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TAMPA, Fla. When the Yankees in December, New York immediately vaulted into the conversation of which club has the best pitching staff in all of baseball.Losing southpaw James Paxton for the first few months of the season as he rehabilitates from lower back surgery felt like a major setback. On Tuesday, however, the Yankees rotation took an even bigger blow.Luis Severino will Tony Kemp Jersey mi s the entirety of the 2020 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. Further testing revealed a partial tear in Severino's ulnar collateral ligament, an injury that's caused discomfort in his forearm since the ALCS last October.Now, with Paxton out until at least May and Severino done of the year, the Yankees will need to tap into their depth to cover for the injured starters."This time of year, you always look from within and give opportunities from what you have," general manager Brian Cashman said. "We certainly have a lot of talented, hungry personnel wanting to make a name for themselves or continue their journey. Losing high caliber players like Paxton or Sevy is going to provide that lane and that opportunity for someone to step up."With Opening Day exactly one month away Wednesday, the internal search to replace Severino begins now.Here are some of their options to fill out their rotation.Polished prospectsAmong New York's list of pitching prospects, three names pop out as those who could be rotation candidates this spring: Deivi Garcia, Mike King and Clarke Schmidt.King has the most big-league experience of the bunch, if you can call pitching to nine batters acro s two innings last September experience. He dealt with his own slate of elbow i sues this past season, only pitching in 11 games acro s four levels prior to his MLB debut. He pitched 1 2/3 innings in the Yankees' spring training opener on Saturday, allowing no runs, two hits, one walk and striking out one."My whole mentality when I first came in, and that was before any type of injury, was just making it as hard of a decision as po sible for them to send me down," King said. "I'm going to keep that same mentality throughout the whole spring. And then wherever the cards fall, they fall."Clarke Schmidt is another young option with plenty of potential. The Yankees' Addison Russell Jersey first-round pick in 2017, Schmidt had his first full minor league campaign in 2019 after injuries sidelined him for the majority of his first two years in New York's system.One po sible concern for Schmidt is that he's not yet on the 40-man roster he was among the eight non-roster pitchers invited to Yankees' camp so the team would have to make room for him before calling him up. Nonethele s, the right-hander has caught the coaching staff's eye thus far."I think overall hes been really impre sive this spring and hes got major league quality stuff," new pitching coach Matt Blake explained. "Its just a matter of consistency and repeatability and learning to pitch to better hitters and a tighter strike zone."Scroll to ContinueFinally, Deivi Garca who turns 21 in May is the Yankees' most highly-touted option. He's ranked as the Bombers' No. 1 prospect per .Garcia struggled a Ian Happ Jersey bit in his first taste of Triple-A action in 2019, posting a5.40 ERA acro s 11 total appearances.There's no denying his upside, however, as the right-hander can make the best of 'em swing and mi s."One of the stories to me is the depth of our pitching now and were seeing that in a number of our young arms," skipper Aaron Boone boasted earlier this spring. "Deivi is certainly one of those guys, I feel like hes in a good spot right now." Alec Mills Jersey An extended amount of major league reps would be invaluable for any of those three young arms as they position themselves to be around for a long time. The question is, will they be ready to contribute at a high level next month?Fifth starter by committeeIf the starting staff had remained healthy, these hurlers would've remained in the bullpen. Instead, we could seeing them sneak their way into the rotation.Right-hander Luis Ce sa has made 19 starts acro s four seasons in pinstripes, a touch under a quarter of his career appearances. Similarly, has started eight of his 24 career appearances.The Yankees could also use right-hander Chad Green as an opener, something they asked him to do 15 times last season. In those appearances, Green posted a 3.72 ERA in le s than half of his innings pitched on the season. The strategy worked well enough for them in the regular season that they had him open Game 6 of the ALCS against the Astros, though he allowed three runs in the first and only inning of that appearance.Veterans searching for playing timeFinally, the Yankees could temporarily fill the void before Paxton Adbert Alzolay Jersey 's return with veterans already in the organization. Right-handers Nike Tropeano and Chad Bettis are both at Yankees' camp and have starting experience.Tropeano a local hurler from West Islip in Long Island has spent five seasons in the majors starting games with the Angels and Astros. Bettis, who signed with New York on a minor-league deal at the start of Spring Training, made 92 starts with the Colorado Rockies since his big-league debut in 2013.No matter who the Yankees lean on, Boone is still confident that this club can still fulfill its lofty expectations. "Were good. We got a lot of good pitchers," he explained. "Well kind of figure it out and its an opportunity obviously for more an more people to kick the door in and take advantage of an opportunity. Another knocks here and who wants to take advantage of it? We have a lot of talented people capable of that and well make a good decision regarding it."