CHICAGO – Derek Jeter took batting practice at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa yesterday, fielded ground balls and played catch. He is slated to do it again today and there is a possibility he could come off the DL Saturday.
“Maybe by the end of the week he could get in a [minor league] game,” Joe Torre said his All-Star shortstop who hasn’t played since May 11 due to a left abdominal strain. “He needs a game to make sure that all this time we have invested in him doesn’t go down the drain.”
Counting the game he left on May 11, the Yankees are 2-8 without Jeter after last night’s 8-2 loss to the White Sox.
As for other medical news, Shane Spencer missed his second straight game with a left hamstring problem but was available to pinch hit.
“It’s up to them,” Spencer said when asked when he would play. “I can hit and run. The flexibility is a little tender but the strength feels good.”
According to Torre, there is a “pretty good chance Spencer can DH [tonight].”
Despite a balky back, Jim Leyritz went 1-for-2 with two walks filling in for Spencer.
Chuck Knoblauch, who left Sunday’s game with a bruised left wrist, was in the starting lineup last night and went 1-for-4.
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After giving it additional thought, the Yankees decided to put off activating Allen Watson from the DL last night. Instead, Watson will rejoin the club Friday night at Yankee Stadium when the Red Sox open a three-game series.
“We decided to give him another day,” Torre said of Watson, who has made three appearances for Columbus (Triple-A) and was expected to be with the Clippers for last night’s doubleheader in Columbus.
“We gave him off two days after working back-to-back days. There is no [physical] problem, he didn’t go backward. He will pitch [tonight] and be ready to go.”
Watson, Torre’s second lefty reliever, has been out since injuring an oblique muscle on April 22.
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Yankees are slated to receive their 1999 World Championship rings Monday prior to an afternoon game against the A’s at Yankee Stadium.
Ricky Ledee has heard his name in trade rumors for the past four years and has never really had much reaction to it. With the Yankees shopping for a bat, it’s not out of the question that Ledee would be traded.
“There is nothing I can do,” Ledee said sitting in the dugout prior to last night’s game.
Ledee was in left field last night, went 1-for-4 and is on a 3-for-24 (.125) slide.