German and Loáisiga hope to help while Severino heals

Brian Cashman wishes he had a better answer for the question that has seared the Yankees’ organization: how did Luis Severino suffer a grade-2 lat strain while on the injured list? This is more than a mere curiosity – it’s a miniature crisis for the Bombers, who’ll be without their ace for up to six weeks. And even then there’s no guarantee Severino will again be the velocity machine that flattened everything in his path.

That’s why Cashman is so flummoxed by the predicament currently facing the pitching staff. Not only have the Yankees lost their hardest thrower but – barring a panic-signing of free agent Dallas Keuchel – it’s likely youngsters Domingo German and Jonathan Loáisiga will be counted on to fill in the void.

That’s a tall order for any substitute, let alone a kid. Severino and that high-90s fastball was a symbol of the Yankees’ dominance in 2018 – a message-sender who could deflate opposing lineups just by unleashing that fastball.

When Severino was on, the Yankees were virtually unbeatable, but when he faltered the letdown had a corrosive effect on the entire roster. The Bombers never recovered from the 16-1 flogging they suffered at the hands of the Red Sox in Game 3 of the Division Series last October. Severino was charged with six runs in three innings, a performance that was notable for his apparent tardiness getting ready in the bullpen.

Severino allowed himself only seven minutes to warm up. Although he insisted that was his pre-game norm, the Sox nevertheless solved him with ease. The right-hander and the Yankees, however, promised to move on and were already looking ahead to 2019 when camp opened in February.

But more trouble was waiting: Severino experienced a dead arm before he’d even pitched in a Grapefruit League game. A subsequent MRI revealed inflammation in the shoulder, which was somewhat of a relief: at least the rotator cuff and labrum were both intact.

Doctors recommended Severino rest for approximately a month, but not only did the problem persist, a second, more insidious injury was discovered with a follow-up MRI. This time it was the latissimus dorsa that was strained, or to be more precise, partially torn. It was a devastating setback, considering the lat, the longest muscle in the back, generates arm-speed and creates velocity for power pitchers. Injuries to this part of the body are often difficult to diagnose because the affected area is close to the shoulder. For that reason, a lat-strain is sometimes treated as biceps tendinitis or a rotator cuff issue.

What confounded the Yankees was the downgrade in Severino’s condition while he was resting and rehabbing. Unless the right-hander was engaged in other strenuous activities on his own, which club executives didn’t believe was the case, the mystery would be filed away as just that – a twist of fate that may never be fully explained.

Cashman initially said he had “no information” as to why Severino’s condition had become so serious. He expanded on that on Wednesday, telling reporters he’d launched an investigation.

“As you would expect, we’re walking through the process with the player,” said Cashman, who met with Severino on Tuesday. “I waited for him to come up here. We walked through it from his perspective, the trainers’ perspective. We’ll walk though it from the physical therapist’s perspective, the entire log, what he was doing, the progressions [made] without complaint.

“Part of treatment protocol is to treat the patient and treat the MRI, and sometimes they don’t match up. We’re trying to piece it all together. … Right now, I go into it with an open mind. I’m trying to determine how this happened. It’s a new injury. It’s a different injury.”

Remember, it was a similarly torn lat that kept the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard on the Injured List for nearly four months in 2017. The Yankees are hoping for a faster recovery for Severino, but their estimates are nothing more than a guess.

Still, regardless of the cause, Severino’s absence figures to be a long one – perhaps into July, including the time he’d need to recondition his arm. While the Yankees will be in the teeth of a pennant race, Severino will only be starting his second spring training.

So who takes over? Keuchel is a possibility, although Cashman has thus far turned his gaze elsewhere. The Yankees general manager is instead hoping to establish James Paxton as a reliable asset at the front of the rotation and is equally hopeful J.A. Happ regains the form he showed last July and August after being dealt to the Bronx.

Masahiro Tanaka and CC Sabathia provide leadership and maturity, but that still leaves an opening somewhere in the rotation. The Yankees have flirted with Loáisiga, who they like because of his 96-mph fastball. He made two starts in April before being sent back to Class-AAA. The 24-year-old Nicaraguan pitched seven innings total, allowing three earned runs in the process. He walked five and struck out nine.

The numbers by themselves weren’t terrible, but Loáisiga was unable to get past the fourth inning in either appearance. He told reporters, “my location and command has been off; it’s something I need to work on.”

While Loáisiga was back in the minors reprogramming his delivery, German was getting a second, more serious audition and was slated to start against the Royals on Thursday. His fastball sits in the mid-90s with exceptional spin rate. In other words, German’s ball moves like crazy off his unconventional short-arm delivery.

This much is also certain: hitters have trouble getting comfortable with German: his 14.9 percent swinging strike ration last year was just below Jacob deGrom and Blake Snell (15.1 percent) but ahead of the legendary Justin Verlander (14.5).

No wonder Cashman was holding out hope about the Yankees’ Plan B. While Severino recovers, the Yankees’ longtime general manager was thinking of a best-case scenario for German and his Wiffle Ball-like fastball.

“When Domingo is pumping strikes,” Cashman said, “he’s very, very tough to hit.”

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