NEW YORK — Hideki Matsui’s surgically repaired left knee has filled with fluid, causing the banged-up New York Yankees to recall first baseman Juan Miranda from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Friday that Matsui would be limited to pinch-hitting, possibly for a few more days. Right fielder Xavier Nady already is on the disabled list, and first baseman Mark Teixeira was in the starting lineup despite a sore left wrist that required a cortisone shot a day earlier.
That left New York with a short bench heading into the second game of a four-game series against Cleveland.
Reliever David Robertson, recalled from Scranton a day earlier when Nady went on the DL, was optioned back to the Triple-A team.
Matsui had surgery on the knee Sept. 22, and the Yankees don’t expect him to play the outfield until June.
“His knees are pretty beat up, and you don’t know how they’re going to react from day to day. Hopefully, it’s just one day for him,” Girardi said. “Yeah, it’s somewhat discouraging, but I think it’s something we’re going to have to deal with a lot during the course of the year just because of the stage of where he is in his career with his knees. … Maybe he has taken a little step backwards, but that doesn’t mean it’s always going to be there. Sometimes it can be one movement that causes it.”
Speaking through a translator, Matsui said the knee had been getting better and then regressing in repeated waves, but that he felt it was generally improving. He hoped he could be back to designated hitter by Saturday or not long after.
Teixeira, a switch-hitter, will be limited to batting left-handed for a few days. He said the cortisone shot made “a huge difference.”
“I woke up this morning and it felt good. It’s sore from where the shot went in.” he said.
Nady was to have a CT-scan on his elbow Friday. He hopes to avoid ligament-replacement surgery, which would end his season.
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, coming back from right hip surgery on March 9, took batting practice for the second straight day and is pleased with the progress of his rehab program.
“It’s good,” said Rodriguez, who is working out at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa, Fla.
A three-time AL MVP, Rodriguez hasn’t ruled out rejoining the Yankees before the target date of May 15.
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