Luis Severino is out of the rotation for now with a mild right triceps strain.
Both manager Joe Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman declined to guarantee the struggling right-hander would return to his spot when he is healthy.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Cashman said before the Yankees defeated the White Sox, 2-1, on Saturday, one day after Severino lasted just 2 ²/₃ innings in the worst start of his career.
“We said before he was injured if his best interest is in Triple-A, we’d do that,” Cashman said. “He’s injured right now. He’s gonna have a rehab start, and we’ll see where he goes after that.”
Severino’s issues have extended far beyond Friday’s clunker. He has surrendered four or more runs in each of his past four outings and has not resembled the pitcher he was when he shot up the Yankees’ farm system and provided a jolt to their rotation over the final two months of last season.
“He’s not pitching anywhere close to his capability,” Cashman said. “The most important thing is to try to get him going.”
Easier said than done.
“He’s throwing strikes, but not locating his strikes where needs to locate them,” Girardi said. “To me, that’s first and foremost what we have to get ironed out. Maybe five to seven days [off] will help, [but] my preference is that he’s still pitching.”
The manager reiterated Severino’s ability to throw 97 mph indicated he wasn’t injured before Friday. Severino said he felt something during the second inning, but that wasn’t what led to him getting hit hard.
Though there are several candidates to fill in for Severino in his next start, none matches his potential. Cashman mentioned Chad Green, called up Saturday, as well as Luis Cessa, who pitched well for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday night.
It remains to be seen if Severino winds up joining them when he returns.
“Let’s get him healthy first, and then we’ll make decisions on what the next step is for him,” Girardi said. “The plan right now is for him not to pick up a baseball for five to seven days and go from there.”
The 22-year-old’s fall has been startling, and the Yankees insisted again Saturday his elbow was not an issue before he was pulled Friday.
“His arm strength’s there, but his stuff is not there,” Cashman said. “He doesn’t have command of his fastball. He doesn’t have command of his secondary pitches. His changeup and slider are inconsistent. It’s not health-related.”
Instead, the Yankees believe he simply has lost his groove.
“Especially for a young guy, he’s gotten off and has had trouble getting on line again,” Cashman said. “There’s times you saw [in spring training] when he was dynamite and everything was working.”
That hasn’t been the case during the regular season, which is why he is 0-6 with a 7.46 ERA. He hasn’t had command of his fastball for stretches, either.
“At times, it leaves you naked,” Cashman said. “It leaves you with one pitch that you’re not even commanding, and you can’t be that way in the big leagues. It’s just a stretch of really trying to find himself, and at this level, that’s something that’s not easy to do.”