Yankees Joe Girardi Reveals Plan For Luis Severino

If Yankees manager Joe Giradi holds true to his current plans, Luis Severino may not be subject to significant innings limits in 2016.

"“I don’t know if there’s a limit, if there is, it’s very short,” Girardi said according to NJ.com. “I don’t know how many innings he ended up with this year, I think 140-ish.”“We’ll have to watch him, because the rigors of a big league season is different than a minor league season because it’s longer, but I don’t expect a huge limit on him.” [related category]"

Since the Yankees believed he would one day be a significant member of the major league rotation, they were already careful with him in the minor leagues. In his 19 double and triple A starts, Severino pitched just over 99 innings. His major league service is a touch more than 62 innings.

So, Severino may endure little more than the traditional build up at the start of the season. As the weather gets warmer, he could easily find himself in the seventh inning and beyond. This shows that the Yankees may have learned their lessons from their handling of Michael Pineda and Joba Chamberlain. Admittedly, holding back the reigns has not proven as an effective strategy with either.

Severino impressed last season with a 5-3 record and an ERA of 2.89. Speculation continues to mount even after the winter meetings as to whether the Yankees will keep Severino, or relent to the many teams who continually ask about his availability.

If the Yankees are truly committed to a youth movement, than trading Severino would be counter-productive. They need to go all-in one way or the other. If avoiding long-term contracts and getting younger is the strategy, then stick to it. Trading Severino would send a mixed message to other clubs that the Yankees are really not on a confirmed path.

Severino’s status as the Yankees reported top ranked prospect goes back to before the start of last season. Now that he has had some success, keep him and let him build on it. Girardi’s expectation of ¨no huge limit¨ is encouraging. Keep Severino. And let him loose. Let’s see what he can do.

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