughed at Aaron Boone‘s comment about the delay in his recovery “It’s what we expected and healing properly. Just probably going a tick slower than we had hoped is all.” If it is taking a “tick” longer than it really isn’t going as expected, right?

I caught a clip of Brian Cashman’s statement on WFAN too. That didn’t make me feel any better about the situation but at least his answers made sense. Cashman was asked if Judge’s injury could potentially be season ending and he didn’t think so. That’s the last thing we would need to happen. Hopefully Boone is right about his prediction that soon Judge will practice taking swings underwater in a pool. Baby steps I guess…

And speaking of problems, what the hell is going on with Luis Severino? He’s been awful lately. His four inning and four run start against the Mets was the shortest of the season and ugly. He is now 1-4 with a 7.84 ERA in his last six starts which should worry the Yankees at this point. We look destined for the American League Wild Card again, and this version of Severino won’t cut it. So what’s wrong?

Is he hurt? Not likely. Both Boone and most importantly, Severino says he feels fine. His velocity is still good with no major changes in his last start compared to his average. If his velocity was down I would say it’s possible since that directly relates to injuries. Boone says they check on him all the time and don’t see any signs of injury.

Is he fatigued? Maybe. His workload to this point is pretty comparable to this time last year. He’s not pushing career high numbers. He does look like he’s straining on the mound. He’s definitely inconsistent. One batter he looks like himself, another not so much. When you are tired you just don’t perform at your best. Maybe a little extra rest is needed.

Is it just a slump? Austin Romine said that his stuff is still there, he just isn’t always locating his pitches, read more HERE. We saw what happens when Sevy doesn’t locate hs pitches against the Mets this week, the ball ends up landing in the stands. We need our ace back. Hopefully the Yankees have him back on track for his next start.

Is he tipping his pitches? Brian Cashman admitted that he has had issues with this in the past. He says they address the issue and he has always corrected it. Could that explain some of his struggles this season, especially against Boston? Maybe.

Severino has been off for a little over a month now. Right now the biggest problem with Severino is that no one seems to know what the problem is and until then we can’t fix it. The Yankees need to get him back on track and fast. We need sharp Sevy going forward.

If there is some good news to be had this week fans of Justus Sheffield should be happy. Cashman has confirmed that with the recent loss of CC Sabathia to the disabled list and Luis Cessa not pitching well the Yankees will call up Sheffield this season. It is unclear if he will be called up before or after rosters expand next month and what his role might be but we will finally get to see him in the Bronx! He’s on a roll lately, he’s pitched well in his last seven starts. He hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start since June 2 or given up a home run since June 22nd. I’m excited to see what he can do. We need some good news and we’ve been waiting to see Sheffield for a long time now. I will take whatever good news I can get!

We have a lot of concerns right now. Hopefully Judge is back sooner rather than later. Hopefully Sevy is back on track in his next start. There’s a lot of hoping going around in Yankeeland in August. I prefer to get back to some butt kicking.