Brian McTaggart of MLB.com is reporting that the Houston Astros will place first baseman Lance Berkman on the disabled list to start the season. The move will be retroactive to March 26th, which should only cause Berkman to miss four games. Berkman had arthroscopic knee surgery on March 13 and had said on Tuesday that there was a 70 percent chance that he would play on Opening Day but plans changed when Berkman experienced swelling after batting practice and infield drills.

“It’s cranky,” Berkman said. “It’s sore and it’s swollen, but yesterday was the most I had done on it yet so I don’t think that’s entirely unexpected it would react that way. It’s disappointing. I was hoping it wouldn’t swell back up but it did. That’s part of what I told them. We have five days before the opener and it’s still really swollen. It’s not rocket science. The thing’s got to calm down before I can play.”

Berman a career .299 hitter played in 136 games last year and has been an All-Star 5 times. Berkmans replacement will likely be Geoff Blum.