Luis Severino could be bullpen-bound

Nothing is official, but it sure sounds as if Luis Severino  is headed for the bullpen.

After the righthander struggled again on Friday night — allowing five runs in four innings-plus  to send his season ERA to 7.74 — Aaron Boone said everything is “on the table” regarding his future in the rotation. 

Boone was no more willing to commit to a decision Saturday morning, saying “we’ll see” when asked if Severino will take his next scheduled turn on Wednesday against the White Sox in Chicago. 

“We’ve been discussing it the last several days, even before [Friday night’s outing],” Boone said.

Severino has been a mess almost from the time his season started in late May (he started the season on the injured list with a lat strain). After allowing  two earned runs in 11 1/3 innings his first two starts, Severino went 1-4 with a 9.48 ERA in his next seven outings. 

After a July 30 game in Baltimore in which he allowed nine runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings — six runs scored before he was able to record his first out — Severino said, "Right now, I feel like the worst pitcher in the game. No doubt about it.” He followed that up with Friday night’s setback, in which he allowed a three-run homer in the first inning. 

Though Severino has made no bones about his general dislike of pitching in relief in his career, he didn’t enunciate any of that on Friday. 

“That’s something that I need to talk to with Aaron,” he said of a possible switch to the bullpen. “As of right now, I’m a starting pitcher. I love having a day for me, but at the end of the day, I’m with the team and whatever they need to do.”

On Saturday morning, Boone didn’t discount the possibility. Far from it. 

“In the end, we have to do what’s best for the team and for Sevy and trying to get him sharp with his execution,” Boone said. “I think Sevy will do what he’s got to do and we’ll continue to work to try and get him consistent.”

Bauers power

Jake Bauers, a non-roster invitee to spring training who has earned regular playing time, made a third straight start at first base Saturday and delivered again. 

Bauers, a converted outfielder who actually played most of his amateur and early professional career at first base, snapped a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning Saturday with a 410-foot home run into the second deck in rightfield off Justin Verlander. Bauers, who finished 2-for-4, has homered in three straight games and has four home runs in the last seven. His 11 homers — accomplished in 59 games and 170 at-bats — are fifth-most on the team. With Anthony Rizzo on the injured list with post-concussion syndrome, expect Bauers to continue seeing time.  

“Kind of been a revelation for us and I think a very interesting player moving forward,” Boone said of Bauers, who isn’t arbitration-eligible until 2024. “He’s been through a lot in his career already in terms of getting to the big leagues early with Tampa Bay [in 2018 as a 22-year-old], having success and then having his fair share of struggles and working through some swing changes . . . I didn’t necessarily see this coming. He got off to a tremendous start in Triple-A [and] all of the reports were ‘this is real.’ And he’s come up and really impacted the ball. He’s a real threat in the box.”

What the . . . 

The Yankees should have taken a 2-1 lead in the third inning Saturday but were done in by Giancarlo Stanton’s speed, or lack thereof, on the bases.

After Stanton's two-out double, DJ LeMahieu stung a single to right-center. Third-base coach Luis Rojas waved Stanton home, but he never accelerated into anything more than a fast jog and easily was thrown out by centerfielder Mauricio Dubon for the third out. Although the throw was to the first-base side of the plate, it beat Stanton by plenty, and he pulled up well before he got to catcher Martin Maldonado. 

Boone later said Stanton, who missed 43 games earlier this season with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, is healthy. Though he didn’t say it outright, Boone strongly indicated that Stanton might have been trying to “protect” the hamstring, which is not unusual for players prone to lower-body injuries, as Stanton has been in recent years.