DETROIT — Joba Chamberlain threw off a half-mound in Tampa yesterday as he continues to come back from the right ankle injury he suffered during spring training.
“I’ve always said I believe he’d be back for us this year,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of the dislocation and torn ligaments Chamberlain suffered when he fell on a trampoline in Florida. “This instills my belief.”
Girardi is still reluctant to put a timetable on Chamberlain’s return because “he has other hurdles to clear.”
The manager said he is particularly confident Chamberlain’s arm will be fine after last year’s right elbow surgery.
“His main concern is how his ankle will hold up.
“I’m sure he can move around enough,” Girardi said of the right-hander, who is wearing a small brace on the ankle. “I think his arm is going to be fine.
“The question is going to be: ‘Can he tolerate the pounding? Cover first base; land as a pitcher and push off as a pitcher?’ ”
David Robertson threw a bullpen yesterday and “everything went well,” Girardi said, as did Brett Gardner’s swings in a batting cage.
* The Yankees are interested in 20-year-old Cuban defector Jorge Soler, a source confirmed. During the winter, scouts expected the 6-foot-3, 205-pound outfielder to draw a deal worth approximately five years for $15 millionafter Yoenis Cespedes signed with Oakland for four years, $36 million. Soler’s agent still needs to receive an unblocking license from the Office of Foreign Asset Control. … The Orioles acquired minor leaguer Steve Pearce from the Yankees yesterday for cash considerations.
* Girardi said he felt for Mets manager Terry Collins, who had to make the call whether to let Johan Santana attempt to complete his no-hitter Friday night despite a high pitch count.
“Here’s the thing that goes through your head,” said Girardi, who said he was ready to remove CC Sabathia from a game in April 2010 before Sabathia finally gave up a hit in the eighth. “You don’t want to be the guy to ruin a guy’s chance for a no hitter, but you also don’t want to be the guy who ruins his team’s chances in the postseason because you let a guy throw too long and he ends up having to go on the DL. It’s terrible. … I don’t envy what [Collins] had to go through last night.”
Asked, Girardi said, with a smile, he would have made the same decision Collins did.
Additional reportingby Ken Davidoff