Major League Baseball

Mariners P Lee to play catch then be re-evaluated

Published Mar. 23, 2010 1:19 a.m. ET

foxsports

Seattle Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee will play catch Tuesday then be re-evaluated as he recovers from a lower right abdominal strain.

Mariners head trainer Rick Griffin said Monday the former AL Cy Young Award winner was scheduled to do rehabilitation in a swimming pool later in the day.

Lee has been suspended for the first five games of the regular season for throwing over the head of Arizona's Chris Snyder in a spring-training game earlier this month, possibly delaying his highly anticipated debut with the Mariners.

Prior to the injury, Lee had been planning to appeal the suspension.

Another Mariners pitcher, Erik Bedard, had hoped to throw off a mound Tuesday, but that was called off. Griffin said Bedard is not yet ready and that long toss and throwing off flat ground will continue to be part of the lefty's rehabilitation process.

Manager Don Wakamatsu said after the Mariners lost to Oakland 7-2 on Monday that Bedard felt stiffness in his surgically repaired left shoulder after tossing on Saturday.

Yet the Mariners insist there has been no setback with Bedard, because he's ahead of schedule following surgery on Aug. 14 for a shoulder problem.

``I think we're in good shape with him,'' Wakamatsu said of the left-hander who has been able to pitch in just 15 games in each of his first two seasons in Seattle.

Griffin noted Bedard is seven months into rehabilitation from a surgery that has a normal recovery time is 10-12 months.

``He's so far ahead of where he's supposed to be,'' Griffin said.

Bedard is hoping to be able to pitch again by June.

Infielder Jack Hannahan has a strained right groin. It is slow in healing and now has him unlikely to be available for the start of the season in two weeks, Wakamatsu said. The candidate for Seattle's bench took ground balls on Monday and was still feeling discomfort, so he's headed for more tests.

``It's a lingering thing, so we're going to check it out a little deeper,'' Wakamatsu said. ``We thought he'd be further along.''