Lance Berkman “is on the phantom disabled list” and “has been healthy for a while”

Chad Jennings of the New York Journal News reports that Lance Berkman will definitely be ready to come off the disabled list when eligible next week and in fact writes that “Berkman has been healthy for a while.” According to Jennings “he could have played this week” and “is on the phantom disabled list so that Eduardo Nunez has a roster spot.” When placed on the DL last week Berkman made it pretty clear that he felt healthy enough to play through the ankle injury, but obviously “phantom disabled list” is a much stronger way of phrasing it. Berkman hit just .179 through his first 12 games with the Yankees and they didn’t feel like playing short-handed for even a handful of days, so they put him on the shelf and called Nunez up to serve as a utility man. Jennings calls it “amazing ... how easily he talks about the situation” and says Berkman has “no bitterness, no frustration.”