Yankees sticking with Luis Severino … but for how much longer?

MIAMI — Luis Severino had his hands on his head, watching the Braves-Mets game on a monitor in the visitor’s clubhouse on Saturday afternoon. He was one of several Yankees marveling at Atlanta’s offense, a potent lineup that ended up outscoring the Mets 27-to-3 in their doubleheader at Citi Field.

In just a few days, Severino and his 8.06 ERA will try to keep those Braves bats at bay.

That’s right, Severino is scheduled to stay in the rotation and pitch against Atlanta on Tuesday.

In a perfect world, the Yankees could’ve moved on from Severino by now, or at least stuck him in the bullpen or down in the minors. He’s pitched horrifically this summer, a shell of his old ace-caliber self before the barrage of injuries that he’s endured.

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The reason the Yankees still have Severino penciled in to make his start is that the starting rotation is running out of options. Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodón both returning to the injured list this week was the Yankees’ latest wave of adversity in that part of their roster, forcing them to elevate Triple-A arms Jhony Brito and Randy Vásquez from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. They lost a pitcher for the rest of the year not too long ago as well, sending Domingo Germán to the restricted list after an incident involving alcohol abuse.

That also allowed Severino to stick around, even after his career-worst start against the Orioles on July 30. The Yankees even tried using Severino after an opener and that backfired too — the right-hander gave up another four runs in relief of Ian Hamilton on Wednesday against the White Sox in Chicago.

There’s always a possibility that Severino turns this summer to forget around. He’s still lighting up the radar gun and striving to find ways to get hitters out, speaking candidly as he comes to terms with his performance to date. The effectiveness is in there somewhere and the Yankees have been trying to unlock it.

Let’s be realistic here, though. With the track record Severino has established this summer, routinely getting shelled, it’s hard to believe the Braves won’t have their way with the right-hander. Atlanta’s lineup leads the league in batting average (.275), OPS (.846), runs (678), home runs (225) … and they’ll be playing at home. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Assuming Severino sticks to his recent script, allowing a bunch of runs in the first inning and raising his league-worst ERA, the odds of him staying in the rotation for another start get even slimmer. Rodón is on his way back, Vásquez and Brito are poised to continue their audition for next year’s starting staff the rest of the way and reliever Michael King is stretching out to start as well. There are plenty of options to use instead of Severino in that spot.

The right-hander can still help this team down the road before he hits free agency this winter. Perhaps he’ll find his own in a new role in the bullpen, emptying the tank in one-inning bursts that make him more effective (if he can finally start locating his pitches). Maybe a demotion to the minors to reassess and work on things would do him some good.

For a team that’s four games out of a Wild Card spot with less than 50 games remaining, throwing Severino even one more time is a risk. The Yankees have lost in nine of his last 12 games in which Severino has pitched. These are games they can’t afford to lose.

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Max Goodman may be reached at mgoodman@njadvancemedia.com.