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NEW YORK — Carlos Beltran is set to begin a minor league rehab assignment.
The New York Mets’ All-Star center fielder, sidelined since June 22 with a bone bruise on his right knee, was examined Monday by team medical director Dr. David Altchek and cleared to play without his knee brace.
Beltran is slated to be in the lineup Wednesday night for Class-A Brooklyn against visiting Hudson Valley.
In other news, Mets pitchers Johan Santana and Oliver Perez are scheduled for surgery today. Santana will have bone chips removed from his left elbow. Perez is to have scar tissue extracted from the patella tendon of his right knee.
The injury-depleted Mets say both pitchers should be ready for spring training.
New York also recalled catcher Josh Thole from Double-A Binghamton.
Beltran was batting .336 with eight homers and 40 RBI when he was placed on the disabled list.
Santana, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, went 13-9 with a 3.13 ERA in 25 starts this year. Perez, slowed by his sore knee, was a bust in the first season of a $36 million, three-year contract. He finished 3-4 with a 6.82 ERA in 14 starts.
Both operations will be performed by Altchek and Mets physician Dr. Struan Coleman.
YANKEES
TAMPA, Fla. — Yankees pitcher Ian Kennedy will throw batting practice Wednesday for the first time since surgery May 12 to remove an aneurysm from beneath his right biceps.
Kennedy said he felt great after throwing 45 pitches off a mound Monday. The right-hander will make 30 pitches during Wednesday’s session. He also is scheduled to face hitters Saturday and the following Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Kennedy was pitching for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre when he experienced numbness in his pitching hand earlier this season. He is set to pitch in September’s instructional league and afterward in the Arizona Fall League.
Kennedy went 1-4 with a 6.14 ERA in 13 major league games with the Yankees from 2007-08, including 12 starts.
REDS
CINCINNATI — Johnny Cueto has been activated from the disabled list to start the second game of the Cincinnati Reds’ doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Cueto hadn’t pitched since Aug. 15 because of a sore right shoulder. He had lost his last six decisions when he went on the DL.
Following their 4-3 victory in the opening game Monday, the Reds also put outfielder Laynce Nix on the 15-day disabled list with a bulging disk in his neck. Nix is batting .251 with 13 homers and 37 RBI.
RANGERS
ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia has been shut down again after experiencing more numbness in his right arm.
If rest doesn’t help this time, Saltalamacchia likely will need season-ending surgery. He says it’s “probably a 50-50 chance” he will need surgery.
Saltalamacchia, on the disabled list since Aug. 15 because of recurring numbness, had the same problem when catching during a minor league rehab assignment Sunday. He caught seven innings but says his fingers were so numb he couldn’t feel the ball.