FORT MYERS, Fla. -- When Jake Odorizzi sees the injury attrition already seizing the Yankees at this point in the spring, he's reminded of the most important goal for the Twins' starters ahead of the regular season: Just stay healthy.

The Yankees revealed on Tuesday that right-hander Luis Severino will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the entire 2020 season, leaving the Bronx Bombers without a dominant pairing with Gerrit Cole atop their rotation. James Paxton is already expected to be out until May after undergoing back surgery, while Domingo Germán is suspended under Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy.

With the Astros' starting rotation also featuring a host of younger options behind Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke, the recent injury news could open the door for the Twins and their bolstered starting depth to, suddenly, be one of the deeper groups in the American League on Opening Day to go with the record-setting "Bomba Squad" lineup.

But Odorizzi said after throwing two innings in the Twins' 5-4, split-squad loss to the Phillies on Wednesday that it was too early in the season to speculate on how much the Twins' rotation had closed the gap on the elite rotations of the game based on their offseason acquisitions and personal improvement.

"Where we finished last year as a pitching staff was pretty admirable, but there’s room for improvement on a lot of fronts," Odorizzi said. "We’ve brought in guys who have performed pretty well for a long time, so we’re looking to improve as a whole. There’s going to be instances, stretches where hitters don’t hit, and that’s just the nature of baseball, so we have to be able to win those tight games as well as blowouts."

And the Twins' experienced pitching depth, bolstered by the additions of Homer Bailey and Kenta Maeda, will help them a lot less if they can't also get through this spring mostly intact before the returns of Michael Pineda and Rich Hill in May and June/July, respectively.

"As a collective group, we do a lot of good things in terms of a training room standpoint," Odorizzi said. "Everyone gets in there, gets treatment, stays on top of everything, stays ahead of everything. We just need to avoid that injury bug, because that, in Spring Training, can be kind of a crippling thing where you have one of those Severino instances or Paxton."

The Twins appear to be in relatively good shape on the pitching side for now, and they're being exceedingly cautious with the recoveries of Max Kepler, Marwin Gonzalez, Jorge Polanco and Byron Buxton in an effort to have their key pieces ready for Opening Day. With expectations in Twins Territory higher than ever, simply fielding the best team possible to take advantage of the window of contention will be half the battle.

"There’s a lot of blows that can happen to you that are kind of morale-killers, and you don’t want that to happen to you," Odorizzi said.

More Larnach power
Trevor Larnach homered for the second time in as many games with a two-run shot to left-center field in the sixth inning of the Twins' 10-8 split-squad win over the Rays in Port Charlotte, Fla.

Larnach started again at designated hitter, as he hasn't been playing in the outfield yet this spring due to very minor soreness in his right (throwing) shoulder stemming back to poor throwing mechanics last season. Larnach said Tuesday that he has progressed to throwing at 200 feet. The 22-year-old is ranked the No. 4 prospect (according to MLB Pipeline) in the Twins' organization.

Kirilloff singles in spring debut
Outfielder Alex Kirilloff, the No. 2 prospect in the organization, made his spring debut on Wednesday vs. the Phillies and went 1-for-2 with an RBI single in the fifth inning following a sliding catch in right field in the fourth. Kirilloff and other top prospects, particularly in the outfield, are expected to see additional opportunities early in camp until Gonzalez and Buxton are ready to assume more regular roles. Kirilloff got a late start to spring play after his wife, Jordan, gave birth to the couple's first child, Penelope Lee Kirilloff, last Thursday.

Odds and ends
• Hill is playing catch from 75 feet and will soon extend to 90 feet as part of his continued recovery from a "primary repair" surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament in his left (pitching) elbow. He hopes to remain on track for a June return.

• Shortstop Wander Javier made his first appearance of the spring on the Major League side as a defensive replacement in the sixth inning. Javier was ranked the No. 6 prospect in the Twins' organization but had a tough 2019 with Class A Cedar Rapids, hitting .177/.278/.323 in 300 at-bats.

Up next
The competition for the fifth rotation spot will roll on with Randy Dobnak's second start of the spring, which will come Thursday against the Blue Jays at 12:07 p.m. CT in Dunedin, Fla. Dobnak struck out four in two hitless innings as the Twins' starter in an exhibition win over the University of Minnesota last Friday.