Yankees Place Posada on DL, Matsui Says No to Surgery

By KC Downey in News, Red Sox ⋅ July 22, 2008 at 6:36am ⋅ Post a comment

Sox Fans normally don’t want to see players get injured, even Yankees, but this has to be good news for the home town team. The Yankees placed Jorge Posada on the 15-day disabled list with an injured shoulder. Posada, who signed a $52.4 million, four-year deal in the offseason, is not sure whether to go with surgery, which would would surely end his season.

But, if he attempts to play with pain again, it could cost him part of next season as well.

“That’s the biggest thing. I don’t want to miss two years. I’m already flustered with this one because I haven’t been 100 percent and I’ve been trying to play through a lot of pain.” – Jorge Posada

Meanwhile, Hideki Matsui was originally thought to be thinking of season-ending surgery on his injured knee, but instead has opted for rehab as he looks to contribute to the Yankees in the second half.

Johnny Damon returned from the disabled list, serving as the designated hitter after injuring his arm attempting to match a catch July 4. Damon apparently hasn’t thrown the ball hard yet, so he should see more at bats as the DH in the coming days.

“I haven’t tried throwing the ball hard, which I probably haven’t thrown the ball hard in my career. But it was definitely better today and hopefully I can be out in the field within a week, or around a week from now.” – Johnny Damon

Despite all the injury problems to the lineup and pitching staff, the Yankees are just 4.5 games behind the Rays and 3 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East.