MINNEAPOLIS -- The New York Yankees reunion with Alfonso Soriano is likely over after the team designated the struggling outfielder for assignment on Sunday. Soriano returned to New York midway through last season and sparked the offence with 17 home runs in 58 games. But Soriano hit just .221 this season with six homers and 23 RBIs in 67 games. The Yankees announced the move shortly after acquiring Arizona right-handed starter Brandon McCarthy for lefty Vidal Nuno. "We designated Soriano, which is extremely difficult because hes been a great Yankee and a great player," New York manager Joe Girardi said before Sundays game at Minnesota. Sorianos playing time decreased considerably this year after New York signed Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran in the off-season. He recently has been splitting time in right field with Ichiro Suzuki since Beltran was injured and is now limited to designated hitter. But the slugger who started his major league career with the Yankees in 1999 and has 412 career homers has not connected since May 17 and has struck out 71 times in 226 at-bats. The 38-year-old Soriano is in the final year of an eight-year, $136 million deal he signed with the Chicago Cubs, who are paying $13 million of his $18 million salary this year. The Yankees have 10 days to trade or place Soriano on unconditional waivers. If he clears waivers, New York can release him. "For Soriano, its a guy that came in and did a tremendous job for us last year, has had his struggles this year and hes a guy thats used to playing every day," Girardi said. "Wasnt every day for him, maybe it was harder for him to get going, not sure. Im sure hes extremely disappointed. Soriano always takes things with class." The Yankees recalled pitcher Bruce Billings from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Billings pitched in one game for New York this season, allowing four runs in four innings on April 25 against the Los Angeles Angels. Girardi has an open spot in the starting rotation after Nuno was traded to the Diamondbacks. Nuno was slated to start on Monday and McCarthy pitched on Thursday. New York wont force McCarthy into Nunos spot on short rest. Billings -- who has started 11 games in Triple-A -- wont be a candidate to start on Monday, Girardi said. An announcement will be made later. "The taxing of our bullpen kind of forced us to make this move, in a sense," Girardi said. "Im not saying it wouldnt have happened, but we decided we had to make it today because we need to." Chris Herndon Jersey . A player confirmed to TSN on the condition of anonymity that he received his ballot yesterday. Another confirms hes been told to expect his shortly. "The unions executive committee insists a strike vote does not mean were pushing away from the table," the player said. "But we want the league to know were serious about our position. Doug Middleton Jersey . The second-ranked Jayhawks will play the Miners of Texas-El Paso at Imperial Arena in the Bahamas. The game can be seen live on TSN2 starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. http://www.officialnewyorkjetsfootball.c...l-jersey-womens. MacIntyre stopped 49 shots and the Marlies defeated the Texas Stars 5-1 in Game 1 of the American Hockey Leagues Western Conference final. "I felt in control, so that was nice," MacIntyre said. Dennis Byrd Jersey . Louis Cardinals placed outfielder Allen Craig on the 15-day disabled list with a right knee contusion on Sunday. Rishard Matthews Jersey . -- The Seattle Seahawks and wide receiver Sidney Rice have agreed to terms on a deal.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hey Kerry, Been reading your column for bit now and I had a question on the Penguins vs. Panthers game over the weekend. Just wondering about the incident where Floridas Willie Mitchell swung Kris Letangs helmet at him in a fight and didnt receive any extra minutes for it? At the very least, he shouldve gotten an additional two minutes shouldnt he? Im surprised he didnt get tossed or get a 10-minute misconduct. Just wondering what your thoughts are. Thanks, Paul Larocque Paul: A five-minute match (Rule 21) should have been imposed on Willie Mitchell for swinging a helmet at the unprotected head of Kris Letang. The action by Mitchell was a clear attempt to injure his opponent. It was only through the distance of separation created by the intervention of the two linesmen that Mitchells attempt became a swing and a miss at Letangs head. Instead, the deliberate blow accidentally struck the Linesman in the shoulder or arm. A match is the most severe penalty in the book that a referee can impose. Beyond expulsion from the game and the five-minute penalty to the offending players team, a match penalty carries an immediate suspension until the Commissioner has ruled on the issue. In this case, no further action would have been imposed against Mitchell by the Player Safety Committee. If nothing else, a match penalty would have been the correct penalty assessment in the game by the officials. The referee closest to the Letang-Mitchell fight (and most responsible for observing this altercation) was preoccupied with the secondary dustup that was taking place near the net. From a position the ref assumed between the two altercations he attempted to verbally command players near the net to cease and desist while the Linesmen were involved elsewhere. In doing so, the ref turned his back on the main event and did not observe the helmet swing by Mitchell. The linesmen are allowed to report to the referee any infraction worthy of a match penalty. Derek Amell and Andy McElman, two excellent veteran linesmen, were wrestling in close quarters with Mitchell and Letang and most likely did not realize the full extent of Mitchells actions until they might have seen a replay of the incident. Swinging a helmet at a players head goes well beyond the normal and accepted conduct in a fight to attempt to inflict punishment on an opponent (use of fists). It is akin to Rule 51.3 which calls for a match penalty to be imposed against a goalkeeper who uses his blocker to punch an opponent in the head or face in an attempt to injure or to deliberately injure an opponent. Willie Mitchell was fortunate not to incur a match penalty - Kris Letang was perhaps most fortunate the swinging helmet did not catch him in the head. As we move into the Christmas break, I want to share a couple of similar situations where I imposed match penalties. When I signed my first NHL contract in 1973, I was sent to the Western League for the playoffs that season as part of my development. Maintaining control of games during that era was a difficult task for every referee. Bench clearing brawls often occurred and the violence associated with them could be scary. In the Western Conference Final, the New Westminster Bruuins were battling the Calgary Centennials.dddddddddddd The Bruins were a real tough team to work and had future NY Ranger captain Ron Greschner on defence recording 103 points and 170 penalty minutes that season. Reg Duncombe led the Bruins in penalty minutes with 369, but several other players followed just under the 200-minute mark. I worked every second game in the series, alternating with my friend and NHL colleague Charlie Banfield. The benches emptied in every game at least once and sometimes twice as was the case in one game I worked in the Calgary Corral. The second brawl started when the linesmen were engaged with two players and I saw big Harold Phillipoff (63-220 lbs) go after Danny Gare (59-175 lbs), the star player for Calgary and future 50-plus goal scorer with the Buffalo Sabres. I felt the need to quickly intervene to prevent what appeared to be a David versus Goliath matchup, given Phillipoffs huge advantage in size (Harold was selected in the first round of the 1976 NHL Draft; 10th overall by the Atlanta Flames). My adrenalin was pumping as I grabbed both players with a twisted grip to the front of their jerseys and proceeded to read Phillipoff the riot act. Big Harold was looking right through me and didnt respond to a word I said. I was able to contain the big guy only so long until I got arm weary. Phillipoff reached down and across me, unbuckled Gares helmet and yanked it off the Calgary players head by the chin strap. In one swift motion Phillipoff swung the helmet down below his waist and came right over the top with a hard swing at Gares head. The crazy thing is that Gares helmet landed right back on his head the exact same way it came off and in perfect position. At this point all I could do was let them have it and hope that Gare could handle himself. What an understatement as Danny Gare kicked the snot out of his bigger but younger opponent. Phillipoffs face was a bloody pulp and I assessed him a match penalty for attempting to injure Gare with the helmet swing. Another incident where a player was in the giving spirit occurred in a 1981 game at the Montreal Forum between the Habs and the Pittsburgh Penguins in late November. Montreal enforcer Chris Nilan and Penguins tough guy Paul Baxter were seated in the penalty box following dustup. In those days there was little or even no glass petition to separate players in the penalty box other than a table occupied by the game timekeeper and public address announcer. The pucks were kept cold in bucket of ice inside the Montreal penalty box. Knuckles reached into the bucket of pucks and fired a missile at Baxter. To the best of my best recollection the puck ricocheted off the side glass and clipped Baxter in the head but didnt cause any damage. A match penalty for attempt to injure resulted in a three-game suspension to my good friend Chris Nilan. Incidents of this nature, including the recent helmet swing by Willie Mitchell, move beyond a minor infraction. Instead, they must be regarded for what they are (an attempt to injure) and penalized appropriately with a match. Once the correct penalty is assessed on the ice it is then up to the Player Safety Committee to make a responsible determination if the act warrants a suspension. I wish everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas with family and friends. Cmon Ref will return on Dec. 29. 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