Luis Severino shut down with ‘concerning’ arm pain in Yankees nightmare

TAMPA — Old, previously unknown injuries continue to haunt the Yankees something awful. Luis Severino is the latest such casualty.

Aaron Boone said Thursday that Severino, the Yankees’ important right-handed starter, has been shut down due to right forearm soreness. Severino also has a loose body in his right elbow, the manager added, and suddenly a real possibility exists that the Yankees will open the season without Severino as well as James Paxton (back surgery), who will be out until at least May and the suspended Domingo German, who is eligible to return on June 5 after completing his 81-game sentence (started with 18 games last year) for domestic violence offenses.

The Yankees hope to have team physician Christopher Ahmad examine Severino here on Friday.

“It’s Sevy, and there’s this discomfort that’s been off and on that’s continued,” Boone said at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “That’s certainly concerning. We’ll just have to see how this continues to declare itself.”

This ailment first turned “on” following what turned out to be Severino’s final start of 2019, his 4 ⅓-innings, two-run appearance against the Astros in Game 3 of the American League Championship. The forearm bothered him to the extent where he twice flew from his native Dominican Republic to New York for testing — two MRI exams and a CT scan — which showed no red flags. The second trip occurred after Severino felt the soreness again upon throwing his changeup on flat ground.

Upon arriving at camp, Severino received anti-inflammatories and had been throwing on flat ground again, but only fastballs and sliders. When Severino “re-entered” his changeup, as Boone put it, the pain re-emerged, prompting the shutdown.

Asked if he felt frustrated with these recent developments in the wake of last year’s injury epidemic — including right shoulder and lat woes for Severino that limited him to three regular-season starts and two more in the postseason — Boone said, “I’m always concerned when our guys are hurt. Especially two guys like that (Severino and Paxton) who are really important. But no, first things first is trying to get our arms around exactly what’s going on and get it right.”

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