Yankees starting rotation in jeopardy ahead of Opening Day

The 2023 Major League Baseball season hasn't even started yet and the New York Yankees' starting rotation is already falling apart.

The latest blow to that group came on Saturday when manager Aaron Boone revealed that Luis Severino injured himself in a recent workout and is likely to start the season on the IL. 

Severino is dealing with a right lat strain that occurred following his most recent start on Tuesday. At the very least, he is not expected to throw for the next five-to-seven days, which certainly puts his first start of the regular season in jeopardy, if not more. 

It is a costly blow to a Yankees rotation that is already expected to open the season without Carlos Rodon and Frankie Montas. Montas was acquired by the Yankees at the trade deadline from the Oakland A's last season and recently admitted he was not 100 percent healthy when he came over. He is currently recovering from right shoulder surgery. 

Rodon, meanwhile, was the Yankees' top offseason acquisition and is currently sidelined with a strained left forearm. 

Ace Gerrit Cole is going to have to do most of the heavy lifting early in the season, while the Yankees rotation will also include Nestor Cortes and Domingo German. 

This is not the first time Severino has dealt with injury issues, having thrown just 120 innings since the end of the 2018 season. He has not had a particularly good spring training prior to the injury, allowing 15 runs in 15 innings pitched.