Masahiro Tanaka's attempt to return from a torn elbow ligament without undergoing Tommy John surgery hit a roadblock Friday when the Yankees announced he would return to New York ahead of the team with what was termed as "general soreness'' in his pitching arm.

"I want to be a little bit cautious. I haven't been throwing for a couple of weeks and then I started throwing again and built up the number of pitches that I've been throwing,'' Tanaka said through his interpreter, Shingo Horie. "I think that's the reason why there's a little bit of extra soreness in the arm itself."