The Pirates received highly encouraging injury news on two fronts yesterday, with catcher Ryan Doumit cleared to begin full rehabilitation and closer Matt Capps pitching a clean bullpen session.

Doumit's CT scan yesterday at Allegheny General Hospital showed a best-case scenario of strong healing in his fractured right wrist. The scaphoid bone, which had pins inserted April 23, appeared independently solid, and that was a requirement before Doumit could resume activities involving the wrist.

He still will wear the cast for a short period but could be throwing later this week. His timetable for a full return to the Pirates is mid-June.

Capps threw a 32-pitch bullpen session at PNC Park, and he had no discomfort afterward in the right elbow bruised by a line drive Monday. The elbow remained sensitive to the touch, but that would not keep him from pitching as early as the weekend series against the Houston Astros that begins tonight.

Reliever Tyler Yates also worked out at PNC, but his right elbow remains inflamed, and he will not return from the 15-day disabled list when eligible Sunday.

Another reliever, Craig Hansen, had more tests performed on his ailing neck and upper back, but no results were immediately known.

NOTES -- The trip that elite Dominican outfield prospect Miguel Angel Sano was supposed to make next month to the United States -- as part of a team that would face New England college players --has been canceled because of a lack of funding. Rene Gayo, the Pirates' Latin American scouting director, was to have been the team's manager. ... The Pirates remain deeply interested in Sano, but his price could be going up: The St. Louis Cardinals are set to offer Wagner Mateo, a Dominican center fielder, a $4 million bonus, just shy of the record $4.25 million. Mateo is seen by some as the third-best prospect in the region, while Sano is widely seen as No. 1. ... One scouting director for another National League team said yesterday that Sano's potential is on par with that of Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates' top draft pick last summer.