Youkilis' MRI Comes Back Clean, DL Stint Still Likely (UPDATED)

The good news is that the MRI on Kevin Youkilis' back came back clean yesterday, so at least there's no serious damage to it that could cause it to be a definite lingering issue.  The bad news is that the team still elected to give him an epidural today, and chances are he's still going to end up on the 15-day DL.

I imagine the hope is that the DL stint and epidural will be enough to get Youkilis' back back to 100%, but if he's getting an epidural after the MRI didn't show anything, that's a big red flag for me and leads me to believe that his back WILL continue to be a lingering issue moving forward.  With his back clearly not good enough to play right now, it makes the decision to put Youkilis back in the lineup on Saturday look really bad.  Now instead of backdating his DL stint to last week when he first went out of the lineup, it will have to start from Saturday.  Don't know what Joe was thinking there.

** UPDATE 2:14 PM- The Yankees announced earlier that Youkilis will indeed take a trip to the 15-day DL to rest his ailing back.  Corban Joseph has been called up to take his place on the active roster. **