ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda threw 43 soft tosses to pitching coach Larry Rothschild on Thursday at Tropicana Field.
In itself, it wasn’t much. Certainly not what the Yankees were looking for on the day before the start of the season from a pitcher they envisioned being a big part of their rotation.
Yet, the game of catch in the outfield was a step forward for Pineda, who was rocked by the Phillies a week ago tonight and diagnosed with tendinitis in the back of his right shoulder the next day. He is on the 15-day disabled list and nobody knows when the 23-year-old right-hander will return.
After the throwing session, Rothschild worked with Pineda on a bullpen mound without a ball, concentrating on his setup and motion.
“Going through the stuff he does well and making it a habit,’’ Rothschild said of the exercise that, when it was over, got Pineda an encouraging pat on the back from the coach.
With Andy Pettitte scheduled to throw two innings for the Tampa Yankees (Single-A) Monday, it’s possible the veteran lefty will be ahead of the young right-hander.
“I can’t really tell you that until Pineda starts throwing,’’ manager Joe Girardi said. “[Pineda] is built up, though, that’s the difference. How long he sits out is the difference of when he could be back.’’
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General manager Brian Cashman said Wednesday’s move that sent catcher Francisco Cervelli to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes/Barre as Chris Stewart was acquired from the Giants was made to increase the Yankees’ depth behind the plate and because Cervelli had minor league options and Stewart didn’t.
“I think [Cervelli] is one of the 60 best catchers in the game, no doubt,’’ Cashman said. “Right now we have maybe three of the best 60 catchers in the game. That’s good for us, not for him.’’
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Should starter Russell Martin get injured, Girardi said Cervelli would be recalled and move ahead of Stewart into the starting role.
Cashman was leery of something happening to Martin and then having to sacrifice a high-end prospect to get a catcher to back up Cervelli.
As for Stewart, who caught one game for the Yankees in 2008, he had a hectic 24 hours.
”They told me about half an hour before the game started. Good news and bad news. Good news: You are going to be in the big leagues; bad news: you have to go across the country. I was expecting to be in San Francisco,’’ said Stewart, who was acquired from the Giants for pitcher George Kontos Wednesday. “I drove home from San Francisco right before the game started, flew out three hours later, overnight. I got in at 9 o’clock [Thursday morning].’’
Stewart has some experience with the Yankees’ staff having played in the system four seasons ago.
‘’It’s going to be a quick learning experience. I’ll cram as much information into my head as I can. I caught a lot of these guys before, so I know what they have and I’ve faced the others. More than half these guys were here when I came up for all those three days. Not a tough transition this time. I played with a lot of them in the minors.’’
It doesn’t look as if the back problem that reduced Boone Logan to a pretzel when he walked Wednesday will land the lefty reliever on the DL.
“It won’t keep me off the field. Night and day from [Wednesday],’’ Logan said. “Now it just feels sore, yesterday there was a lot of pain.’’
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Robinson Cano put on an impressive show Thursday. Participating in a pull drill where a screen cuts the plate in half and forces the hitter to pull the ball, Cano launched eight straight flips by hitting coach Kevin Long into the right-field seats. According to Long, Cano has hit 17 consecutive balls over walls in the drill. To put Cano’s power in context, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira were in Cano’s group and didn’t come close to hitting eight straight out. … Eric Chavez put on strong batting practice performance, hitting the upper right hand corner of the monster television screen in right-center.
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The Yankees claimed right-handed reliever Cody Eppley off waivers from the Rangers.
“He can get right-handed hitters out,’’ Cashman said of the 26-year-old who is 12-9 with a 2.86 ERA in 152 minor league games (no starts). In 220 career innings he has fanned 250 and walked 68. He will report to Scranton.
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Derek Jeter makes his 16th Opening Day start at short, which extends his franchise record. Hall of Famer Barry Larkin was the last shortstop to start 17 or more Opening Days with the same club. … CC Sabathia starts for the fourth time as a Yankee on Opening Day today. It’s the ninth career assignment for the lefty. He is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in Opening Day starts. … Jeter leads active players in games played (2,426) with one club and is 14th all-time in that department. … With 3,088 hits Jeter is 19th on the all-time hit list. Dave Winfield, Jeter’s favorite player as a kid, is 18th with 3,110 hits. Tony Gwynn at 3,141 is 17th.
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Thirty-nine years ago today at Fenway Park Ron Blomberg was the first DH in baseball history. Blomberg went 1-for-3 and drove in a run in a 15-5 loss to the Red Sox.