TAMPA – The Yankees have their first camp casualties.
Right-handed reliever Brian Bruney is suffering from a back problem on the left side that could be rib cage related and right-hander Humberto Sanchez wasn’t able to throw batting practice yesterday due to tightness in his right forearm.
“It’s been pretty much there since my first bullpen [session],” Bruney said. “It’s kind of a rib cage thing. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Signed off his couch after Arizona released him, Bruney was a pleasant find for the Yankees last year when he was 1-1 with a 0.87 ERA in 19 games and earned a spot on the postseason roster. Asked if the problem was serious enough to shut him down, Bruney wasn’t sure.
“I don’t know yet,” said Bruney, who is slated to throw batting practice today.
If the 6-foot-3, 245-pound Bruney is shelved, the Yankees have options. Chris Britton, who came from the Orioles for Jaret Wright, has impressed Joe Torre in mound sessions. Britton, a 6-3, 275-pound right-hander, appeared in 52 games for Baltimore last season. Other options include lefties Ron Villone and Sean Henn and righties Jeff Karstens, T.J. Beam and Darrell Rasner.
“We have depth that we haven’t had in a while,” Torre said of his bullpen candidates.
Karstens and Rasner have starting experience. Sanchez, who pushes the radar guns to 96 mph, impressed Jason Giambi in batting practice Thursday but was scratched yesterday.
“[The concern with Sanchez is] muscular in the forearm,” Torre said of the 6-foot-6, 270-pound product of South Bronx High School, who came from Detroit in the Gary Sheffield deal. “He will throw [today].”
Sanchez, who said he was okay, doesn’t figure to make the team out of camp unless the rotation suffers a couple of injuries.
He is viewed as a pitcher who can start or relieve. While Sanchez is an imposing figure with a blistering fastball, he isn’t a stranger to injuries.
In 2004 he was on the minor league DL with a right knee problem. Three times in 2005 he was on the shelf with a rib cage and groin problems. Last year, a right elbow injury knocked him out.