TAMPA, Fla. — The Yankees said they are being extra cautious with Luis Severino because of his recent history.
Severino is penciled in as the Yankees’ second starter of the season. The right-hander experienced “general soreness” after his start in Clearwater on Friday, so the Yankees decided to push him back and have him throw a bullpen on his fifth day rather than face the Blue Jays in a spring training game Wednesday night.
“He was a little sore coming out of his last one. So we just want to push it back a little bit,” Aaron Boone said Tuesday. “And then if we push it back and pitch him we get in a situation where we’re pitching him on the ninth day [in the regular season] or pitching him short to get another outing in so we just decided to go bullpen and then he’ll pitch Saturday.
“Because then he pitches here, game two [of the regular season],” the Yankee manager added. “So he’ll bullpen tomorrow, pitch Saturday, and now we’ll line him up to go [April 8].”
Boone said his tentative rotation is obviously ace Gerrit Cole on opening day April 7 at Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox. Severino for April 8 against the Red Sox and lefty Jordan Montgomery on April 9 in the series finale. Jameson Taillon will start the series against the Blue Jays at the Stadium April 11. Nestor Cortes is penciled in as the fifth starter. With a scheduled off day between the first and second days, the Yankees could go back to Cole for the fifth game and push Cortes back to the sixth game.
That all depends, obviously, on the next turn through the rotation going smoothly.
“With a shortened spring, we’re just making sure we’re checking all the boxes and stuff,” Boone said. “That’s kind of the plan right now, but again, I don’t want to announce anything as official but that’s kind of how it’s lining up.”
Of course, that all depends on the Yankees getting through the next week healthy. The concern about Severino is natural considering his injury history. He missed most of the 2019 season with a lat tear and all of the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season after Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament. His return in 2021 was delayed by a hamstring injury and a tight shoulder.
This soreness stemmed from him ramping up his workload on Friday, Boone said. Severino struggled, throwing 49 pitches against the Phillies that day.
“I feel like it is general and us being cautious,” Boone said. “But anytime I say that about a pitcher, especially one of his stature and what he’s been through, yeah, it gives you a little bit [of pause]. ... I feel like it’s something that resolves itself though.”
Severino admitted he was having a hard time finding his release point working out of the stretch. That resulted in allowing three runs on four hits, walking four and striking out none in 1 2/3 innings of work. Severino said he felt physically fine on the mound after the work Friday and felt like he had time to work out the fine tuning he needed before the season.
Boone was not worried about his performance in spring training.
“I feel like it’s his health and getting him up to a tolerance and dialing in his execution a little bit more,” Boone said. “I think we’re all dealing with that a little bit. In the shortened spring with all these guys.”
When Severino signed a four-year, $40 million extension deal in spring training of 2019, it seemed like the ultimate team-friendly contract. He was a two-time All Star, a Cy Young candidate in 2018 and just 25 years old. He was scratched from a spring training start a little later that year and he’s pitched just over 27 innings in the big leagues since.
