New York Yankees Right-Hander Michael Pineda Suffers Setback During Rehab

The New York Yankees received more discouraging news concerning the health of their pitching rotation when right-hander Michael Pineda's latest MRI revealed more swelling in his injured right shoulder.

Pineda, who hasn't pitched since being ejected during the infamous pine tar game against the Boston Red Sox on April 23rd, was scheduled to throw on Saturday but will have to wait at least another week.

"We're pretty confident that he'll start throwing Saturday," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "Our doctor felt that it would not be necessary because it was fairly minor -- the amount of inflammation, compared to what it was -- and that a week would be plenty sufficient."

This is not the first setback suffered by Pineda during his rehab. The initial injury occurred during a simulated game in April at the Yankees facility in Tampa, Florida while Pineda was serving his 10-game suspension for using pine tar in his start against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. He attempted to make a start in an intrasquad game on June 1 but was unable to due to soreness in the shoulder.

The Yankees have been dealing with a rash of injuries to their starting rotation this season. Ivan Nova is out for the year after suffering a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in a April 19 start against the Tampa Bay Rays. Nova had Tommy John Surgery to repair the injury on April 29. He is expected to begin a throwing program in September.

Left-hander CC Sabathia went on the disabled list May 11 with a degenerative right-knee that began filling with fluid. Sabathia is making progress in his rehab after receiving stem cell and cortisone injections from Dr. James Andrews in May. He threw a 36 pitch bullpen session before the Yankees game against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.

“I feel pretty good,” Sabathia said. “I haven’t experienced any of the things I have earlier in the year. I’m excited about the way I feel. My arm feels good. My knee, the brace I have on it is helping a lot. I’m ready to go.”

Sabathia is scheduled to throw batting practice at the Yankees training facility in Tampa on Tuesday followed with an appearance in a minor league game on Saturday. The Yankees and Sabathia are hopeful that he is only a few rehab starts in the minors away from rejoining a pitching staff that has seen 3/5 of it's starters go down. Outside of Masahiro Tanaka who has a stellar record of 11-5 with a 2.11 ERA, the rest of the current rotation is a combined 11-13 with a 4.90 ERA.

“I’ve just been sitting around here feeling sorry for myself, just watching the team grind,” Sabathia said. “It’s tough. I want to go out there and compete with these guys. I feel better that I do have a little light where I can see I can hopefully get back out there healthy.”

Despite their starting pitching injuries, the Yankees currently sit 1 1/2 games behind first place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. Having a six-time All-Star like Sabathia back in the rotation for the start of the second half of the season would be a huge shot in the arm for the Yankees.