KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Andy Pettitte’s arm is fine, but his legs still require work.
“They are not in shape,’’ the Yankees pitcher said after throwing two innings of a simulated game at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa on Saturday morning. “I don’t know how I will continue to progress. … Normally you hit a point where you kind of go, but … I could definitely tell that I wouldn’t have had many more pitches and being strong where I want to get them.’’
Pettitte threw 33 pitches (25 strikes) in an exercise that began at 8:15 Saturday morning.
Pettitte depends on his lower half a lot and a groin injury shelved him for a long stretch in 2010, the last season he played before retiring last year.
Manager Joe Girardi, who with pitching coach Larry Rothschild watched Pettitte throw, has hinted the left-hander could pitch in the final spring training game Wednesday against the Mets at GMS Field. That, however, is in doubt.
“The last thing I want to do is rush something,” Pettitte said. “My point is that it’s not that big of a deal.’’
“That would be coming back early and that’s not something we are looking for,’’ Girardi said.
With Michael Pineda starting the season on the disabled list with right shoulder tendinitis, Pettitte was asked if there was any way he would try to accelerate his comeback. Most estimates have him ready for the big leagues early next month.
“Not at this point, it wouldn’t be smart,’’ Pettitte said. “It all depends on how I go out there and throw my pitches. [The simulated game] was great, but it’s not a real game. It’s still not another team.’’
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The Yankees said the news on Pineda’s right shoulder was good since an MRI exam didn’t reveal structural damage. That wasn’t the case on Cesar Cabral’s left elbow.
The lefty reliever was diagnosed with a stress fracture of his left elbow tip and will be sidelined for a while.
He was in the mix for a bullpen spot if the Yankees took a second lefty to go with the inconsistent Boone Logan.
The injuries to Michael Pineda and Cabral could alter what Girardi’s bullpen will look like.
“It impacts the long reliever because maybe the sixth starter would have been the long reliever,’’ Girardi said.
Cabral’s injury, similar to one suffered by former Yankee Jonathan Albaladejo, leaves lefty Clay Rapada in the picture for a big league spot. Rapada gave up a homer to the lefty hitting Brian Bogusevic in an 11-9 win over the Astros yesterday at Osceola County Stadium.
Cabral was a Rule 5 pick from the Red Sox last December.
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Francisco Cervelli was drilled above the left elbow in the fifth inning by the Astros’ Jordan Lyles after Robinson Cano and Raul Ibanez homered in the Yankees’ victory.
However, Cervelli didn’t believe the pitcher was throwing at him.
“No, it’s spring training,’’ said Cervelli, who wasn’t injured.
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No matter how Dante Bichette Jr.’s career turns out, Saturday will be hard to forget.
Playing in front of his father, mother and brother 20 minutes from where he grew up, the Yankees’ top pick in the 2011 draft saw two pitches against the Astros and hit two homers on a day when a strong wind was blowing out and helped account for a total of nine homers.
“That’s great, they weren’t here the first time I got called up,’’ said Bichette, the son of former big leaguer Dante Bichette.
The younger Bichette appeared in his second big league spring training game. His first appearance was as a defensive replacement.
“It was pretty special,’’ said Girardi, a former Rockies teammate of the elder Bichette and a close family friend. “The second one he really hit. He played on this field [in amateur baseball] a lot, so it was pretty neat.’’
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Because he signed a minor league deal, Russell Branyan fell under a new rule in the collective bargaining agreement that dictates a payment of $100,000 if sent to the minor leagues at the start of the season.
Not wanting to pay him that, the Yankees put Branyan on unconditional waivers, then re-signed him Saturday. He has been sidelined by a lower disc back problem since the start of camp.
“Guys are guaranteed a certain amount of money the first two months of the season. Since I’m hurt the team wasn’t going to, I guess, honor that contract, they feel like I got another three or four more weeks of rehab, so they decided to rehab me and at the end of that rehab we’ll see where we are,’’ said Branyan, who didn’t appear in an exhibition game.“It’s been frustrating, four days into camp, you get a tweak in the back, you think it’s going to be a day or two and it turns into the whole spring. If I could have had a good camp, I could have turned some heads, it’s been an uphill battle. I’ll be taking swings next week, it’s just a progression.’’
Additional reporting by Kevin Kernan