A subtle re-examination of Luis Serverino's timetable raises questions about the rotation's House of Cards

In a flurry of interviews late this week, the famed comedy team of Cash & Boo batted away all questions regarding the 9/11 inside job, the fake death of JFK Jr., who shot JR? the 2021 Yankees. This week's Marianne Williamson Award of Hope goes to  Aaron Boone, who uncorked his personal view that Gary Sanchez will be an all-star. 

Wow. There's crazy and there is CA-RAZY! That's optimism!

Meanwhile, Brian "Cooperstown" Cashman raved about the team's chances which - WAIT A MINUTE, I JUST HAD A REVELATION - can be summed up this way:

The 2021 Yankees are a team of wild cards chasing a Wild Card.

But one little drone seems to have raised concerns: Cashman's revelation that Luis Severino won't return until late summer, and maybe then as a bullpen cog, rather than a pillar of our Olympian rotation. We've come to assume that Severino would function as the cavalry, riding in at the all-star break (Gary playing, of course) to fortify the staff. Now, should we wonder?

Actually, I don't think Cashman has moved the goalposts on us. Severino underwent Tommy John surgery last Feb. 27, and where I come from, it generally takes pitchers 18 months to fully recover. That puts Severino returning around August and, frankly, it would be foolish to rush him, considering his career.

It's time to soberly access expectations for Severino, who could be yet another lost Yankee future ace - Hughes, Joba, Brackman, et al - who raises hopes beyond his abilities. The Yankees - with all their big market bluster - have a tendency to push a few prospects early on - Jasson Dominequez, your pedestal is waiting - and assign expectations that can never be fulfilled. 

Severino's career is a succession of "firsts" and "youngests,"burned into our brains by the Death Star marketing machinery. After being hyped throughout the minors, he burst onto the scene in 2015, the youngest MLB starter that year. In his debut, he became the first AL pitcher in MLB history to strike out seven hitters while walking none. (There is a first for everything, am I right?)

Severino floundered in 2016. That May, he got crushed by the White Sox, 7 runs in less than three innings, and immediately went on the DL with triceps inflammation. He was supposed to be back in a few weeks. It turned into July, when he reappeared as a bullpen lug nut.

That led to his peak - 2017 - when he finished third in the Cy Young balloting. He was the first AL pitcher with an ERA below 3.00 and 230 or more strikeouts at age 23 or younger - since Roger Clemens in 1981. 

In 2018, he became the first Yankee pitcher since Mel Stottlemyre to reach the all-star break with 14 wins. He tailed off, though, finishing 19-8 with an ERA of 3.39. 

On Feb. 15, 2019, he signed a four-year, $40 contract extension. In March, he was diagnosed with rotator cuff inflammation. They said he'd miss a month. In April, he strained his lateral. They said six weeks. It turned into September - he never made a rehab start in Scranton. They started him in the playoffs. It didn't go well. 

Last February, as we slotted him in for a Cy Young year, the hammer dropped: Tommy John. 

Listen: At every step along the way, Severino's rehabs have stumbled and lengthened. There is no reason to expect anything different, and no reason to push him into yet another injury that - frankly - would make him a candidate for the New Joba.  

Severino will be 27 this year. He'll miss most of it. Four starts in September? Maybe that's all we'll get. Marianne Williamson, I'm not.