Strained oblique lands Yanks’ Carlos Beltran on disabled list

The Yankees had targeted Friday as a possible day to activate Jacoby Ellsbury from the disabled list, but the outfielder wasn’t ready to return. He is in the second season of a three-year, $45 million contract.

Friday’s call-up, Triple-A outfielder Ramon Flores, will fill in for Beltran while he’s out.

The 38-year-old Beltran was batting. “I think what you risk really doing is him hurting it really badly”, Girardi said.

Rib injuries, he added, are particularly challenging in that, even if a player feels healthy, “What I’ve found…is they’re not quite as strong as they were before”. However, Ellsbury returning to the ball club on Friday is officially out of the question. “We had concerns about having him try to throw, so we thought it was best to give him this time off, especially with the off days we have and the All-Star break…” Ellsbury began a rehab assignment with Class A Tampa on Monday, sat out Tuesday, played Wednesday and sat out again the next two days.

Ellsbury is going through a spring training-like progression, which includes sprints and other baseball activities, and is slowly getting his legs back.

“He’s working extremely hard”. Physically, you don’t want to go out there if you are physically tired or sore.

Last year, Beltran battled bone spurs in his elbow that caused him to miss more than a month and have his worst offensive season. Girardi said he would not put a timetable on it. “When I do and then it doesn’t go ideal, a lot of times it is a conspiracy”, he said.