Masahiro Tanaka played catch for a second straight day, but he still won’t be back before September, according to general manager Brian Cashman.
The right-hander, who is hoping a rehab program allows him to avoid Tommy John surgery, is in just the second day of a throwing program. He is scheduled to play catch again Thursday.
“I’m happy the early return on rest and two throwing days on Tanaka have gone well,” Cashman said following Tanaka’s session, which was increased from 25 to 50 throws at 60 feet.
But he’s not ready to announce when Tanaka could rejoin the team, although the team does have a time line.
“I’m not gonna say it,” Cashman said. “We’ll take this day-by-day. … He’s in one of those situations where every day you hold your breath, hoping it’s a good day. The more of those that come, the better it will be for us.”
Until Tanaka gets on the mound, though, no one will truly know how he’s doing.
“Hopefully he can get on the mound at some point and really let loose and start stretching out to prepare for starts and that’s when I’ll start worrying less about it,” Cashman said. “Right now, he’s still in that yellow flag mode of caution.”
When asked if September was the earliest Tanaka could return, Cashman said, “Definitely.”
Pitching coach Larry Rothschild said that caution would never truly go away.
“It’s always gonna be in the back of your mind, no matter what,” Rothschild said. “Hopefully, we worry about it for seven or eight years.”
The Yankees don’t know who is going to start for them on Friday, but Cashman all but ruled out Michael Pineda. Still, the right-hander might be back soon.
“That has not come up,” Cashman said of the possibility of Pineda starting in place of the injured David Phelps. “I would say no. He needs one more [rehab] start.”
Pineda threw 58 pitches in a start with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday and said he came out of it feeling fine after missing the last two months with a pine tar suspension and a shoulder muscle injury.
“It appears Pineda’s gonna be here soon,” Cashman said. “That’s something we’re gonna need. … Typically, you want to get him up to 90 pitches [before he returns to the majors], but we’ll see. We’ll go start-by-start now. The season is running out. At some point with his pitch count, if he’s better than what we’ve got, we’re gonna have to pull him.”
After being scratched before Monday’s game with light-headedness, Mark Teixeira was in Tuesday’s lineup, saying he felt fine. He went 0-for-5 in the Yankees’ 4-13, 12-inning loss to the Tigers.
“There were no tests,” Cashman said. “It was just one of those days when he didn’t feel right.”
Stephen Drew was held out of the lineup, with manager Joe Girardi saying it was just a day off against lefty David Price. Drew entered as a pinch-hitter in the ninth, striking out against Joba Chamberlain and later flying out against Joe Nathan for the final out.