Yankees' Luis Severino unhappy with being on 60-day injured list

Luis Severino stood in front of his locker in the Yankees’ clubhouse Tuesday afternoon, and he wasn’t in a very good mood.

The right-hander had just come from playing catch up to 90 feet after doing the same at 60-75 feet in his return to throwing Monday. He said he wasn’t feeling discomfort. He went on the 15-day injured list July 14 with what was said to be a low-grade strained right lat.

The problem for him was this: The Yankees transferred him to the 60-day IL Monday. So he can’t return to the rotation until around mid-September. He thought he would be back sooner.

“I was not happy,” Severino said. “I was not expecting that.”

The Yankees had made two trades and acquired three pitchers that day, relievers Scott Effross and Lou Trivino, who were activated Tuesday, and starter Frankie Montas, who isn’t scheduled to be activated until this weekend following the passing of his mother-in-law.

When asked about the Severino move, manager Aaron Boone said: “Obviously, it was a little bit of a roster situation. It’s probably going to be a situation where it’s close [to mid-September]. We want to get Sevy back as a starter and built up to that point.

“This timeline allows for still probably four, five, six starts in the back end of the season and hopefully hitting the ground because he’s built up to a point from start one to where he’s pitching full bore for us because we think he’s going to be an integral part of any kind of playoff run we hope to go on.”

Severino said the athletic trainers gave him the news.

“The told me they want me as a starter, that they want me to be able to [build up] like spring training. I don’t have to be happy.”  

He eventually met with Boone Tuesday. Did Severino let him know he isn’t happy?

“I think he knows,” Severino said.

GM Brian Cashman said, “I think he’s just a competitor . . . He didn’t want to listen to the timeline.”

Severino said he didn’t fight the plan, that there was no point.

“That’s the plan that they have for me to come back healthy,” Severino said. “I have to, I guess, follow that plan.”

Severino had appeared in just seven games and thrown 18 innings over the previous three seasons because of injuries. He’s 5-3 with a 3.45 ERA across 16 starts and 86 innings.

“I won’t say I’m fully healthy until I face hitters, until I get to 80-, 90-something pitches,” Severinio said. “But right now, I feel pretty good.”

Stanton update

Giancarlo Stanton went on the 10-day IL July 26 with left Achilles tendinitis. He has started to do some baseball-related activities.

“He did just some top hand, some arm-swing work baseball-wise [Monday],” Boone said. “He’s feeling good. A little soreness when he gets up still, but that’s even diminished. That’s where he was kind of feeling it the most, like in the mornings, really getting going. That continues to improve.

“So we’ll continue to slowly build up this week as is tolerable. Hopefully by the end of the week, we’ll ramp him up hitting full bore and those kind of things.”

The Schmidt plan

Clarke Schmidt was relieving for the Yankees before he was sent to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Monday.

“He’ll probably go into a starter role down there,” Boone said.

More roster moves

Outfielder Tim Locastro was called up from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Righty Carlos Espinal was optioned to the Triple-A team.