 Luis Severino was supposed to start this game against the Braves today at Steinwerter Field in Tampa, had to be scratched, felt something pull in the back of his shoulder, the lat area. He underwent an MRI, they find inflammation in the rotator cuff. He is shut down completely for two weeks on anti-inflammatories and hopefully that the pain goes away. But that's hopefully. I always get a little bit sketchy when I hear about inflammation. Inflammation is caused by something. So I don't want anybody to read all hearts and flowers and positivity out of this, nor do I want doom and gloom and negativity. Teams, this is their first step when somebody is injured. Inflammation. Inflammation is caused by something. What is causing the inflammation in this rotator cuff? That's a scary proposition. This is not an elbow, nor is it something that's easily fixed if it is a rotator cuff problem. This is a guy the Yankees locked into for four years, $40 million, and a lot of people asked Severino, why did you sign for that? Why didn't you bet on yourself? For this very reason, because a pitcher is so fragile, their next pitch could be the last pitch they ever throw. I'm not saying that that's the case with Luis Severino, but boy, it is a hold your breath moment for the New York Yankees and what they want to do this season. This is their ace. This is their ace. When you talk to the Yankees about why didn't you go out and get, we have an ace. He's their ace. Now, everybody felt that last year, the second half of the year, it was all because he was tipping pitches. Now your mind starts to wander. Was he tipping pitches? And please, the one answer I don't want, because I've heard it all before. Well, he's throwing hard, so we know he's healthy. That's not true. That's a lie. I'm not saying anybody's saying that. But remember, Nathan Evaldi, the pitch before he blew out his elbow again, it was 100 miles an hour. He's pitching with a bad elbow. You can generate velocity, but that makes any kind of injury or pain kills location, kills movement. Yeah, you can still throw hard. You can hump it up and throw hard. So now the next thing is going to be, well, the Yankees have to go out and get a pitcher. Not necessarily. I mean, they do have depth on their team for a reason. They like Loisiga, they like Herman, they like Sessa. Right now, Aaron Boone just said, there's inflammation in the rotator cuff. They're going to shut them down for two weeks. The guys that would fill in would be Loisiga or Herman. Looks like Sessa's going to be locked in to maybe taking over for C.C. first time through and then go to the bullpen. But shutting a pitcher down for two weeks is scary because something's up. Do the two weeks heal it? Could be, but I wouldn't swear to it. I wouldn't bet my life savings on it. Nor would I bet my life savings that he's hurt. I just want everybody to look at this in a lucid way. Don't get too high, don't get too low. But there's no reason to feel giddy about the fact that it's rotator cuff soreness or inflammation. Inflammation is caused by something. What is that? And to shutting it down and anti-inflammance, stop it. Yankees are hoping that that's the case. I've always worried when it came to Severino, Don, he throws so hard. And he throws so hard for so long. First hitting through the ninth inning, he's throwing 99-100. The human arm doesn't really react that well to that kind of velocity on a consistent basis. And you always wondered when would he get hurt. You weren't hoping that it would be 24 or 25 years old. And I'm not saying he seriously hurt now. But this, I don't care. I'm not going to sit here and put lipstick on a pig. This is a legitimate cause of concern for the New York Yankees. This is their ace. And they have to shut him down. And he's going to start the season probably sometime in the middle of April if everything goes great. Let's just say that that's the case. You have other aces on your staff. Tanaka can be the stopper and be the ace. What do you want from your ace? It's not just the fact that you're going to go that first time in the season. It's the guy that's supposed to stop your losing streaks. It's the guy that you're going to know. We're going to win today because he's our ace. Well Tanaka can be that. I think the Yankee fans are going to be very happy with Paxton when you bring to the table. He can be that. So you have a temporary replacement for an ace. So it's not like your number two is a hack. Okay. So they'll be okay there. Michael July, August and September. He was not the same picture as it was the beginning of the season. Okay. Didn't give you a lot of innings. It was very hittable. The Yankees still went 15 and 6 in the 21 games he started in July, August and September. So they won games despite the fact that Severino suffered. So whoever is going to be in the rotation replacing him. This Yankees offense can supply enough of a cover where they can win those games. And they've got the wherewithal if they want to to add a good pitcher. Apparently they were interested in Gonzalez before this injury even happened. So you can sign Geo Gonzalez and plug him into your rotation. Well there was there was positive discussion about him. I'm not sure that they were interested in signing before Severino. But if there was discussion well now that discussion gets amped up he's still a free agent. So you can replace him. What's Montgomery's history? He's probably back at best case scenario end of July. So this is a team that can survive this Michael. Oh yeah but it's a loss.