Brett Gardner, last week in Baltimore, joked he would be back after the All-Star break in July.
While that would be a bad deal for the Yankees, nobody knows for sure when the left fielder will return from a strained right elbow that has kept him on the shelf since April 17.
Gardner will undergo an MRI exam tomorrow and is likely headed for Tampa Thursday to begin workouts.
“It depends on how the MRI looks,’’ Gardner said when asked when he would start swinging a bat.
Gardner suffered a setback playing in a minor league game May 10 and is leery of a second one.
“I have to be patient,’’ he said. “If there is another setback it’s going to be a long time.’’
While Gardner doesn’t have the profile of an Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira or Robinson Cano, manager Joe Girardi believes the hitting funk his lineup is in is partly due to not having Gardner.
“I think we miss Gardy,’’ Girardi said of the left-handed hitting speedster who is hitting .321 (9-for-28) with a .424 on-base percentage.
Gardner was 4-for-6 (.667) with runners in scoring position, a situation the Yankees are batting .174 (23-for-132) in the last 15 games and have six hits in the 72 at-bats (.0832).
“You see the value of Gardy when we haven’t had him,’’ Girardi said.
The Yanks went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position in last night’s 6-0 loss to the Royals. That’s the most hitless at-bats with runners in scoring position for the team since July 6, 1990 when the Yankees were 0-for-14 against the Twins.
David Robertson will go to Tampa with Gardner Thursday, but Girardi said he isn’t optimistic the right-handed reliever who took over Mariano Rivera’s closer role will be ready to jump off the DL a week from tonight, the first day he is eligible.
“That’s pushing it; he won’t pick up a baseball until Thursday,’’ Girardi said of Robertson, who last pitched May 11 and is suffering from a strained left oblique.
When Girardi dropped Mark Teixeira from fifth to seventh in the batting order last night as the switch-hitting first baseman returned from a three-day rest, Raul Ibanez was elevated into the fifth spot behind Alex Rodriguez.
“Arguably he has been our most productive hitter with runners on,’’ Girardi said of the left-handed hitting Ibanez. “He has been very good.’’
In the previous three games, Ibanez was 5-for-12 (.417) with two homers and five RBIs. Last night, Ibanez went 0-for-3 and was hitless in three at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Ibanez and Nick Swisher were tied with 27 RBIs going into last night’s action.
General manager Brian Cashman said a date for Rivera’s knee surgery hasn’t been determined.
Hal Steinbrenner’s spring-training hope that young arms could keep the Yankees away from spending heavily on free-agent pitching following the 2013 season continues to fall apart.
Yesterday, pitching prospect Manuel Banuelos went on the Scranton / Wilkes-Barre’s disabled list with an elbow injury. It’s the second time the 21-year-old lefty is on the shelf this season. The previous stint was due to muscle problem in the side.
In six games (all starts), Banuelos is 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA.
As for the other arms Steinbrenner was counting on for financial relief, Michael Pineda will miss the season due to right shoulder surgery and Jose Campos is on the Charleston (Single-A) DL with an elbow problem. Dellin Betances is 2-4 with a 5.24 ERA in nine starts for SWB.
As expected Derek Jeter was in the lineup last night. He left the Stadium Sunday with a wrap on his left hand after taking a grounder. Sunday he said “no problems.”
Jeter went 1-for-4 and is batting .212 (7-for-33) in the last eight games he played.