The latest on Kevin Gausman (plus Pirates lineup)

SARASOTA, Fla. - Kevin Gausman will do some light exercises for his right shoulder this morning as part of his recovery from a bout of tendinitis. He's moving in the right direction.

"Come in tomorrow and see how it reacts to that and then go from there," he said. "Might pick up a ball tomorrow, but the first couple days of throwing will probably be pretty light. It's still kind of a gradual thing right now."

Gausman received a cortisone injection on Sunday, putting in doubt his availability for opening day. It's one of the most important storylines as spring training winds down.

"They said it usually takes 48 hours to kind of set in," said Gausman, who's made two spring starts and allowed three runs in six innings, with one walk and six strikeouts. "Even two days in, I still had some symptoms and I was kind of worried, but now I've had three, four days of treatment. I feel like it really got better the last two days. With that said, I feel good about it. Excited to start throwing."

Gausman still could take his first turn in the rotation if he's placed on the disabled list, with the assignment backdated to March 25.

"Obviously, I don't want to miss any time, I don't want to miss any starts, but if I start throwing and I feel it again or I don't feel comfortable coming back out, I'm not going to jump into it having an issue still," Gausman said.

"If we get to that point and I'm still kind of struggling a little bit, then I might have to miss a couple starts or one. It's kind of all on how I feel, really."

Gausman doesn't know whether he'll stay in Sarasota while the Orioles head north to play the Phillies on April 1 and prepare for their opener.

"I was on the DL last season and I was with the team the whole time," he said. "I know what it entails and what it's like, so I guess that's kind of a plus, that I know what I'm getting myself into. But that's something we really haven't talked about yet."

For the Pirates
John Jaso 1B
Cole Figueroa SS
Matt Joyce LF
Michael Morse RF
Jason Rogers 3B
Danny Ortiz CF
Chris Stewart C
Pedro Florimon 2B
Jon Niese LHP