Luis Severino

East Injury Notes: Yankees, Braves, Mets

By Connor Byrne | August 8, 2019 at 7:08pm CDT

The latest on a few notable injury situations from the East Coast…

Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton has resumed baseball activities, but the club doesn’t expect him to return before rosters expand in September, George A. King III of the New York Post reports. Stanton has been on the injured list since June 26 with a sprained right knee – the latest ailment in a season packed with them for the former NL MVP. The 29-year-old slugger has collected just 38 plate appearances, but the injury-ravaged Yankees have persevered through his absence and many others en route to the American League’s top record (75-39). Key right-handers Luis Severino and Dellin Betances have accompanied Stanton among this year’s unavailable Yankees, though King explains that both pitchers continue to progress. Shoulder and lat problems have prevented either from throwing a single pitch in the majors this season. They could be crucial late-season reinforcements for a pitching-needy New York club that was unable to make upgrades at last week’s trade deadline.
The Braves still have no timetable for the return of shortstop Dansby Swanson, manager Brian Snitker said Thursday (via David O’Brien of The Athletic). Swanson has been dealing with a heel issue for more than two weeks, which has primarily left short to Johan Camargo in his stead. Unfortunately for the Braves, though, Camargo has put up a year to forget. Since Swanson went down, Camargo has seen his already weak batting line drop to .217/.267/.333 in 222 plate appearances this season. On the other hand, Swanson was hitting a career-high .265/.330/.468 with 17 home runs in 431 PA when he hit the injured list.
The Mets sent outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the 60-day IL Thursday in a procedural move, though he could begin a rehab assignment within a week, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets. After what looked like a breakout 2018 campaign, in which Nimmo slashed .263/.404/.483 with 17 HRs in 535 PA, he has struggled through injuries and poor performance this season. Nimmo hasn’t played since late May because of a bulging disk in his neck, and he limped to a .200/.344/.323 line with three long balls over 161 PA before then. Even without Nimmo, the Mets have gone on an improbable run over the past couple weeks to put themselves firmly in NL wild-card contention. Some of Nimmo’s fellow outfielders, including Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil and J.D. Davis, have helped lead the charge.

Yankees Notes: Severino, Garcia, Gregorius, Voit

By Connor Byrne | August 2, 2019 at 9:57pm CDT

A few items on the Yankees, who defeated archrival Boston on Friday to increase their advantage in the American League East to 11 1/2 over the Red Sox and 7 1/2 above the Rays…

Injured right-hander Luis Severino is on track to begin throwing off a mound next Friday, manager Aaron Boone told James Wagner of the New York Times and other reporters. Severino has been out all season with shoulder and lat injuries, thus depriving the Yankees of their ace. Despite the Yankees’ resounding success as a team, their staff has been shaky without Severino, but general manager Brian Cashman was unable to make a deal to address it prior to the trade deadline. The eventual return of the 25-year-old Severino looks all the more crucial as a result, though he may not have enough time to build up his arm to work in his usual role when he comes back.
Like Severino, fellow righty Deivi Garcia could be a late-season reinforcement for the Yankees’ pitching staff. If the highly touted 20-year-old does make his major league debut this season, he’ll function as a reliever, according to Cashman (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Garcia, a popular target of other clubs prior to the trade deadline, dominated at the Double-A level this season but has endured some difficulty since a a promotion to Triple-A ball three weeks ago. However, that isn’t particularly surprising for someone who was the youngest player in Triple-A when the Yankees moved him up to the level.
Shortstop Didi Gregorius is dealing with a knuckle issue, Wagner relays, and it’s not a sure thing he’ll avoid the injured list. Boone said Gregorius is “hopeful” he’ll stay off the IL, but the 29-year-old did miss the Yankees’ game Friday. With Gregorius down for at least one night, the Yankees had the luxury of plugging starting second baseman Gleyber Torres in at short and using infielder DJ LeMahieu at the keystone. They’ll likely continue with that setup if Gregorius needs an IL stint.
First baseman Luke Voit, whom the team placed on the IL with a sports hernia on Wednesday, should know in roughly a week whether he’ll need surgery, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com tweets. A surgical procedure would put Voit’s season at risk, which would be a terrible pre-playoff development for a New York club that has seen the 28-year-old carry his late-2018 breakout into this season. Voit has slashed .278/.392/.493 (135 wRC+) with 19 home runs in 416 plate appearances. Fortunately for the Yankees, they do boast impressive depth at first with LeMahieu, Edwin Encarnacion and minor leaguer Mike Ford in the fold.

Health Notes: McCann, Castillo, Polanco, Severino

By Jeff Todd | July 16, 2019 at 1:00pm CDT

Veteran Braves backstop Brian McCann hasn’t yet decided on his future but feels great in the present, he tells David O’Brien of The Athletic (subscription link) as part of a lengthy and entertaining chat. The 35-year-old backstop would say only that “we’ll see what happens” when pressed on his intentions for playing beyond the current campaign. It certainly seems like a tempting proposition for McCann, who says he “feel[s] amazing” after undergoing knee surgery last year. While he has had some ups and downs at the plate this season, McCann carries a solid .257/.328/.427 batting line over 198 plate appearances and has been an excellent value for the Braves at $2MM. His ongoing knee health seems to bode well for the organization down the stretch.

More on a few health situations from around the game …

The White Sox announced today that they have activated catcher Welington Castillo. He ended up missing about a month with an oblique strain. It remains to be seen how the Chicago org will allocate playing time, but odds are James McCann will continue to receive the lion’s share of the duties behind the dish. Castillo could conceivably be moved later this month, if only because teams will be looking to stash depth in advance of the single trade deadline, but he won’t hold much appeal given his ugly .196/.289/.364 slash. The veteran backstop is also earning a hefty $7.25MM this year and is owed a $500K buyout on a $8MM club option for 2020. The White Sox may also just hang tight and see if their club can make a surprise run at a Wild Card slot.
Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco won’t bounce back to the majors quite as quickly as had been hoped. As Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes, Polanco was pulled from a rehab contest with left shoulder tightness. For now, the club only intends to give him a brief rest without interrupting the rehab assignment. As Mackey notes, the timing is of some consequence to the Bucs. The club is in a tough spot as the trade deadline approaches, having slipped into the NL Central cellar. It’s arguably positioned to sell a left-handed-hitting outfielder regardless of what else it does — highly paid pending free agent Corey Dickerson seems a particular candidate — but it’ll be tough to pull the trigger on a deal if there’s uncertainly regarding Polanco’s availability.
As expected, Yankees righties Luis Severino and Dellin Betances resumed throwing yesterday, as MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch reports. Indications are that all went well for both hurlers in limited sessions, designed only to begin reintroducing their strained lats to the rigors of the MLB mound. Severino told reporters that he’d be willing to work back in a relief capacity if that’s the organization’s preference. While that’d bring him aboard quicker, it probably isn’t the optimal outcome for a club that has a need for quality rotation pieces and can probably afford to be patient.

Luis Severino, Dellin Betances Cleared To Begin Throwing Programs

By Connor Byrne | July 14, 2019 at 10:24am CDT

Injuries have prevented star Yankees right-handers Luis Severino and Dellin Betances from pitching in 2019, but that could change in the coming weeks. Severino and Betances have been medically cleared to begin throwing programs Monday, per reports from Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News and James Wagner of the New York Times.

The 25-year-old Severino proved himself as one of the game’s top young starters from 2017-18, which led the Yankees to award him a four-year, $40MM extension this past February. The club shut down Severino because of shoulder inflammation in early March, though, and discovered at the beginning of April that he had a Grade 2 lat strain. The expectation then was that Severino would debut in May, which was eventually pushed back to July and then August.

Severino began a throwing program before his latest shutdown, but general manager Brian Cashman revealed he did so before undergoing an MRI. Cashman expressed disappointment in the Yankees for letting Severino start throwing without first going through a more thorough examination. However, now it seems the hard-throwing Severino truly is on the way back.

While Severino was the ace of the Yankees’ staff over the previous two years, he’s far from certain to reprise that role in 2019. Cashman suggested Friday that Severino could max out as a 75-pitch hurler and/or work from the Yankees’ bullpen when he returns in “six or more weeks.” Regardless, Cashman’s sure to continue scouring the trade market for starters leading up to the July 31 deadline.

Like Severino, Betances came into 2019 hoping to build on a recent stretch of outstanding production. Instead, though, the 31-year-old reliever’s season – which happens to be his last under team control – hasn’t gotten off the ground. A bone spur in his shoulder and then a lat injury have prevented Betances from further making a case for a sizable offseason payday. They’ve also robbed the Yankees of their best setup man, though their bullpen has still held its own en route to the AL’s top record (61-33).

Brian Cashman On Yankees’ Search For Rotation Help

By Steve Adams | July 12, 2019 at 11:53am CDT

If there was any doubt that the Yankees are in the market for starting pitching — not that there should have been — general manager Brian Cashman was candid about his team’s pursuit of rotation help in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter links, with audio).

“Yeah, we’re going to target starting pitching, and then if not, continue to try to reinforce the bullpen,” said Cashman. “But the bottom line is just trying to add quality to what we already have. … Houston’s going to get better. Tampa’s going to get better. Boston’s going to get better. Minnesota’s going to get better Oakland’s going to get better. … They’re going to add to their area [of need]. A lot of the players in the mix are in the similar category of quality, so there’s going to be a number of choices out there.”

Cashman noted that the Yankees are in a perhaps beneficial position, having both Luis Severino and Dellin Betances hopefully returning to the club in 2019 as a fallback in the event he is “not able to comfortably match up with somebody” in a trade. That said, the GM also conceded that he expects Severino to need “six or more weeks” before he’s ready to return (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch).

Cashman also acknowledged that 20-year-old right-hander Deivi Garcia, recently promoted to Triple-A, is “pushing himself into the mix” as an option to help at the big league level. The diminutive Garcia, listed at just 5’9″ and 163 pounds, breezed through Double-A opposition with a 3.00 ERA, 14.3 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 0.35 HR/9 and a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate in 51 innings of work prior to his promotion.

Asking prices across the board have been high early in July, as one might expect, and the number of rental starters who are ticketed for free agency at season’s end outweighs the number of controllable names on the market. That won’t lead the Yankees to do anything rash, it seems. Cashman plainly stated that the organization wouldn’t move Garcia — ranked this week as the game’s No. 25 and No. 29 prospect by Baseball Prospectus and ESPN, respectively — for a rental player. The Yankees are already known to be averse to moving Clint Frazier in such a deal, and that line of thinking presumably applies to the organization’s other top prospects as well.

Over the past few weeks, the Yankees have been connected to most of the top trade candidates on the market, including Madison Bumgarner (link), Trevor Bauer (link), Zack Wheeler (link) and Marcus Stroman (link).

Luis Severino Reportedly Out Until At Least Late August

By Connor Byrne | June 30, 2019 at 8:25am CDT

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

By Connor Byrne | June 29, 2019 at 5:31pm CDT

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.]

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

By Mark Polishuk | May 5, 2019 at 10:09pm CDT

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

By Steve Adams | April 25, 2019 at 1:59pm CDT

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

By Jeff Todd | April 18, 2019 at 8:08pm CDT

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.

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