CLEVELAND — Carlos Rodon’s road to making his Yankees debut has hit another speed bump with a different physical issue.
The left-hander was scheduled to face hitters on Monday or Tuesday for the first time since being shut down in early March with a forearm muscle strain, but that has been delayed by back stiffness, Aaron Boone revealed on Tuesday.
Boone said Rodon did throw on Tuesday in Tampa, with a bullpen session scheduled for Wednesday.
If that goes well, he would then face hitters in a live batting practice session on Friday.
“He’s back in a good spot,” Boone said before the Yankees played the Guardians at Progressive Field. “Hopefully we’re moving good after a couple days of crankiness.”
When Rodon’s forearm injury was first disclosed on March 9, general manager Brian Cashman said that in a perfect world, the pitcher he signed to a six-year, $162 million deal this offseason would return “some time in April.”
That would appear to be no longer in play, with Boone on Tuesday saying “that timeline seems a little aggressive,” in terms of getting Rodon built up enough to return.
Rodon only made one Grapefruit League start before being shut down for nine days with the forearm injury, meaning he would need close to a spring training-like ramp-up.
Boone was unsure whether Rodon would be ready to advance to a rehab assignment after Friday’s live session.
“The buildup’s going to be the challenge of getting him to a threshold to where we take him,” Boone said. “He’s gonna determine it health-wise. We’re certainly not going to rush it just to do it. We want to make sure he’s in a good spot and built up properly.”
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While the back issue will set Rodon back at least a few days, Boone said his forearm and elbow were both doing well.
Luis Severino (strained lat) said he felt good on Tuesday, a day after throwing a 22-pitch bullpen session.
He is scheduled to throw another bullpen session on Thursday, after which he hopes to advance to facing live hitters.
Boone insisted he did not have any issues with Guardians reliever James Karinchak’s emphatic celebration Monday night after getting out of a jam in the eighth inning.
“The bottom line is he got three big outs from the middle of our order in a huge spot,” Boone said. “They were some big outs he got. I don’t know what the line [is] – the line is different for everyone. Everyone wants to be annoyed by certain things or not.”
Josh Donaldson (hamstring strain) has been “hitting full bore” back in New York and was “starting to up the intensity” running, Boone said.
Harrison Bader (oblique strain) has taken batting practice off a high-velocity machine and will continue to ramp up his baseball activity this weekend as he nears a possible rehab assignment next week.
Lou Trivino (UCL sprain) threw another bullpen session Tuesday in Tampa and is scheduled for a “two-up bullpen” on Friday.