HOUSTON _ The good news was Luis Severino did not injure his shoulder further.
But there was more than enough bad news.
An MRI performed on the right-hander late Tuesday afternoon in New York showed a Grade 2 lat strain, according to the Yankees. Severino, who had been rehabbing in Tampa from right rotator cuff inflammation that shelved him on March 5, will be shut down for at least six weeks, the club said. It is a new injury, unrelated to the inflammation.
The 25-year-old Severino had been making progress, throwing on flat ground for around two weeks, stretching out as far as 130 feet on Saturday. But while playing catch Monday he "didn't feel as great" as he had been feeling, in the words of Aaron Boone, necessitating Tuesday's evaluation.
While Tuesday's test didn't show anything season-ending with the shoulder, just how much, if anything, Severino will be able to contribute in 2019 suddenly becomes a question.
The Yankees for now will continue to plug that hole from inside the organization.
While there will be yet another uproar from some to go the free-agent route _ namely Dallas Keuchel, who remains unsigned _ indications continue to be the Yankees will not go in that direction. They will without question look to the trade market, but deals of that significance at this point of the baseball season happen infrequently.
Miguel Andujar faces the first major hurdle in his rehab from the right shoulder sprain that landed him on the injured list April 1, and the third baseman is "super excited" about it.
Andujar, who has been taking grounders but not throwing, will test out the shoulder on Wednesday by playing catch.
"Definitely excited," Andujar said through his translator before Tuesday night's game. "It's going to be one of those things that, once I play catch, is going to tell you how am I really doing, what kind of progress I've made."
Andujar suffered a slight tear in his labrum diving back to third base during a loss to the Orioles March 31. It is an injury that often requires surgery but doctors recommended a period of rehab, then reevaluation to see if that can be avoided.
"Hopefully it's a big step for him," Boone said of Andujar throwing Wednesday.
Boone has expressed optimism since Andujar went to the IL because of how the 24-year-old's shoulder has responded, the pain steadily decreasing.
Is Andujar optimistic he'll be able to avoid surgery?
"I'm following all the protocol that we have in place to heal and recover," Andujar said. "Following every single step. But at the end, we have to wait and see how I'm going to feel once I go through the whole process. We have to wait and see really."
