NEW YORK — The New York Yankees placed slumping reliever Fernando Cruz on the 15-day injured list with right elbow discomfort on Wednesday, a day after the right-hander allowed his fifth homer since the All-Star break.
New York signed Michael Fulmer to a major league contract and added him to its active roster and recalled Elmer Rodríguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to start Wednesday’s game. Putting Cruz on the injured list was among five moves the Yankees before tonight’s game against the Astros. The Yankees were waiting for results of imaging for Cruz, who was seen exiting the clubhouse with a trainer after saying he was healthy following Tuesday’s game.
The Yankees also optioned reliever Bradley Hanner to Triple-A and transferred reliever Kervin Castro to the 60-day injured list.
“Anytime you have that and the trainers feel like an IL situation before getting the results,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So we’ll see what we have and then attack it from there.”
He signed a minor league deal Tuesday after clearing waivers and was headed to meet Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in Worcester before replacing Cruz. “Obviously it’s a guy that’s got a lot of experiences, had a lot of success in the big leagues, has been through a lot on the injury front. He’s a guy that’s had a good season and is throwing the ball well and hopefully he can come here and grab a role.” /hub/mlb
Fulmer said the Yankees were the first team to call his agent. “As soon as I cleared, the Yankees were the first team to call, which I value quite a bit a team that’s showing interest like that,” Fulmer said. “I’m excited to get him here,” Boone said.
