ARE THE YANKEES PITCHING PROBLEMS COMING TO AN END?

All I can say is THANK GOODNESS it is now September, because August just plain sucked. I've had pitching paranoia for a while now and I think it is starting to come to an end....at least I hope it is. We need some good news and I think we are finally getting close. 

The Yankees have 11 pitchers on the Injured list and two of those are close to returning and one may have dodged a serious injury. We have some good updates and hopefully....

1.  Luis Severino

He's on the 60-day Injured List now but says he is ready and waiting for the Yankees to give him the ball. Aaron Boone confirmed this week that Severino will start a rehab assignment on Friday. They will probably give him two or three starts before he gets back in a big league game but considering his injury history it makes sense. I'd really like to see Severino help this team finish out the regular season strong, but his history scares me. We need him, but we need him to be healthy also and rushing him back from a lat strain is not the answer. Hopefully they give him a couple of innings of work this week and let him ramp up and build up some arm strength.

2. Nestor Cortes

My attention is all on Nasty Nestor next week. According to Boone, he is on track to throw a bullpen on Wednesday and then throw live in Tampa on Saturday. If all goes well the Yankees could activate him and get him back into the rotation. We've all been excited about Cortes this season, he's been fund to watch and a stabilizing piece to this team. We've been concerned about his workload all season, his 131 innings pitched this season is a career high for him. We need him rested and healthy for the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs.

3. Jameson Taillon

The Yankees may get lucky here. I grimaced when I saw that line drive hit his forearm but thankfully X-rays are negative for a fracture and he was diagnosed with a right forearm contusion. Taillon says his forearm is already feeling better and swelling has subsided a little. Boone says they are going to take it day-by-day with Taillon but they are hopeful he won't miss any time. 

We've had all sorts of pitching problems and hopefully our luck is finally changing. Now if we could just get our pitching back, some our heavy hitters and give Gerrit Cole his mojo back we would have a lot more to celebrate.

Here's to crossing our fingers and getting some more good news soon.....we are overdue.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj