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New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda threw what was termed a “successful” bullpen session on Tuesday, throwing a 35-pitch session in Tampa that included throwing sliders off a mound for the first time.

The bullpen was Pineda’s longest so far in his rehab from 2012 shoulder surgery, and he joked with Chad Jennings of the Westchester Journal News that the slider “was my best pitch today.”

Pineda said last month that he felt his shoulder is strong and that he’s on track for a mid-season debut, and Tuesday’s bullpen was another positive step in that direction.

Another Yankees pitcher who missed all of 2012, lefty reliever Cesar Cabral, also threw a 35-pitch bullpen that included sliders on Tuesday, and said that “everything’s good” after the session. Cabral, who sat out all of last season after suffering a stress fracture in his elbow during Spring Training, is on the same rehab timeline as Pineda, and manager Joe Girardi said last month that it’s possible Cabral could be pitching in Minor League games by mid-May.

Lefty Boone Logan, who has been battling elbow soreness, also threw a bullpen session on Tuesday morning, as did the quintet of Mark Montgomery, Vidal Nuno, CC Sabathia, David Phelps, and Adam Warren; Sabathia is set to make his Grapefruit League debut on Friday against the Marlins, Phelps will next pitch Saturday for the split squad heading to Lake Buena Vista to face the Braves, and as of now, Warren and Nuno are the most likely candidates to fill the starting vacancy against the Blue Jays on Thursday.

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