How about some news about the only 3rd baseman on the roster who's healthy?

There were several stories around the interwebs in recent days on another Yankees third basemen, Kevin Youkilis, discussing various topics ranging from his batting stance, his relationship with Joba Chamberlain, and his Judaism.

First, how he feels about being a Jewish athlete playing in New York, a city with a fairly large Jewish population:

Yankees third baseman Kevin Youkilis takes pride in the way he hits, in the way the field and in the way he hustles.

He also takes pride in his religion, which is Judaism.

“The Jewish heritage thing has had such a huge impact on my whole entire career,” Youkilis told the YES Network’s Jack Curry. “Requests my agent gets — Bar Mitzvahs, weddings, you name it. It’s a big thing, and it means a lot to a lot of Jewish youth and the Jewish community. I try to embrace it as much as I can, and I wish I could go to as many Bar and Bat Mitzvahs as possible, but the schedule doesn’t allow for it.”

The three-time All-Star is one of only a handful of Jewish players in the big leagues.

“It’s kind of fun around the league,” Youkilis admitted. “When I see Ryan Braun, Ian Kinsler and other guys, we kind of joke around.”

Moving on to his relationship with Joba Chamberlain:

A text message Joba Chamberlain received from Kevin Youkilis appears to have put an end to whatever lingering bad blood the two may have shared.

Not long after Youkilis signed with the Yankees to take Alex Rodriguez’s place at third base, Chamberlain left his new teammate a voicemail. And at a charity event last month, a perturbed Chamberlain revealed the message had not been returned.

“I did everything I could, and I can’t control what Kevin Youkilis does,” Chamberlain said at the time.

But asked yesterday if that had changed, Chamberlain said it had.
Leah Millis
Joba Chamberlain at Yankees’ minor league complex.

“Yeah, it changed,” Chamberlain said. “He texted me. I’m not going to say what he said.”

What happens next likely will have to wait until Youkilis reports to spring training later this month, but Chamberlain indicated things had been smoothed over.

“We’ll hug it out,” Chamberlain said.

And finally, here’s a video from YES about his plans to change that batting stance that we all hated so much when he was a Red Sock: