Slowly but surely, the Yankees are becoming whole again, and while Derek Jeter could return as early as Monday in Cleveland, Bartolo Colon may beat him back to action by a couple of days.
Colon, out since June 12 with a strained left hamstring, was given the green light to start Game 2 of the Subway Series Saturday. And the portly pitcher seemed happy to be back in the rotation.
"I feel good," Colon said through his interpreter. "I'm ready to come back and help the team. My bullpen went well. I'm happy to be back with everyone. I'm looking forward to Saturday."
Colon has been a pleasant surprise for the Yankees this season, after being plucked off baseball's scrap heap in January when the Yankees signed the 37-year-old to a minor-league deal. This season Colon has a 5-3 record with a 3.10 ERA after not pitching in the majors at all in 2010.
So exactly what will the Yankees' rotation look like when Colon and Phil Hughes return to the Bronx?
It's still a work in progress, Joe Girardi said.
"We haven't figured that completely out," Girardi said. "Those are some tough decisions that we're going to have to make."
CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett are locks in the rotation. Same goes for Hughes and Colon when they return. Freddy Garcia? All he's done is win seven games with an ERA of 3.28. That leaves rookie Ivan Nova, Friday night's starter in the Subway Series. Does Nova move to the pen? Go to Scranton where he can continue to start and wait for the next rotation disruption? Or do the Yankees go the route the Royals and White Sox have taken and go with a six-man rotation?
"It's something we're going to think about as well," Girardi said. "Do we feel a guy needs an extra day off? Do you skip a guy just to give him a little extra rest in one spot? There are just some different things that you could do to be creative with the rotation if you do a six-man. Do, all of a sudden, you need one guy in the bullpen because your bullpen was fried the day before? Those are all things you have to consider if you do that."
Nova said he would pitch on however many days' rest the Yankees requested, but preferred going every fifth day. As for Sabathia, the veteran lefty was more coy. "I'm not answering that," he coolly said.
One day after a confidence-building rehab appearance at Trenton, in which his fastball topped out at 94 mph, Phil Hughes reiterated that he doesn't think he needs another start in the minors before returning to the Yankees' rotation. The 18-game winner in 2010 has been sidelined since April 15 with right shoulder inflammation.
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