Pineda scratched, goes on DL with forearm strain
ARLINGTON -- Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda was scratched from his scheduled start against the Rangers on Thursday and has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with what the club said is a right flexor forearm muscle strain.
Pineda said that he felt the discomfort after his most recent bullpen session two days ago and reported it to the team's medical staff on Wednesday at Globe Life Park. An MRI exam revealed the strain.
"I'm not worried. I feel a little sad today because I want to pitch, I want to stay in the game," Pineda said. "But I'm not worried about that. I'll continue working and come back as soon as I can."
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that Pineda's exam did not show damage to the elbow ligament.
"I think for everyone that's a sense of relief," Girardi said. "We know that we're going to be without him for a while. I think they talked about seven to 10 days without throwing and then we'll get him back going again."
CC Sabathia stepped in to take Pineda's place against Texas, working on normal rest because the Yanks used Chris Capuano as their starter in Tuesday's 21-5 victory. Manager Joe Girardi said that Nathan Eovaldi will start on Friday at Chicago.
The Yankees have not named a probable starter for Saturday, but their expectation is that right-hander Ivan Nova will start Sunday. Limited to 75 pitches due to arm fatigue in his last outing, Nova was surprised to hear of a report that he was questionable for Sunday's start against the White Sox.
"I'm not hurt. I don't know where that came from," Nova said. "I'm going to throw everything normal, keep my routine. I'm going to throw my bullpen and get ready for my game."
Right-hander Bryan Mitchell was promoted from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and could be an option to start Saturday's game. Right-hander Nick Goody was also recalled from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, boarding a flight back to Texas after being demoted to the Minors earlier this week.
The Yankees were already proceeding cautiously with their rotation, mindful of Masahiro Tanaka's health, Pineda's climbing innings total and Sabathia's heavy career workload.
They have not been firmly connected to the crop of remaining available starters in advance of Friday's 4 p.m. ET non-waiver Trade Deadline, a group that includes the Reds' Mike Leake and the Padres' James Shields.
One option, should they need another starter, is to promote right-hander Luis Severino from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Severino struck out a career-high 10 batters in his start for the Yanks' top farm affiliate on Wednesday.
"I feel OK," Girardi said. "We're going to have to give Michael a little time off. I mean, that's not what you want, but we've had to deal with this over the course of the year and we've gotten to where we are with the guys stepping up, guys making starts that maybe thought wouldn't make a ton of starts. So it's not exactly what you want, but we'll figure that out."