Michael Pineda said he’s “coming back soon” from the muscle strain that forced him from his simulated game in Tampa on Tuesday. That’s fine, but no one knows exactly when that will be.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi tried to put a positive spin on the Grade 1 major teres strain — between the shoulder and lat — injury that should keep the right-hander out from three to four weeks.
“It has nothing to do with the [shoulder] surgery he had,” Girardi said before the Yankees’ 4-2 loss to the Mariners Thursday night at the Stadium. “It’s really his upper lat and lower shoulder and that will heal. … I wouldn’t expect it to be more than that. The problem is, you don’t pick up a ball for a while.”
When it was mentioned he has been through worse, Pineda just laughed.
After finally returning from shoulder surgery after two seasons, his strong start was derailed by the controversy he started April 10, when pine tar was seen on his pitching hand while pitching against Boston in The Bronx. He then drew a 10-game suspension when he was caught with pine tar on his neck against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on April 23.
The right-hander can’t go on to the disabled list until his suspension ends on Monday. David Phelps will take Pineda’s spot in the rotation.
“That’s probably the safest thing to do,” Girardi said of Phelps, who threw 80 pitches in an indoor simulated game at the Stadium when Wednesday’s game was rained out.
Pineda’s absence, combined with the loss of Ivan Nova for the year following elbow surgery, will test the team’s starting pitching depth. Girardi said he has stressed to Phelps and Vidal Nuno they shouldn’t put too much pressure on themselves.
“Just make up for your day,” Girardi said. “Don’t try to make up for someone else’s day. We’ll get Michael back and things will get little bit more back to normal. The other guys are more than capable.”
After hearing it from the crowd Tuesday, Robinson Cano said he held nothing against the fans in The Bronx.
“I don’t have any emotions about it,” Cano said. “I just play my game. It’s not a distraction.”
The fans were a bit less harsh for his first at-bat on Thursday against Hiroki Kuroda.
Brendan Ryan (back) is scheduled to be transferred from Single-A Tampa to Double-A Trenton Friday.
Jacoby Ellsbury’s return from a left hand injury that kept him out of Tuesday’s loss seemed to provide a brief spark. He chased down a liner by Kyle Seager to end the first inning and then hit his first homer as a Yankee. and Girardi doesn’t think his return is far off.
“I think he’s about 38-40 at-bats [away],” the manager said of Ryan’s rehab. “We talked about [getting] 50, so he’s getting there.”
The Yankees will pick 55th overall in the First-Year Player Draft, having forfeited their first-round pick when they signed Brian McCann. They forfeited compensation picks for losing Cano and Curtis Granderson when they signed Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran.