Yankees Severino Hicks
Miguel Andujar #41 of the New York Yankees is showered by teammates Aaron Hicks #31,Luis Severino #40,Gleyber Torres #25 and Ronald Torreyes #74 of the New York Yankees after he drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium on May 4, 2018 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The New York Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians 7-6. Elsa/Getty Images

This is not the way the New York Yankees wanted to start the 2019 MLB season. Ten days after learning Luis Severino would be shut down for at least two weeks because of rotator cuff inflammation, general manager Brian Cashman has announced that the ace will miss all of April.

Yankees’ Opening Day is set for March 28 against the Baltimore Orioles. They’ll play 29 games before May 1.

Two-fifths of New York’s rotation won’t be ready for the start of the season, though Severino is expected to miss the most time. C.C. Sabathia is a little behind schedule after undergoing a knee procedure and angioplasty this offseason.

Sabathia still has to serve a five-game suspension that dates back to the 2018 regular season. The veteran is expected to be ready at some point in April.

Masahiro Tanaka will replace Severino as the Yankees’ Opening Day starter. Luis Cessa, Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga are all competing to earn temporary spots in the rotation.

New York has been hoping for Severino to bounce-back from a poor second half of last season. He looked to be turning into one of MLB’s top stars when he finished third in the 2017 AL Cy Young race and had a 14-2 record before the 2018 All-Star Break.

Severino signed a four-year, $40 million contract early in spring training, buying out his first year of free agency.

Aaron Hicks also signed a contract extension during spring training. A year before the center fielder was set to hit the open market, he inked a seven-year, $70 million deal.

Just like Severino, Hicks could miss the first game of his new contract. The outfielder has been dealing with a sore lower back, and Cashman admitted that Hicks’ status for game No.1 of 162 is now in doubt.

Hicks received a cortisone injection Monday to relieve the pain in his back, which has prevented him from playing in an exhibition game since March 1. He has two hits in nine spring-training at-bats.

Hicks is no stranger to injuries. His 137 games last season were a career-high, and he was limited to 88 games in the previous season. Hicks hit a career-high 27 home runs last season.

Clint Frazier could be an outfield option for New York, but he’s hitting just .167 this spring after spending most of last season in the minor leagues or dealing with concussion symptoms.

Jacoby Ellsbury might not be close to returning after missing all of last year.

Giancarlo Stanton could abandon his usual DH role and join Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner in the outfield for a few games later in the month.

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