The Yankees believe Michael Pineda will pitch for them at some point this season. Yet, because the right-hander is only in the throwing-bullpen-sessions stage of a full spring training schedule, there is a possibility Pineda might not make it back in to help the Yankees get into the postseason.
“He has gone from throwing on flat ground to bullpens,” general manager Brian Cashman said Tuesday. “That leads to batting practice and [minor league] rehab games,’’
Cashman said “sometime in August’’ when asked about Pineda’s reentry into the Yankees’ rotation.
Having lost 80 percent of his Opening Day rotation to serious injury — facing the possibility CC Sabathia will join Ivan Nova on the shelf for the rest of the season and not knowing whether Masahiro Tanaka’s rehab program will get him back on the mound — Cashman has been aggressively looking for pitching help in the trade market.
Cashman also said he believes getting Pineda back would be a boost to a rotation that currently houses neophytes Shane Greene and Chase Whitley, journeyman Brandon McCarthy, veteran Hiroki Kuroda and David Phelps.
“We all know what he is capable of when healthy,’’ Cashman said of Pineda, who was 2-2 with a skimpy 1.83 ERA in four starts when he foolishly applied pine tar to his neck in Boston on April 23 and was suspended for 10 games.
While inactive, Pineda suffered an injury to the terres major muscle at the top of his back on the right side, dangerously close to the shoulder where Pineda had surgery that forced him to miss two years of action.
The Yankees trail the AL East-leading Orioles by five games, and if that deficit swells to double digits before Pineda is ready to return, it could be too late.
The Yankees might get a better read on Sabathia’s right knee Friday. Sabathia is expected to visit Dodgers team physician Neal Attrache in Los Angeles. Sabathia also has seen Rangers team doctor Keith Meister.
The biggest fear for the Yankees and Sabathia, who hasn’t pitched since May 10, is he will require microfracture surgery, which could be career-ending.
When Carlos Beltran went on the seven-day concussion DL last week in Cleveland, manager Joe Girardi said he was optimistic the struggling DH would be ready to play Friday night, when the Yankees open a three-game series against the Reds at Yankee Stadium.
“That’s our hope,’’ Cashman said.
Beltran suffered two nose fractures and the concussion when a ball off his bat hit a bar on the protective and rebounded into his face during an indoor batting practice session July 9. He had missed the previous two games with a hamstring tendon problem.
Beltran is batting .216 with nine homers and 28 RBIs in 61 games.