On Friday, heralded Oakland A's prospect Michael Ynoa, who was signed last year to a record $4.25 million bonus, will pitch in a game for the first time in almost seven months when he makes his debut for Oakland's instructional league team in the Dominican Republic. Ynoa, 17, who missed the entire 2009 season with elbow problems, threw a pain free, eight-batter, 25-pitch simulated batting practice session last week in front of A's general manager Billy Beane and assistant GM David Forst in the Dominican. "He looked great and pitched free and easy and pain-free," Forst said. "It's an excellent first step for him."During that session, Ynoa was throwing in the 90-91 mph range, which may raise some concerns considering that Ynoa's ability to throw in the mid-90s was what got him the record bonus as a 16-year-old signed out of the Dominican. But Forst said that Ynoa was only throwing at 80-85 percent effort."I don't think anyone has any concerns that he'll get back to that," Forst said. "I don't think anyone is concerned about his velocity." Ynoa will throw one inning -- or a maximum of 25 pitches -- on Friday, and will throw a total of 10 innings in the instructional league. After Friday, Forst said, Ynoa will throw a pair of two-inning outings and one three-inning outing. For the past 6-8 weeks, Ynoa had been on a throwing program. Prior to that, he was limited to conditioning work when the team shut him down after complaints of elbow pain during extended spring training in Arizona. Ynoa already had elbow pain prior to the start of spring training. Forst said Ynoa's spirits were much improved after his pain-free session on Thursday. "It's probably been a little frustrating for him in Arizona," Forst said. "He was certainly smiling a lot more than he did all summer."Assuming a smooth recovery, Ynoa will likely start his professional career in one of Oakland's short league teams -- either on one of the A's two rookie-league teams or in short-season Vancouver. "He'll be pitching at 18 all year, so I don't think we'd consider rushing him to a full-season team at this point," Forst said.

Mateo to see eye specialist

Amateur Dominican outfield prospect Wagner Mateo will visit an eye specialist next week in Florida with hopes that a new diagnosis will help speed up negotiations for a new contract. Mateo, 16, had signed a team-record $3.1 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals on July 2 that was voided because the team had concerns about what they determined was Mateo's deteriorating eye condition. "We don't think it's a more serious problem than we originally thought," Mateo's trainer Edgar Mercedes said, "but we are looking for a more accurate diagnosis from a respected specialist in the U.S. that can help reassure teams."Mercedes said about 15 teams are still interested in Mateo but that all of them are looking for answers in regards to his vision problems. To help with negotiations, Mercedes has enlisted the help of noted agent Adam Katz, whose company represents such stars as Sammy Sosa and Hanley Ramirez, and who helped Mercedes negotiate a record $4.25 million bonus for Michael Ynoa last year. "We think that Mateo's contract will likely have specific clauses [related to his vision], so I hired Adam Katz to help me with the details," Mercedes said. At this point it seems unlikely that Mateo will sign before the end of the year. More realistically, he will sign sometime in January. Mercedes said Mateo is set to participate in a Perfect Games tournament in Ft. Myers, Fla., on Jan. 8-10.

Payano may sign soon

Mercedes also said that 16-year-old left-handed pitcher Victor Payano, whose $900,000 contract was voided by the Boston Red Sox because of shoulder issues, may soon sign for a similar amount with another team.Payano is scheduled to throw for the Blue Jays on Thursday. "He's going to sign this month, I think," Mercedes said.

King loses gracefully

"King" Felix Hernandez was gracious in defeat after coming in second place to Zack Greinke in Tuesday's announcement of the American League Cy Young award. "I'm happy for him," he told Venezuelan newspaper El Universal. "He deserved it, but so did I."He added, "I know that for Venezuelans I'm the Cy Young and I'm grateful for that. My Venezuelan fans were more interested in the vote than I was. My country is what matters most, and it's always an honor for me to represent the Venezuelan flag."Hernandez had hoped to become the first Venezuelan to win the Cy Young since Johan Santana, who the AL award in 2006. Greinke received all but two of the first-place votes in balloting released Tuesday. Venezuela now has two runners-up in the award season. Shortstop Elvis Andrus finished second to Andrew Bailey in the AL Rookie of the Year voting on Monday. Read a full account of Hernandez's reaction: Spanish | English

News and notes

• Los Angeles Angels outfielder Bobby Abreu won the eighth annual Pepsi Home Run Derby at Luis Aparicio Stadium in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Abreu hit a total of five home runs in three rounds. Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano finished in last place with one home run. (Read: Spanish | English) • This week, a Dominican bank -- Banco Hipotecario Dominicano -- in Boca Chica inaugurated a new exhibition space to display artifacts honoring the Dominican's illustrious baseball history. This space will display such items as jerseys by Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez worn when each hit his 500th career home run. Also included will be Vladimir Guerrero's jersey from the 2007 home run derby, and Albert Pujols' jersey from the 2006 World Series. • It was also noted that the Dominican bank will open a youth training center that will be run by former MLB Dominican office staffer and former New York Yankees academy head Martin Valerio. (Read: Spanish | English) • Last week, veteran Cuban pitcher Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez made his debut in the Venezuelan winter league. In his first outing on Tuesday, he threw a scoreless inning of relief for the Bravos de Margarita. In his first start on Friday, El Duque pitched four scoreless innings while striking out five. Hernandez is scheduled to pitch Wednesday against fellow Cuban Vladimir Nuñez of the Cardenals de Lara. (Read: Spanish | English)

Want to be part of the conversation? Write Jorge at jorge.arangure@espn3.comin English or Spanish.