Derek Jeter picked up a bat yesterday, and did some light running. But a return to the Yankees this week looks unlikely.
The captain is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list Wednesday, but his recovery from a right calf strain is taking longer than originally expected. Jeter needs to test the leg with heavier running and probably play a rehab game before the Yankees would activate him.
Jeter ran on an underwater treadmill, according to general manager Brian Cashman. He also took 27 swings off a batting tee and 30 swings of soft toss yesterday at the Yankees’ complex in Tampa, Fla. They were his first swings since injuring his leg on June 13 against the Indians.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he is not sure how long Jeter, who will turn 37 today, will need once he starts running at full speed.
“I don’t think there’s an exact science to that,” Girardi said. “We’re just going to make sure his legs are under him that he can make those sharp cuts he needs to make, that he can get out of the box fast. So I don’t know that there is an exact time. We have to make sure that he’s ready in the sense that you don’t push this.
“But you try to come back too early and you re-injure it. Now you’re talking a month and we’ve just got to make sure when it’s time for him to go, it’s time for him to go.”
*
For the last several years, political commentator Keith Olbermann has served as an in-stadium play-by-play man for the Yankees’ Old-Timers’ Day. But the Yankees are making a change, The Post has learned.
The Yankees were not happy with Olbermann posting a photo on Twitter earlier this season of a coach signaling pitches to their batters in the on-deck circle. So they decided to bounce the liberal loudmouth and will have Bob Wolff and Suzyn Waldman provide the commentary for today’s game instead.
*
Jason Giambi is one of Joba Chamberlain‘s closest friends, dating back to when the two were teammates with the Yankees.
Giambi, now with the Rockies, believes Chamberlain will be focused on his rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery and the reliever will have a good work ethic, something that people have questioned about Chamberlain in the past.
“Sometimes when you have the game taken away from you, your priorities change,” Giambi said.
Giambi said he hopes his friend is one of those pitchers who returns from the surgery throwing harder.
“I hope he comes back throwing 105 [mph],” Giambi said.
*
Girardi said he did not have his pitching rotation set for the Brewers series, which begins Tuesday. With an off day tomorrow, the Yankees could skip Brian Gordon and pitch A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia on their normal days’ rest against Milwaukee. . . . Phil Hughes said he felt good after Friday’s rehab start. His next rehab start will be Wednesday for Double-A Trenton.
Additional reporting
by the Associated Press