Peavy shows positive signs in bullpen session

CHICAGO -- Jake Peavy threw a successful bullpen session, which pitching coach Don Cooper called "light to medium" on Tuesday afternoon

"He did very well," Cooper said. "It was better than I thought it was going to be. We reacquainted ourselves with stretch, full windup, located his fastballs everywhere, changeup, threw a couple sliders, threw a couple cutters and threw some curveballs. So he threw all of his pitches [from the] stretch and full windup, and it went well. He'll have a couple days off, and we'll do it again."

Cooper said Peavy, who has been on the disabled list retroactive to June 5 with a fracture of the left fourth anterior rib, is expected to throw another session on Friday in St. Petersburg.

The right-hander is 6-4 with a 4.30 ERA this season, with 66 strikeouts in 11 starts (67 innings). He left his last start in Seattle on June 4 after 2 1/3 innings with the injury.

Cooper, who said they did not count Peavy's pitches in the session, is impressed with how Peavy's arm strength has kept up even after the lengthy layoff.

"The first couple he threw, I said, 'That's looking good to me right now,'" Cooper said. "Jake, with his savvy, with his experience, he could go out and pitch in a game right now, but obviously that's not what we're going to do because he's still recovering from the problem he had. But everything's looking good on that front."