Britton: "I'm feeling really good now"

The Orioles placed Mike Wright on the 10-day disabled list today with right shoulder bursitis. They also announced that they optioned Jimmy Yacabonis to Triple-A Norfolk and recalled Gabriel Ynoa and left-hander Vidal Nuño from the Tides.

The latest bullpen makeover will be on display tonight for the series opener against the Cardinals.

Wright is expected to receive a cortisone injection in his shoulder. He felt the discomfort while throwing a slider to the White Sox's José Abreu during Wednesday night's game in Chicago.

Ynoa is 1-5 with a 6.93 ERA and 1.91 WHIP in nine starts over 37 2/3 innings. He isn't a hot hand, with 10 earned runs and 14 hits allowed in his last two starts covering 9 1/3 innings. He's also walked six batters.

Ynoa tossed six scoreless relief innings against the White Sox in his only appearances with the Orioles before going on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring.

Nuño is 1-3 with a 3.00 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 13 relief appearances over 21 innings. He's 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA and 1.75 WHIP in nine relief appearances with the Orioles over 12 innings.

Zach Britton returned to the Orioles clubhouse today after throwing 22 pitches yesterday in a simulated game at Single-A Frederick. He's going to pitch the first inning of Monday's game at short-season Single-A Aberdeen to begin his injury rehab assignment.

"It went really well, actually," he said. "Facing hitters for the first time in a while. Physically, felt great. That's what it kind of was all about. Woke up this morning, felt great again. Progress has been really, really good lately, and I've had no setbacks off the mound.

"I'm feeling really good now and I just have to get back in game form and then I'll be ready to go."

Britton disputed early projections that he could be on the disabled list for 60 days, but he's grown to endorse the Orioles' deliberate approach.

"I think the timeframe wasn't what I wanted," he said. "I didn't want to be out that long, but from what we've done from a rehab standpoint and building up to throwing, it's been nothing but positive, so you can't fault them for maybe being a bit more cautious. And I think that it was the right thing to do, obviously, since I came back early one time. We didn't want that to happen again.

"We followed what (Dr. Neal) ElAttrache and (Dr. Michael) Jacobs had said we needed to do. So far, so good."

The Orioles also were working to figure out how Britton strained his left forearm, and how to prevent the discomfort from returning.

"Some of the doctors asked me if I remember a time where I felt something, because the hand specialists that we talked to said it would be a very hard thing to do throwing a baseball, and more so likely that you may have done it in the gym picking up a weight," Britton said.

"No one's 100 percent sure exactly if that's where it happened. I'm not really sure. I just know that from everything I've heard, this injury will go away and you'll never deal with it again if you treat it right. And I've been doing the weightlifting stuff now for a few days and everything feels normal."