Cone Heads for Possible Tuesday Start

David Cone, rehabilitating from a right shoulder injury, went through a pain-free workout Saturday and said, “I felt better than I have throughout this whole ordeal.”

But New York Yankee Manager Joe Torre said he will wait until today to decide if Cone will start Tuesday’s American League playoff game against Cleveland.

Cone, a right-hander, has made two starts since missing 33 days with the injury. His last start was Thursday at Cleveland, and a day later Cone said the shoulder was hurting. But he needed only a little more than half of a scheduled 10-minute bullpen workout Saturday to determine his arm felt all right.

Torre watched the workout with Yankee General Manager Bob Watson and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre.

“I’m concerned that he hasn’t pitched a whole lot,” Torre said. “But I can only go by David Cone and what I saw [during the workout]. What I saw was free and easy.”

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New York Met pitcher Rick Reed, a replacement player during the strike, wants to get back into the union and has met with union chief Don Fehr regarding reinstatement.

Reed became a replacement player for the Cincinnati Reds during the owners’ spring training lockout in 1995.

A group of replacement players, including Reed, were denied admission to the union. Replacements were told last December that they would be given the opportunity to show cause why they should be admitted to the union.