NEW YORK (AP) – Mel Stottlemyre won’t return as pitching coach of the Yankees, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Stottlemyre has been the pitching coach since manager Joe Torre was hired before the 1996 season and was one of his key aides along with bench coach Don Zimmer, who left after the 2003 season following a dispute with owner George Steinbrenner.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman wouldn’t discuss the team’s coaching staff Wednesday. The Times cited an unidentified person who spoke to one of Stottlemyre’s colleagues.

Neil Allen, the pitching coach at Triple-A Columbus, is viewed as the most likely successor to Stottlemyre, who wavered after the 2003 season before deciding to return.

In other news, Gary Sheffield was examined Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala., by Dr. James Andrews, who said the right fielder should not have surgery on his left shoulder.

Sheffield could not raise his left arm for much of the season and was forced to catch balls at his side.

Sheffield, who was examined previously by Yankees physician Dr. Stuart Hershon and Dr. Frank Jobe, will follow a rehabilitation routine and be examined again in two weeks to determine whether he needs arthroscopic surgery.

Cashman said Sheffield will not require knee surgery.

“The knees are fine,” he said.