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Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
★★★
The Yankees are getting nothing out of ace-turned-money pit CC Sabathia, and Michael Pineda won’t pitch at all in the month of August. Nathan Eovaldi is still a below-average starter, even if the Yankees’ offense tries to hide that for him, and Ivan Nova hasn’t exactly blown opponents away in his return to the mound. There is still Masahiro Tanaka, but it’s going to be hard for him to protect the Yankees’ 4.5 game lead on the Blue Jays by his lonesome. Thanks to the promotion of pitching prospect Luis Severino, though, Tanaka might not have to.
While the Blue Jays added David Price and Troy Tulowitzki, and the Orioles tried to plug minor holes and hold on to the talent they had, the Yankees mostly sat idle at the trade deadline. They did so because they felt the prospects they had, like Severino, would be the key down the stretch for them. Severino debuted on Wednesday night against the Red Sox and showed just why Brian Cashman and Co. were so eager to hold on to their near-ready youth: while New York dropped the game to Boston, Severino threw five innings, allowing one earned run with seven strikeouts against zero walks.
More high-quality performances can fairly be expected from Baseball America’s No. 17 prospect from their midseason list. The righty dominated Triple-A in his 11 starts there, after successfully navigating Double-A to begin the year. And with all the other issues in New York’s rotation, there is no reason for him to head back. He’s not established, and the concerns about him being undersized will remain at least for now, but Severino just might be the key to an AL East race that, with about two months to go, is far from resolving itself.
- Dave Dombrowski's career winning percentage hides the fact that he's been one of the best executives in the game for a long time. These are the lessons we can all learn from his career.
- As for the team who let him go, what does Dombrowski's release mean for the manager he hired for the Tigers, Brad Ausmus?
- Fernando Rodney took in the Mariners-Rockies game from the forests of Coors Field.
- To the Rays, Daniel Nava is just a waiver pickup. To Red Sox fans, though, he's one of the great modern baseball stories, one of perpetual underdogs and against-the-odds triumphs.
- If you hadn't noticed, the Phillies aren't very good, and could end up with a very early draft pick next year. Not all of their fans want them to keep losing, though, as playing better has its own merits, too.
- Marcus Stroman is getting close to beginning his rehab assignment, but will it occur soon enough for him to be backup for a Blue Jays pitching staff that might need it?
- A minor league team is giving away Arnold Schwarzenegger bobbleheads, and these aren't Governator or Terminator style: these are shirtless Ahhh-nolds with bobble biceps.
- Just what is Corey Kluber's breaking ball? Kluber won't tell anyone, so Eno Sarris tried to figure it out himself.
- LaTroy Hawkins, 21-year-veteran, earned a save against the Twins on Wednesday, giving him at least one against all 30 MLB teams. He's the 13th pitcher ever to accomplish the feat, and managed it by closing against the team that drafted him.
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