TAMPA – CC Sabathia told a few reporters who approached him Thursday that he would do a large press briefing the following day. It was as if he had a bit of the assignment editor in him.
One of the early rites of every spring is to go down the checklist of obvious storylines, and in the 2016 Yankees ecosystem, Aroldis Chapman was the clear starting point, owing to his standing as both the biggest acquisition of the offseason and by far the most controversial figure in a clubhouse he will share with Alex Rodriguez.
So on reporting day for pitchers and catchers, Chapman experienced his first true New York frying pan moment.
Sabathia, familiar with the drill, followed the first workout of spring 24 hours later with a verbal tour through his alcohol rehab and the current state of his 35-year-old body. He was second in this order via accomplishment, the longtime ace trying to recapture something from the past, and now with a movie-of-the-week twist as he tries to stay sober.
The past few years have been a difficult baton pass atop the Yankee rotation with not just Sabathia’s greatness fading, but Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte vanishing and taking their steady, sturdy distinction with them.
No clear pecking order has stuck in the aftermath, no defined ace or No. 2 or No. 3 has emerged. There have been hints and teases, but nothing that looks like vintage Sabathia – 30-plus starts and 200-plus innings of relentless excellence. Once again, the Yankees are offering “what if” scenarios around Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda and Nathan Eovaldi, envisioning full health and complete harnessing of their stuff – an equation that so far has brought as much frustration as elation.
Sabathia’s brilliance was in the metronomic combination of workhorse fortitude, top-of-the-rotation accountability and an elite repertoire. This was not about a good May or July. This was all the months. Every season. Year after year. His 10-season peak – from 2003-2012, his adjusted ERA was 30 percent better than the league average while he averaged 217 innings annually – is the cornerstone of at least a Cooperstown debate.
The last four of those high-end seasons were his first four with the Yankees when his adjusted ERA was 35 percent better than the league average and he averaged 226 innings. He served as No. 1 starter for a champion and – unfortunately – drained the last of his magic, his left arm and knees withering amid the torture that is throwing a baseball so frequently.
He is back for another year of trying to rediscover CC Sabathia, and the Yankees are back for another year of trying to find his heir. A futile mission. Until now, maybe.
No one wants to put the tag “ace” – even future ace – on Luis Severino. What is the upside in burdening the kid with that weight? The closest anyone I asked came was when Brian McCann shook his head affirmatively when he asked if Severino could be an ace, but he never used the word. Brian Cashman said, “His skill does not put him in the back of the rotation.”
I reached out to several talent evaluators, and none put him as worse than a high-end No. 3. One NL GM praised the makeup, swing-and-miss stuff and said: “We like Luis Severino a lot. We think he has a real shot to be a No. 1 starter.”
The importance of Severino validating the 11-start cameo last year really cannot be overstated for this organization. Over the next two seasons, Tanaka, Pineda, Eovaldi, Sabathia and Ivan Nova can be free agents. Maybe James Kaprielian will arrive and Bryan Mitchell will prove more than a tease with high-end stuff. But the best chance for an internal building block is the 6-foot righty.
“This year I want to be better than last year,” Severino said. “I am competing against myself. I feel I can throw fewer pitches to get to eight innings more. I feel I can make my changeup 50 percent better.”
Pitching coach Larry Rothschild sees the potential, praising Severino’s aptitude, attitude and competitiveness. McCann said, “His intangibles are better than his stuff, and his stuff is great.” Everyone noticed that the 11 starts and 2.89 ERA last year came completely in the end game of a playoff race. There was no flinch.
“This is not a normal 22-year-old,” McCann said.
He is a baseball unicorn for the Yankees, who looked as if they would develop a homegrown ace from among Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain, but never did. Now – even with just those 11 starts – Severino is the most promising candidate to finally take the baton from Sabathia.
“He has the physical tools and the performance to date to make you feel he has a high ceiling,” Cashman said. “No. 1 starter? Let’s wait and see on that.”