Nathan Eovaldi‘s regular season is over, reports Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. The right-hander will miss the next four weeks due to inflammation in his right elbow — an injury for which he’s already received a platelet-rich plasma injection. Eovaldi won’t throw for two weeks following that injection.

Asked if Eovaldi would be available to pitch in the postseason, general manager Brian Cashman expressed some uncertainty. “Until he goes through a successful rehab, you can’t automatically assume anything,” the GM explained. “…He has been a nice asset for us. We’ve just got to give it a time out now and make sure that we put him in a position to be that asset again. Hopefully it will be this year.”

Losing Eovaldi, even for a relatively short spell, is a substantial hit for the Yankees, who are locked in a tight race with the Blue Jays for the AL East crown. The team does have the depth to replace Eovaldi, as it can turn to a five-man rotation consisting of Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, Luis Severino, Ivan Nova and CC Sabathia. However, Sabathia has struggled all season long, and Nova has suffered through poor results over his past handful of starts (6.21 ERA in six outings) in his return from Tommy John surgery. Eovaldi, on the other hand, has a solid, if unspectacular 3.67 ERA in the season’s second half. He’s been much tougher to hit and upped his K/9 rate in the second half (6.5 to 8.0), but he’s also seen his control take a turn for the worse.

Acquired this offseason in the Martin Prado trade with the Marlins, Eovaldi has delivered a 4.20 ERA with 7.1 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a career-best 52.2 percent ground-ball rate. He’s due for a raise on his $3.3MM salary this offseason and can be controlled through the 2017 campaign via the arbitration process.

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