BALTIMORE — Derek Jeter didn’t play for the third straight game Tuesday night, and the Yankees don’t know when the shortstop’s left ankle will be healthy enough to play.
“Once you see him doing everything [on the field] you will know he is back on track,’’ general manager Brian Cashman said of Jeter, who was removed from Saturday’s game for a pinch-runner because of soreness in the area that he has fractured twice within a calendar year.
With Jeter’s status unknown, the Yankees acquired Brendan Ryan Tuesday night from the Mariners in exchange for a player to be named later.
The slick-fielding Ryan started 79 games at short for Seattle, hitting .192 with three homers and 21 RBIs.
Ryan is a career .238 hitter. A corresponding 40-man roster move will be announced Wednesday.
Jeter hasn’t begun baseball activities and hasn’t been very visible in the public area of the clubhouse. He also hasn’t spoken since the injury.
Cashman said he hasn’t heard from Dr. Robert Anderson, the surgeon who operated on Jeter’s ankle last fall. The CT scan, that was negative this past weekend, was sent to Anderson.
“It’s not holding him up from playing,’’ Cashman said of Anderson not getting back to the club’s medical people. “We feel we know. We sent it out because we keep the surgeon in the loop.’’
Cashman is still listing Jeter as day-to-day but can’t predict when he will return.
“If he is moving around and pain free he will be out there,’’ Cashman said before the Yankees’ 7-5 win over the Orioles Tuesday night. “It’s complicated with the foot.’’
Cashman said Jeter is capable of being a backup shortstop, where Eduardo Nunez has started the last three games.
Manager Joe Girardi also can’t pinpoint when Jeter comes back and didn’t predict Jeter will return this season.
“My hope is we get him back, but I don’t know for sure,’’ Girardi said. I can’t tell you for sure.’’
The Yankees are so concerned about Boone Logan’s left elbow that they signed Mike Zagurski off the street Tuesday and put him the bullpen. Logan requested the club send an MRI exam taken last week to Dr. James Andrews in Pensacola, Fla. and the Yankees did that Tuesday.
“We got Zagurski because [Logan] isn’t getting better,’’ Cashman said.”On a scale of 0 to 10 he was a zero the other day and still stuck at 0.’’
Logan last pitched Friday night and received a cortisone shot Saturday. Zagurski, 30, appeared in 20 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the second of his three minor league stops this season. He also threw for Indianapolis (Pirates) and Sacramento (Oakland).
The 6-foot, 240 pound pitcher, asked for and was given his release by the Yankees and followed the same script in Oakland. He has appeared in 88 major league games (six this year with the Pirates) and has a career 6.84 ERA.
Zagurski joins fellow lefty Cesar Cabral in the bullpen but big league left-handed hitters were batting .290 (36-for-124) off him. David Robertson (shoulder tendinitis) said he had a successful 11-pitch bullpen session and expects to be available Wednesday.
“I cut some loose and didn’t have any problems,’’ said Robertson, whose last outing was Thursday.
The Yankees didn’t have David Huff listed as Thursday’s starter but the left-hander threw an in-between start bullpen session Tuesday and Girardi said Huff is in line to face the Orioles. … With Tuesday’s victory, Girardi tied Billy Martin for sixth place on the Yankees’ all-time managerial wins list with 556. … Mark Reynolds started at first base over Lyle Overbay against right-hander Miguel Gonzalez because Girardi liked Reynolds’ at-bats against Gonzalez. Reynolds went 3-for-4 in the Yankees’ 7-5 win. He was 1-for-2 with a double and line out to second against Gonzalez.