By Anthony Cardone

Opening day for the Yankees is less than three weeks away and news struck them this past week that could shake up some things going into the season. Their ace Luis Severino, who was just signed to a four year contract extension, got an MRI that showed he has rotator cuff soreness and could be out for an extended period of time in the beginning of the year.

The reports and Severino say that he will pitch sooner than later and its “nothing to worry about,” but it is still a scare. The Yankees are trying to win every game they can in a very highly competitive division.

Manager Aaron Boone has named Masahiro Tanaka as the opening day starter against the Orioles on March 28 to begin the year.

So what does this mean for the Yankees moving forward?

Well, since the offseason has been very slow, some key pitchers are still on the market, including Dallas Keuchel and Gio Gonzalez. But is it worth to sign another pitcher of the same calibar? They probably won’t be asking for short term cheap contracts.

The rotation as of right now is made up of Tanaka, Paxton, Happ, Sabathia (who will miss the beginning of the year as well) and either Domingo German or Luis Cessa. Towards the back end of that rotation, so it’s not very trustworthy.

Since the market is so slow, the Yankees can offer one of these pitchers a one year deal, sort of like a “prove me” year for next year’s offseason market, which can help the Yankees short term because the pitchers in next years offseason class are even better.

Yankees don’t have to spend the money this year on back of the rotation guys. Instead, they can use it next year on possible guys like Gerrit Cole or Chris Sale. So maybe it’s a good idea to hold off on these pitchers if the asking price is still high and use the younger players for depth.

Players that could step up this year are guys like Domingo German and Luis Cessa, but other include Jonathan Loaisiga, Chance Adams and Stephen Tarpley. All are young assets that now have an opportunity to prove themselves, while more experienced players are injured.

Remember also, Jordan Montgomery is coming back in the middle of the year after his Tommy John Surgery, who was very productive before getting hurt last season.

So being that this could have been a lot worse for the bombers, I’d say they dodged a bullet. They have many options to plug into guys that get hurt this year, and there always are, this time it came a little early, but spending money on free agents is probably not the best path to take.

Yankees are a little banged up right now heading into 2019: Didi, Ellsbury, CC, Sevy and Montgomery just to name a few. It could be a long year for the fellas in the Bronx.