YANKEE NOTES
BOSTON – In an ideal world, the Yankees would have wanted Kevin Brown to make at least one minor league rehab start before coming off the DL Monday night to face the Rangers.
However, the Yankees’ pitching situation is anything but ideal. Tim Redding was rocked Friday, 39-year-old Al Leiter will start today and the Yankees don’t know who Wednesday night’s starter is.
“The position we are in, we will take what he gives us,” Joe Torre said of Brown, whose last start was June 15. A balky back landed him on the DL the next day for the second time this season.
Brown, 40, is 4-6 with a 5.48 ERA in 11 starts.
*
Center fielder Melky Cabrera took a seat on the bench for the first time as a big leaguer yesterday, one night after turning Trot Nixon’s liner into a three-run, inside-the-park homer.
“I talked to him and told him, because of his age [20] and what we have asked of him, not to get down,” Torre said of Cabrera, who has struggled defensively in six games, but wasn’t charged with an error Friday, and is hitting .211 (4-for-19).
Torre, who started Bernie Williams in center field, said Cabrera won’t start today. It’s likely that when the Yankees open a three-game series tomorrow night in Texas, Cabrera won’t be with them.
Bubba Crosby would be the logical move to replace Cabrera. He can be recalled from Columbus (Triple-A) tomorrow.
*
Carl Pavano threw a 55-pitch bullpen yesterday in Tampa and according to GM Brian Cashman, who talked to Pavano, it went well.
“He said it was going in the right direction,” said Cashman, who hopes to have the right-hander back from the DL (shoulder) a week from tomorrow . . . Cashman said it was too early to think about Hideo Nomo, who was designated for assignment by Tampa Bay yesterday.
*
Chien-Ming Wang will travel to Birmingham today to have his bothersome right shoulder examined by Dr. James Andrews tomorrow. Wang, who is on the DL, is suffering from a rotator cuff problem that is likely to keep him out for the rest of the season and could require surgery.
