Yankees’ Williams has knee surgery

New York — Bernie Williams underwent surgery Tuesday to repair torn cartilage in his left knee and isn’t expected to return to the New York Yankees for four-to-six weeks.

Williams went on the disabled list last week after he was bothered by a sore knee for about a month. Williams had a sprain and a tear of the medial meniscus.

Team physician Dr. Stuart Hershon recommended arthroscopic surgery. Williams received a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews, who concurred and performed the operation in Birmingham, Ala.

Williams is a five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner in center field and has played a key role on the team’s four World Series championships and five AL pennants in the past seven years.

Schilling’s actions subject of probe

New York — Major league baseball’s disciplinarian is looking into Curt Schilling’s destruction of a camera used to evaluate umpires. The Arizona pitcher smashed part of the Questec Umpire Evaluation System Saturday night during a loss to San Diego and said umpires have told him they are changing their strike zones to match the evaluations of the machine.

“I’m investigating it in the fullest,” Bob Watson, baseball’s vice president of on-field operations, said Tuesday night. “I haven’t finished my investigation yet.”

Watson won’t complete his inquiry until Thursday at the earliest.

“All I’ll say at this point is they’re better off investigating the Questec system instead of Curt Schilling,” players’ association lawyer Gene Orza said.

Larry Gibson, a lawyer for the World Umpires Assn., said that umpires had complained about the operators of the system in Phoenix this year. Gibson said a former Triple-A umpire ran the system during Arizona home games last year, but that different people were operating Questec this year at Bank One Ballpark.

Cardinals acquire Yan from Rangers

St. Louis — The St. Louis Cardinals acquired right-handed reliever Esteban Yan and an undisclosed amount of cash from the Texas Rangers on Tuesday in exchange for minor league outfielder Rick Asadoorian.

Yan is 0-1 with a 6.94 ERA in 15 games. He struck out 25 batters and walked seven in 23 innings. Yan began his career in Baltimore in 1996. He pitched in Tampa Bay from 1998 through 2002. In 288 career games, all but 23 in relief, he is 26-32 with a 5.35 ERA.

Yan signed a one-year deal with Texas in December after the Devil Rays didn’t offer a contract.