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Luis Severino

Luis Severino Reportedly Out Until At Least Late August

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An MRI this week showed that Yankees ace Luis Severino’s injured lat is 90 percent healed, but that doesn’t mean he’s closing in on his 2019 debut. While the hope was Severino would return sometime in July, he’ll be out until at least late August, George A. King III of the New York Post reports. Any further setbacks could put Severino’s season in jeopardy, as he’ll need to participate in a full spring training (six weeks) before making his way back to the majors.

With Severino currently battling lat soreness, general manager Brian Cashman admitted to Joel Sherman of the New York Post and other reporters Sunday that the team “clearly” should have made the right-hander undergo an MRI before starting a throwing program. Cashman added that he still expects Severino to pitch this year, but the GM once again indicated he’s on the hunt for starting pitching with a month left before the July 31 trade deadline. However, New York has “heard ridiculous requests from teams willing to trade,” King writes.

Three weeks ago, before Severino’s newest setback, the Yankees were reportedly showing interest in Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner and Blue Jays righty Marcus Stroman. They’re also said to like Mets righty Zack Wheeler, who looks more and more likely to leave Queens with his club in free-fall mode. However, whether the Mets would trade him to their crosstown rivals is another matter. Tigers southpaw Matthew Boyd and Indians righty Trevor Bauer represent a couple other prominent hurlers who have been popular in trade speculation.

Any starter the Yankees could acquire in the coming weeks will have a hard time matching what a healthy Severino provides. The 25-year-old flamethrower is coming off back-to-back seasons as one of the majors’ top starters, including when he fired 191 1/3 innings of 3.39 ERA/2.95 FIP ball with 10.35 K/9 and 2.16 BB/9 in 2018. Even without any help from Severino this season, the Yankees have raced to the AL’s best record (53-28), but whether they’d be able to get through the playoffs without him is certainly in question. After all, no one from the Yankees’ 2019 rotation has come close to delivering ace-caliber production.

AL East Notes: Stroman, Yankees, Voit, Rays, Castillo

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Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman left his start against the Royals in the fifth inning Saturday with “discomfort,” Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets. Stroman’s final pitch – a two-seam fastball – clocked in at 89.5 mph, down about 3 mph from his typical velocity, per Davidi. While Stroman’s status isn’t yet known, a serious injury would be a rather unfortunate turn of events for Toronto leading up to the July 31 trade deadline. Stroman, if healthy, figures to end up as one of the best starters on the move over the next month. [UPDATE: Stroman has a left shoulder pectoral cramp, Scott Mitchell of TSN was among those to report. He won’t miss any time, manager Charlie Montoyo told Davidi and others.]

More from the AL East…

  • Yankees first baseman Luke Voit exited the team’s London-based slugfest against Boston on Saturday with tightness in his core muscle, according to the Bombers (via ESPN.com). Voit told reporters (including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com) that he hopes to avoid the injured list, but the team will know more about his status Sunday. The 28-year-old collected four hits in as many attempts prior to his exit Saturday, upping his 2019 line to .280/.393/.509 (140 wRC+) with 17 home runs in 349 plate appearances. That would obviously be difficult production for the red-hot Yankees to lose, especially considering they may have just seen fellow slugger Giancarlo Stanton go down until at least August. The Yankees replaced Voit on Saturday with Gio Urshela and moved Urshela to third base for the sizzling DJ LeMahieu, who shifted to first.
  • Sticking with the Yankees, ace righty Luis Severino is still at least five to seven days from throwing, George A. King III of the New York Post reports. Severino has been shelved for almost three months with a lat strain – an injury that’s 90 percent healed, according to King. However, Severino’s still battling some soreness in the area. There has been plenty of speculation about the Yankees acquiring a starter (perhaps Stroman) in the next month, but they’d likely benefit more from a healthy Severino than any other hurler they could land in the coming weeks.
  • The Rays aren’t ruling out a return before the All-Star break for injured reliever Diego Castillo, manager Kevin Cash said Saturday (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). The club placed Castillo on the IL last Sunday with right shoulder inflammation. That came on the heels of a few rough appearances for the flamethrowing Castillo, whose ERA was 2.05 as recently as June 11 but now sits at 3.93.

AL Injury Notes: Severino, Yankees, Eloy, Herrera, Salazar

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Yankees general manager Brian Cashman provided some updates on several of his injured players during an appearance today on The Front Office on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM.  (You can listen to some of the audio here, while ESPN.com’s Coley Harvey has the rundown.)  Perhaps the most pressing item is the status of Luis Severino, as Cashman said that the right-hander isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star break.  Severino has yet to pitch this season, first going on the IL with rotator cuff inflammation, and then suffering a lat strain while already sidelined.  That second injury led to a six-week shutdown from throwing, putting Severino on the shelf until roughly May 20.  Since Severino missed much of Spring Training dealing with his initial shoulder problem, it appears as though the Yankees are essentially restarting the righty’s preseason prep in order to get him fully ready for the second half.

Here’s more on the Yankees and some other injury situations from around the American League…

  • Cashman said that Clint Frazier (sprained ankle) will return to the 25-man roster on Monday.  The club is “hopeful” Aaron Hicks (back) is tentatively slated for minor league rehab games this week and could be activated from the IL to make his season debut next weekend, plus Giancarlo Stanton (bicep, shoulder injuries) could start his own minor league rehab stint next weekend.  In longer-term injuries, Cashman ruled Dellin Betances out until “sometime in June,” as Betances is still recovering from a bone spur in his throwing shoulder.  Betances recently received a cortisone shot and will start throwing again on Monday, the GM said.  The news is better for Didi Gregorius (Tommy John surgery), who is set to complete his throwing program this week and may begin extended Spring Training games within the next two weeks.  For even more injured Yankees, Cashman didn’t have anything new to report on Aaron Judge, Greg Bird, or Jacoby Ellsbury.
  • Eloy Jimenez’s high ankle sprain was seemingly going to put the young slugger out of action until mid-May, though MLB.com’s Scott Merkin reports (Twitter link) that Jimenez will now travel with the White Sox for their four-game series in Cleveland beginning on Monday.  As Merkin describes things, it is a “much much better scenario….[than] it first looked upon injury.”  It seems as though Jimenez will be able to avoid a minor league rehab stint and could end up spending only the 10-day minimum on the IL, though the Sox will obviously be as cautious as possible with their top prospect.
  • In other White Sox injury news, Kelvin Herrera left today’s game due to back stiffness and is day-to-day, manager Rick Renteria told Merkin and other reporters.  Herrera may not miss any substantial amount of time, as Renteria believes “it’s going to be something very light in terms of injury.”  It’s likely the back issue contributed to Herrera’s rough outing today, as he allowed five runs in just two-third of an inning against the Red Sox.  Prior to today’s ugliness, Herrera had been off to a nice start with Chicago, with a 2.76 ERA, 8.8 K/9, and 4.00 K/BB rate in his first 16 1/3 frames of the season.
  • Danny Salazar has hit another setback, as Indians manager Terry Francona told media (including the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Paul Hoynes) that Salazar had been shut down “a couple of days” after experiencing some soreness during a bullpen session last week.  Salazar missed all of 2018 dealing with shoulder problems that eventually required surgery, and he has yet to pitch this season as he makes his way back to full health.  Even before the shutdown, there was no timetable in place for when Salazar might yet return to the Tribe’s 25-man roster.

Yankees Acquire Cameron Maybin

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1:59pm: The Yankees announced that they have acquired Maybin from the Indians and immediately selected his contract to the Major League roster. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Luis Severino was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL.

11:31am: MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Yankees are sending cash to the Indians in return for Maybin.

11:06am: The Yankees have acquired veteran outfielder Cameron Maybin from the Indians, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports (Twitter link). He’d been with Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate after signing a minor league contract and was not on the club’s 40-man roster.

It seems quite plausible, however, that Maybin could be added to the big league roster in New York. The Yankees placed Clint Frazier on the injured list this morning and are also without Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Jacoby Ellsbury, leaving them with an outfield mix comprised of Brett Gardner, Mike Tauchman and Tyler Wade.

Maybin, 32, has opened the season in Triple-A Columbus with a .229/.397/.292 batting line through 63 trips to the plate. He is, of course, a seasoned big league veteran who has logged parts of 12 seasons at the MLB level and compiled a career-long .254/.322/.368 slash line. Most recently, Maybin split the 2018 season between the Marlins and Mariners, hitting .249/.326/.336 with four homers and 10 steals in 384 plate appearances. He spent Spring Training with the Giants organization, but poor performance and a DUI arrest while in camp unsurprisingly led the Giants to move in another direction.

Defensively, Maybin isn’t the player that he once was, but he still boasts well above-average speed and has ample experience playing all three outfield spots. Last year’s 28.5 ft/sec average sprint speed, as measured by Statcast, ranked Maybin in the 84th percentile of all big leaguers.

The move seems likely to be a short-term boost for the Yankees’ outfield depth. If the team can manage to get each of Hicks, Judge, Stanton and Frazier healthy, there’d be little room with Gardner and Tauchman also in the fold. And if injuries to any of the Yankees’ key outfield assets prove to ultimately be more severe than initially feared, it’s likely that the New York front office would pursue a more impactful upgrade down the line.

Yankees Injury Notes: Severino, Andujar, Sanchez, Stanton, Tulo, Hicks

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Injuries are the story thus far for the Yankees, whose sluggish start is explained in no small part by a dizzying barrage of maladies. One of those has proven particularly confounding, as young starter Luis Severino came down with a lat strain while rehabbing a shoulder injury. As James Wagner of the New York Times reports, the investigation into the origins of Severino’s health problems has become a tale of its own. At this point, the team isn’t sure how that problem popped up; GM Brian Cashman says it wasn’t detected in the imaging that identified the initial shoulder problem.

In any event, there’s still five weeks to go until Severino can potentially start to throw once again. While he and the team wait for that important development, they’ll hope to welcome back a few other players. The latest …

  • The Yanks are at least open to considering utilizing Miguel Andujar as something other than a third baseman, manager Aaron Boone indicated to reporters including Wagner (Twitter link). Andujar’s shoulder injury hasn’t limited him much with the bat, but has made throwing difficult. Even if he’s able to avoid a surgical procedure, then, a return to the hot corner may be difficult. In that event, it’s possible he’d be utilized in the DH slot or perhaps even at first. Those possibilities aren’t yet being discussed in earnest, with Boone saying the club will wait to see how Andujar’s throwing progresses, but it now seems there are some new approaches on the table.
  • Backstop Gary Sanchez is still on track for a quick return to the active roster, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch writes. In fact, with his calf injury evidently progressing well, he may be back when first eligible on Sunday. That’d be a nice boost for the lineup; the 26-year-old catcher had been back to his slugging ways before incurring the injury.
  • Outfielder Giancarlo Stanton also seems to be showing signs of nearing a return from his biceps injury, though he’s certainly still further off. Stanton has taken cuts off a pitching machine, as Hoch tweeted yesterday, though it’s still a bit uncertain when he’ll be fully ready for activation. It seems possible, but not certain, that Stanton could return before the club wraps up a lengthy West Coast road trip on May 9th.
  • Several other players are also progressing, but on less-certain timelines. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is also working back from a calf strain that is a bit more significant than Sanchez’s. (Via Hoch; Twitter link.) He’s participating in baseball activities and says he’s feeling good, but there’s still no indication when he’ll be ready. Outfielder Aaron Hicks is also engaged in a variety of baseball functions but hasn’t yet taken batting practice to test out his ailing back. He’s hoping to do so this week, Wagner tweets, which would perhaps clear the way for a rehab assignment.

Luis Severino Shut Down Six Weeks Due To Lat Strain

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Luis Severino’s recent MRI revealed a Grade 2 lat strain that will cause the righty to be shut down from throwing for the next six weeks, the Yankees announced to reporters (Twitter link via Newsday’s Erik Boland). The lat injury is a new development that is unrelated to the previous bout of shoulder inflammation from which Severino was working his way back. This new injury, it seems, was sustained while Severino was rehabbing his shoulder.

As has been well documented by now, the Yankees have a staggering 11 players on the injured list, though it’s arguable that Severino is the most vital of the bunch. The recently extended righty was expected to front the rotation in 2019 but now seems destined to miss the majority of the season’s first half. A six-week shutdown would mean that Severino wouldn’t even resume throwing until the latter third of May, and at that point he’d need to completely rebuild arm strength sufficient to handle a starter’s workload at the big league level. Even in a best-case scenario, there’s little hope of Severino making his first start of the season before the middle of June.

With Severino and CC Sabathia on the shelf, the Yankees have been leaning on James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ as the top three options in the starting rotation. Right-handers Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga have been the preferred options at the back of the rotation to this point in the young season, though the Yankees also picked up Gio Gonzalez on surprising a minor league contract late in Spring Training.

The prolonged absence of Severino will do nothing to quell connections between the Yankees and yet-unsigned Dallas Keuchel — the clear-cut top option remaining on the open market. Keuchel’s asking price has reportedly begun to come down recently, though signing him would still come with both luxury tax concerns and draft penalties; specifically, the Yankees would pay a 32 percent tax on any dollars spent on Keuchel and would forfeit their second-highest draft pick and $500K of international bonus money by signing the 2015 AL Cy Young winner.

If the Yankees opt to remain internal, it’ll mean continued looks for German and Loaisiga, plus a potential opportunity for the veteran Gonzalez and/or young righty Chance Adams.

Luis Severino Headed For MRI

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Yankees starter Luis Severino is slated to undergo an MRI and further medical examination, manager Aaron Boone tells reporters including George A. King III of the New York Post (via Twitter). Severino has been on the injured list since the start of the season for inflammation in his rotator cuff.

Severino’s rehab was “stalled” over the past week, as Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News puts it (Twitter link), with Severino not yet feeling up to mound work. The lack of progress was evidently worrying enough that Dr. Christopher Ahmad — a noted surgeon and the Yankees’ head physician — will take a closer look.

Notably, there’s no indication that Severino has experienced new discomfort or a specific setback. That’s the silver lining. But this is obviously a suboptimal development for a club that has been racked by injuries and would prefer to have Severino leading the rotation.

The hope all along has been that Severino would rest up a bit, work through a progression, and make it back to the MLB hill by early May. The timeline hasn’t yet changed significantly, but it seems he’s now behind schedule. And it remains to be seen what the imaging will show.

Luis Severino Likely Out Until May

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Yankees general manager Brian Cashman provided a more concrete timetable for right-hander Luis Severino to return from his current shoulder troubles Friday, revealing that the organization doesn’t expect Severino to pitch in a big league game until sometime in May (Twitter link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Severino is currently in the midst of a two-week shutdown stemming from inflammation in his right shoulder’s rotator cuff. He’s expected to begin playing catch next week.

There’s more optimistic news surrounding fellow starter CC Sabathia, as Cashman indicated that the veteran left-hander could pitch in big league games in the month of April (via Hoch). Beyond his recovery from offseason knee surgery and an angioplasty procedure, Sabathia is still facing a five-game suspension for throwing at now-former Rays catcher Jesus Sucre late in the 2018 season. Cashman suggested that the team may carry Sabathia on the Opening Day roster, which would allow the clock on said suspension to begin sooner.

Given today’s updates from the general manager, it seems that the Yankees will spend at least a month of the season patching together the rotation behind healthy starters James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ. The Yankees have depth in the form of Domingo German, Jonathan Loaisiga, Chance Adams and the out-of-options Luis Cessa, and the frequent off-days baked into the early-season schedule should aid the team as well. The Yankees (like all clubs) won’t technically need a fifth starter for the first couple of weeks because of those off days, which could at least help them patch the gap until Sabathia is ready to take the hill.

Still, the timetable on Severino is an unwelcome one — particularly if there are any setbacks or lingering complications from his current shoulder issue. While the Yankees do have the depth to navigate the early absences of Severino and Sabathia, they’ll also continue to be speculatively linked to remaining free agents such as Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Keuchel until that pair has come off the boar and signed with a new organization. Either hurler would be a boon to the projected Opening Day rotation, but signing either would also give the Yankees six legitimate MLB starters for what figures to be five rotation spots if the entire group were to become healthy at the same time. There are also luxury-tax implications to consider; the Yankees’ current contracts bring their luxury-tax ledger to $226MM, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, meaning they would pay a 32 percent tax on any theoretical free-agent signing.

Luis Severino Shut Down For Two Weeks Due To Shoulder Inflammation

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2:53pm: The MRI showed inflammation to Severino’s rotator cuff, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch tweets. He’ll rest for at least two weeks while undergoing treatment, including injections and anti-inflammatories, before picking up a ball. That’ll likely knock Severino out for Opening Day, though it seems the broader prognosis is still generally optimistic.

1:26pm: Severino is going to go in for an MRI, skipper Aaron Boone says (via Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News, on Twitter).

12:39pm: The Yankees announced today that prized righty Luis Severino would miss his scheduled spring outing. He had begun to warm up but experienced “discomfort” in his pitching shoulder, per the team.

The level of concern is not yet apparent, but the 25-year-old is due for a closer look from medical personnel. Per the team’s announcement, Severino “will undergo further evaluation this afternoon.”

Severino is a key piece for the Yanks, who’ll need all their best players at full strength to do battle with the other American League super-teams. The club’s starting five is set, presuming they all make it through camp unscathed, with the next layer of depth consisting of 40-man members Luis Cessa, Domingo German, Jonathan Loaisiga, and Chance Adams along with non-roster invitees Drew Hutchison and David Hale.

No matter the outlook, Severino is earning a guaranteed $40MM under the contract he and the team struck last month. He has been one of the game’s most productive starters over the past two campaigns, working to a 3.18 ERA with 10.5 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 over 384 2/3 frames.

Quick Hits: Giants, Harper, Iglesias, Severino

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Giants frontman Farhan Zaidi is still exploring trade opportunities, per Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). The recent additions of Gerardo Parra, Craig Gentry, and Yangervis Solarte, after all, aren’t likely to form the backbone of the next World Series champion in the Bay. Still, they fit as puzzle pieces in Zaidi’s strategy to build the organization’s depth while maintaining future roster flexibility. They’re particularly high on Solarte, whom they see as a switch-hitter with above-average contact skills and 15-20 homer potential. His ability to play all over the field should keep him getting regular at-bats, Crowley writes in the Mercury News, and the Giants are optimistic about the potential returns. Per his word, Zaidi has focused on building depth and flexibility thus far, extending more than 20 invites to major league camp and avoiding any long-term roster obligations. Of course, Bryce Harper remains at large, and the Giants have emerged as a potential suitor. One would think Harper would be the type of foundational piece who could buoy the type of depth Zaidi is amassing, but Zaidi knows that even a talent like Harper isn’t a cure-all. For now, Harper remains one avenue among many open to Zaidi. In that sense, he fits Zaidi’s plan perfectly. Let’s check in on a couple other notes from around the league…

  • New Reds manager David Bell won’t assign the “closer” label to Raisel Iglesias, as the Reds are buying the new fad gripping bullpens league-wide of role fluidity, per the Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans. Put simply, the Reds plan on using Iglesias to help them win games. If that manifests itself through an appearance in the 7th or 8th, so be it. Still, the Reds anticipate Iglesias getting the bulk of save opportunities. Jared Hughes, David Hernandez and Amir Garrett could be called upon to close out games when Iglesias is unavailable. Traditional thinking has kept bullpen arms in well-defined roles in part because of the supposed psychological benefits of “knowing your role” – otherwise known as clear expectations. Bell and the Reds staff plan on communicating often with the bullpen crew, making sure that they are aware of their roles, even as those roles prove more dynamic than in year’s past.
  • It’s probably better for players overall if Luis Severino and Aaron Nola go year-to-year through the arbitration process, writes Joel Sherman of the NY Post, but therein lies the quandary for players weighing the risk/reward of securing their own long-term futures against market growth. While setting high arbitration annuals and reaching free agency at the earliest possible moment might technically be the best thing for the player market overall, Severino’s prudent personal decision to lock-in the first significant payday of his career makes a lot of sense from a personal standpoint. His future value was always going to be vulnerable to injury or further uneven performance such as his struggles at the end of last season. The competing interests of individual security v. collective wealth is a disadvantage the players’ union will face continually in the lead up to CBA negotiations in 2021. Yasmani Grandal represents the best recent example of the other side of this issue, as he took a one-year deal over multi-year offers in part to keep establishing higher AAVs for catchers. 
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