Injury updates: Francisco Cervelli and Shawn Kelley close to returning

The Yankees have dealt with their fair share of injuries this season, with Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran, David Robertson, CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda, Ivan Nova, Francisco Cervelli and Shawn Kelley all hitting the disabled list at some point.

The first three are back, the next two are out until who knows when, Nova is done of the year because of Tommy John, and the last two are the closest to returning from their injuries.

Here is a quick update on how Cervelli and Kelley are doing:

C Francisco Cervelli

Cervelli began a rehab last week, playing two games with the High-A Tampa Yankees, where he went 0-for-7 with a walk. He was transferred to Triple-A Scranton on Saturday and played his first game with the RailRiders yesterday, going 0-for-1.

Cervelli told reporters after the game that the plan for him is to play with the Triple-A club on Monday and Tuesday before moving down to Double-A Trenton to finish off the rest of his rehab assignment.

Cervelli hit the DL back on April 15 after blowing out his hamstring in a game against the Boston Red Sox, and was placed on the 60-day DL.

He won the backup catchers job in spring training over John Ryan Murphy and Austin Romine after putting up great numbers -- he would have won the starting job had the Yankees not just paid Brian McCann $85 million -- hitting .405 with four homeruns in 15 games down in Florida. However, he was hitting just .188 (3-for-16) before going down.

When Cervelli is ready to come back, the Yankees will have a little bit of a problem to figure: will they decide to carry three catchers on the roster, and if so, where will Cervelli fit in?

Yankees manager Joe Girardi has not ruled out the idea of carry all three of McCann, Murphy and Cervelli.

"A lot of it depends on where we're at when he's eligible to come off and where he's at," Girardi said.

Although, Cervelli has been told to start taking ground balls first base, and that could be an option for him when he returns. He's only played at first twice in his career, but the Yankees need a better backup first baseman behind Mark Teixeira, and if it gets him on the field, I'm sure Cervelli will be up to the challenge.

The Yankees' 40-man roster currently stands at 39 and Cervelli is out of options, but Murphy has played well since taking over as the backup, so it would be tough to send him down.

RHP Shawn Kelley

Kelley began his rehab with Double-A Trenton on Friday, pitching 2/3 of an inning in his first game outing since injuring his back a couple and going on the DL a few weeks ago.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters on Sunday that Kelley will pitch in another rehab game for Trenton on Monday and then will eye a return to the Major League team on Wednesday during their series in Seattle.

Kelley has said that he feels ready to go. but also said the same thing no longer ago before suffering a set back during the Yankees' trip to Chicago.

When he does return, the Yankees will have to cut ties one someone in the bullpen. My guess would be Matt Daley, hasn't been good lately, giving up a run in each of his last three appearances.

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