Two starters are getting closer to coming off the injured list to help the Yankees in the bullpen.
Clarke Schmidt will make a fifth rehab appearance on Saturday, which could be his last if he gets through it without issue to finish off his comeback from Tommy John surgery, with the hope that he joins the Yankees on their upcoming road trip and gets activated.
“Let’s get through Saturday and we’ll see,” manager Aaron Boone said Friday before the Yankees’ 6-4 win over the Mets in the teams’ Subway Series opener. “But that’s in play.”
Ryan Weathers, meanwhile, is almost a week into his throwing program after being shut down for two weeks with a left forearm flexor strain, and is hoping to advance to a bullpen session on Monday.
The left-hander, who expects to start throwing his hard slider on flat ground Saturday — at which point he will be throwing all his pitches again — is trying to talk his way into being activated as soon as possible so he can pitch in at least a game or two of the regular season before heading into the playoffs.
“Obviously we’re kind of fighting the clock right now and we’re trying to be smart with it too,” Weathers said. “But everything’s trending in the right direction. … I have no doubt I could throw 40 pitches right now in a game. It’s like, if I just need 20-25, I’d rather use those in a game than burn them in a live [batting practice].
“I just would like to get an inning back in competition before [the playoffs]. Not that I don’t trust myself in a wild card or division series, but it’s more high-pressure and just [want to] get my feet back under me for an inning.”
José Caballero was out of the lineup Friday against the Mets for a second straight game, with Boone playing the hot hand at second base (without the injured Jazz Chisholm Jr.) in Anthony Volpe, who was called up on Thursday after learning the position at Triple-A.
Boone acknowledged that he has spoken with Caballero — who the Yankees value as a 10th man off the bench — about the situation as they enter crunch time.
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“Everyone wants to play,” Caballero said. “Everyone wants a chance to be out here and playing.That’s why we have a manager. He’s the one making decisions to play or not.
“We all, as players, have to take it and be OK with it and try to do the best we can do in the role we got.”
After getting Thursday off, Aaron Judge (1-for-3 with a walk) returned to the lineup Friday in his third game back from missing three months with a right rib stress fracture.
Boone said, “We’ll see,” when asked if Judge could play in all three games against the Mets.
The Yankees recalled reliever Bradley Hanner, returning to 14 pitchers on the 28-man roster after playing the Rockies series with an extra position player (Jasson Domínguez, who was optioned to Triple-A after Thursday’s game).
