Morning notes: Karstens, live BP

Tuesday, 19 February 2013 09:54

Written by Bill Brink

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Jeff Karstens said this morning that he has some tightness in his right biceps and will avoid throwing off a mound for the time being.

Karstens and Stolmy Pimentel, a late arrival to camp because of visa problems, were the only two pitchers not scheduled to throw live batting practice today or tomorrow.

The biceps tightened on Karstens in the past few days, he said.

"It felt really good after my second bullpen," he said. "It just really didn’t bounce back. We’ve had that cold weather come in too. I don’t know if that hinders it a little bit. I don’t think its anything that’s going to be crazy. I’m just trying to be smart now."

Karstens will play catch today and see how he feels. He said he has not had an MRI exam, and that the biceps has not bothered him in the past.

Karstens was limited to 902/3 innings last season because of shoulder and hip injuries.

On Thursday, Clint Hurdle said Karstens believed he had moved on from his health problems during the offseason.

"He's very optimistic about his health and the offseason program he was able to put into place," Hurdle said. "At the end of the day that was the biggest question mark in all that happened and we're more than happy to bring him back and get him engaged in a rotational opportunity because of what we've seen from him when he's been healthy."

Over the weekend, Hurdle said Karstens not throwing live batting practice was "nothing health related, it's just the way we set it up," and that Karstens wanted more bullpen sessions before facing hitters.

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Here is the live batting practice schedule for today.

Field 1: A.J. Burnett, James McDonald, Hunter Strickland, Kyle Waldrop

Field 2: Gerrit Cole, Kris Johnson, Erik Cordier

Field 3: Jeff Locke, Jameson Taillon, Ryan Reid

Field 4: Jason Grilli, Mark Melancon, Vic Black