Cleveland Indians all-star outfielder Grady Sizemore has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with left elbow inflammation. The Indians have called up utilityman Chris Gimenez from Triple-A Columbus.

Sizemore had struggled at the plate and not played much in the field recently because of the injury. He went 1 for 4, hitting his team-leading ninth homer Saturday night against the Yankees, but is hitting only .223 overall.

“We couldn’t take it any further,” said manager Eric Wedge, who had tried to keep Sizemore’s normally productive bat in the lineup by using him as a designated hitter.

The two-time Gold Glove center field had played in the field only three times in his past 12 appearances, all in an interleague series in Cincinnati.

“The first couple of days, it looked like Grady was getting better, then it leveled off. We didn’t want to push it and hurt it even more,” Wedge said.

Wedge said an MRI exam showed no structural damage and that Sizemore would not swing a bat or do any throwing for two weeks.

A year ago, Sizemore had career-highs of 33 homers, 90 RBIs and 38 stolen bases.

I find it strange that all these guys who were putting up big numbers last year are not only getting hurt but having poor seasons. On the flip side of that coin, some guys who have been unproductive in past years are having great years but are also getting hurt.

Grady Sizemore, Geovany Soto, and Alexei Ramirez are all having poor to mediocre seasons. Sizemore and Soto have battled nagging injuries and it’s showing. However, Jason Bartlett is having a phenomenal year and has never shown this talent before. Still, he’s young and hurt. I don’t get how these young guys are so easily injured.