Sports

IN ARM’S WAY – PAVANO, SMALL MAY START SEASON ON DL

TAMPA – The pre-camp plan was to take a dozen pitchers. Now, with Carl Pavano definitely starting the season on the disabled list and Aaron Small a strong candidate to join Pavano, Joe Torre is thinking 11 arms might be enough.

“Let’s get to there and see what our needs are,” Torre said yesterday when asked if Pavano and Small would be replaced by non-pitchers. “I think there is a possibility of starting the season with 11, but I don’t think it’s realistic to start with 10.”

From the moment camp opened, Torre had an inkling Pavano wouldn’t be ready by Opening Day. Though Pavano and Torre have been encouraged by the pitcher’s progress from a back problem, everybody has resigned themselves to Pavano starting where he finished last season – on the DL.

Small, however, is a different case. After going 10-0 last year and help saving the Yankees’ season, the veteran right-hander was being counted on to give the bullpen depth and possibly fill in as an emergency starter. Now, it appears he will be left behind when camp ends.

“It’s probably going to be 10 days to two weeks,” Torre said of Small’s right hamstring problem that surfaced Tuesday during conditioning drills.

Torre has several options. He can add Scott Proctor, who was being groomed as a starter for Columbus (Triple-A), and keep Scott Erickson, who has pitched OK. However, the Yankees would need to make room on the 40-man roster for the veteran right-hander since he is in camp on a minor-league deal.

Or Torre can take a pitcher and a spare player. In that case, it would likely be infielder Felix Escalona with an outside chance infielder/outfielder Mitch Jones squeezing onto the big-league roster, at least until Pavano is ready. He is expected back in mid-April when the Yankees need a fifth starter for the first time.

Carrying a third catcher, Wil Nieves, is also a possibility, even though Torre has never carried three catchers. Nieves is out of options.

“I haven’t thought about it because I am not sure what our needs are going to be,” Torre said. “There is no emergency decision making yet. Maybe early on in my managerial career, you try to project and stuff like that, but at this point I don’t need to, so I won’t. When the time comes, usually the name will pop out at you.”

“This is all new to me,” Small said of his first hamstring injury. “We will see how it goes.”

Asked about the possibility of not being ready for Opening Day (April 3), Small said, “I don’t know the timetable. I have to get the proper treatment and not aggravate it.”

As for Jones, the 28-year-old’s power has grabbed Torre’s attention. He leads the Yankees with four homers.

“He is a little bit older than some of the guys but he certainly looks pretty sure of himself and plays the outfield well,” Torre said of the right-handed hitter who belted 27 homers but fanned 174 times in 489 at-bats for Columbus last year.