Kelly Johnson placed on the 15-day DL with groin strain

A day after acquiring one third baseman, another has gone down with an injury.

The Yankees announced on Wednesday that infielder Kelly Johnson was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left groin strain, which he suffered in last night's 1-0 win over the Texas Rangers. Having used all of their bullpen, the Yankees called up RHP Chris Leroux from Triple-A Scranton, while designating RHP Bruce Billings for assignment.

Johnson started in right field for the Yankees last night with Chase Headley no becoming the everyday third base. It was likely that Johnson would play more in the outfield with Ichiro Suzuki struggling at the play.

Johnson was batting .219 with six homeruns and 22 RBI in 77 games for the Yankees this season.

They'll be getting a boost in the bullpen with Leroux joining then. Signed by the Yankees over the winter, he appeared in two big league games earlier in the season, and has spent most of his year in Triple-A as a starter.

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Yankees designate Alfonso Soriano for assignment

If you weren't already giddy about the Yankees sending away Vidal Nuno to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Vidal Nuno, then this ought to do the trick: the Yankees also announced on Sunday that they have essentially cut ties with outfielder Alfonso Soriano, designating him for assignment.

Soriano, who has been a disaster at the plate this season, was DFA'd so the Yankees could add a bring arm to their bullpen, bringing up right Bruce Billings from Triple-A Scranton. The Yankees now have 10 days to trade, release or waive him.

"We designated Soriano, which is extremely difficult because he's been a great Yankee and been a great player," Manager Joe Girardi said. "We felt we needed some more pitching today, so we called up Billings. Bullpen has been extremely taxed."

The Yankees were only on the hook for $2 million of Soriano's contract this season, so getting rid of him isn't really a hard pill to swallow for the team.

Soriano gave the Yankees a big jolt in the lineup after acquiring from the Cubs last season, hitting 17 homeruns with 50 RBIs in 58 games. But he was awful this season, as he hit just .221 in 67 games with the Yankees this season, with no homeruns in the past month.

This was a move pretty much expected to happen at any time.

With Carlos Beltran moving into a DH-only role because of his elbow injury, the Yankees were forced to use Soriano on a much more day-to-day basis, getting him more at-bats than they probably had planned before the season.

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