Bailey (back) to throw off mound soon

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FORT MYERS, Fla. -- After a slight setback a few days ago, Andrew Bailey expects to throw off a mound again in ''the next couple of days.''

Bailey suffered a lat strain during vertical leap drills Friday, which caused the Red Sox to put the breaks on his throwing program. He threw from 90 feet Saturday and Sunday before stretching out to 120 feet Monday.

"It's February and you've got to keep that in mind,'' said Bailey. "(It's smart) to take the extra three or four days, a week, whatever it is and get it taken care of now.''

Bailey said the strain "wasn't a complete pull; it was more of a tweak. I told them about it. The next morning, it was more like a toothache, annoying, so we shut it down.''

Said Bobby Valentine: "I think he's right on pace to full recovery.''

Bailey has not been listed in the schedule of pitchers posted through next Tuesday's game, but Valentine said he could easily be added once he's cleared for game action.

"If you work back from Opening Day,'' said Valentine, "there's plenty of time to get those nine appearances in without worrying about it. Relief pitchers are pretty easy to get ready for a season.''

"I'm not too far behind everyone else,'' noted Bailey. "My arm's still fresh. I threw live BP (last week) and felt great. As soon as I get through this and get a bullpen in, I'll be back to live BP. It's not like I need to do any rehab program and be shut down for a couple of weeks.

"It wasn't a serious injury. Considering it was a little minor thing that we didn't want to evolve into something bigger, we cut it back while we were ahead.''

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