How about Girardi showing no confidence in Severino heading into this year

TAMPA, Fla. — The assumption has been that Luis Severino has guaranteed spot in the Yankees’ rotation, but Joe Girardi said that isn’t necessarily the case. 

“You have to see how he responds,” Girardi said Sunday. “He does not have a huge body of work. Your expectation is he’s going to be one of our starters from what we saw, but we’ve seen that not always translate that second year.”

Severino impressed after being called up last August, going 5-3 with a 2.89 ERA in 11 starts.

If he has a good spring training, there’s little question the 22-year-old will be in the rotation. In ticking off names of those who are all but assured spots, Girardi did not mention Severino or CC Sabathia, but Sabathia has never pitched out of the bullpen, so if healthy, he’s a virtual rotation lock.

I've kind of always liked the matter-of-fact way in which Girardi answers questions and talks about his team with the media.  It leaves him very little room to put his foot in his mouth and create any kind of controversy or drama with the team.  But come on dude.  You're allowed to get a little bit excited about this kid.  There's a chance he may very well be your main attraction this season.  I'm not asking you to name a horse Luis and ride him into camp everyday, but you can at least commit a rotation slot to him.

Severino is going to have to absolutely BOMB in spring training to earn a demotion.  Like throw straight up batting practice all month long.  That's why this sounds so stupid.  We understand there's always a chance for a sophomore slump once the league gets a book on you and that there are likely still growing pains on the horizon.  And I get what Girardi's trying to do here.  He wants to suppress expectations with Severino because in reality he's just 22-years-old with 62.1 major league innings under his belt.  But to introduce any doubt about his rotation status at this point is kind of awkward and annoying.  Luis is going to get the ball tomorrow afternoon in the Grapefruit League opener so here's to hoping he gets off to a fast start and makes Joe eat his comments.