The New York Yankees placed infielder Kevin Youkilis on the disabled list with a lumbar spine sprain. The team recalled infielder Corban Joseph, who will make his major-league debut when he gets into a game. Joseph is hitting .273 with four homers and nine RBI in 22 games at Triple-A Scranton.
Youkilis was signed to a one-year $12 million deal last winter and is hitting .266 with two home runs and seven RBI in 17 games. He would be eligible to return from the disabled list on May 13.
An MRI on Youkilis’ back was negative proving no structural damage And he received an epidural injection of a painkiller. Youkilis had missed eight of the last nine games because of what manager Joe Girardi had described as a stiff back. Playing in a game on Saturday cost the Yankees an opportunity to back date his stay on the disabled list.
“You do the fire drill, you go through it, trainers, manager, coaches, player, doctor, everybody’s involved, front office,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “And if it works you don’t look back. If it doesn’t work, you have regret. If we could do it all over again, we would not have played him last Saturday.”
Youkilis joins Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez,Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Francisco Cervelli, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda on the disabled list.
