The bone spur in Carlos Beltran’s right elbow won’t be fully healed without surgery, but the Yankees are hoping he’s good enough to help them right now.
After three extended spring training games in Tampa, Beltran returned to a battered Yankees lineup in time for Thursday’s 2-1 victory over the A’s at the Stadium.
Beltran went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts and a pop fly to center. Nevertheless, he said his first game back went well.
“It felt good,” Beltran said. “I feel like the game was going real fast.”
But that hardly means Beltran’s elbow is 100 percent.
“When they were trying to do the treatments to try to get me to all the range-of-motion [spots], sometimes I feel something there, but it’s not pain,” he said. “It’s nothing compared to what I felt when it happened. It’s better.”
He will be used only as a designated hitter for the time being, because he hasn’t thrown a ball since the injury.
Manager Joe Girardi is counting on Beltran to contribute.
“We feel that he’s healthy,” Girardi said. “He feels good. That’s why we brought him back. We wouldn’t have brought him back if we thought he was half the player he was as an offensive player.”
Beltran eventually will need to go under the knife, but would like to wait until after the season, because it would mean an 8-12 week recovery process. If he does have another setback, Beltran is unsure whether he would be able to have another cortisone shot, because he had two last month.
“I wasn’t really expecting to go out and kill the league,” Beltran said after the game. “I was actually just staying under control. The most important thing was to leave the game without feeling anything in my elbow.”
“I didn’t see him favor anything, which is really good for me to see,” Girardi said.
Scott Sizemore was designated for assignment and then optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make room for Beltran.
Mark Teixeira struck out on a check swing in the third inning and said his right wrist was OK.
“It’s getting better and will hopefully continue to get stronger,” he said.
With Beltran and Teixeira back — in some form — there’s less room for free agent Kendrys Morales, who is expected to sign soon now that it won’t cost his new team a draft pick.
Alfonso Soriano snapped a 16 at-bat hitless streak and went 2-for-3 with an RBI double, but Girardi only would guarantee him at-bats against lefties, while Ichiro Suzuki gets time against righties.
Soriano, who will continue to start against lefties, while Ichiro Suzuki gets time against right-handers.
“A lot of times when’s something’s wrong, it gets in your head,” Soriano said. “Now my mind is more relaxed.”
The Yankees selected Jacob Lindgren, a lefty pitcher from Mississippi State, with the 55th overall pick in the second round of the Major League Baseball draft.
Brian McCann hit seventh against Oakland southpaw Drew Pomeranz — not exactly what the Yankees were looking for when they gave him a five-year, $85 million deal.
“I think his at-bats were much better in the month of May than they were in April,” Girardi said. “It’s just that we’re facing a lefty today is the only reason I moved him down. It’s not where I plan to hit him against right-handers.”
Tom Zimmer, son of former Yankees coach Don Zimmer, who died Wednesday, released a statement which read in part, “On behalf of [the Zimmer family], want to thank our many friends, relatives, baseball personnel and fans around the country that have rooted so hard with prayers and well wishes for Pop’s recovery. What a great life he has had.”
The Rays, who employed Zimmer as a senior advisor, announced they will hold a special tribute to honor him before Sunday’s game against the Mariners. No funeral or other memorial service is planned.