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Injury Updates on Pineda Kelley and Beltran

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Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

With all the major injuries hampering the Yankees we do have some quick injury updates to report on. Michael Pineda has been progressing well in his rehab process, he had been throwing light bullpen sessions over the last week or so. He threw a 30-pitch bullpen session at Yankee stadium on Wednesday and looked pretty comfortable. Manager Joe Girardi and pitching coach Larry Rothschild seemed happy with his progress, they feel he’s ready to take the next step in his rehab. Pineda is scheduled to face live hitters in a simulated game on Saturday at the team’s minor league complex in Tampa. Girardi spoke yesterday about Pineda. “He is progressing like we want,” Girardi said. “Things are going according to plan.” This good news, there is still no set date for his return, but hopefully it will be a lot sooner rather than later. He is being targeted for early June as long as there are not any setbacks.

Shawn Kelley on the other hand had minor setback this week. He did some light throwing in the outfield at the start of the week, but when he came into the clubhouse in Chicago on Tuesday he complained that his back was stiff and bit sore. Girardi said he will be shut down again for the rest of the week and hopefully be reevaluated sometime in the near future, probably next week. He went on DL on May 7 and could’ve been activated this week. His MRI had come back clean, so this is just going to be a waiting game for now. Luckily the bullpen has been a strength and they have been able to deal with not having their setup man this month.

Monday will be the big day for Carlos Beltran, he will attempt to take his first full swings to determine if he will be able to play through the injury or have the surgery to clean out the bone spurs in his right elbow. If Beltran looks good on Monday he will take a heavier load of swings on Tuesday. He seems to be responding well to the two cortisone shots he had received and has said he feels better, but none of that matters if he can’t swing the bat. Worst case is he could be out anywhere from eight to 12 weeks if they decide surgery is needed. As of right now Beltran is eligible to come of the disabled list on May 26.