PHILADELPHIA – Boston designated outfielder Mike Cameron for assignment and recalled infielder Yamaico Navarro from Triple-A Pawtucket.

Navarro was active for Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Third baseman Kevin Youkilis was out of the lineup with a sore left foot. He fouled a ball off it in Wednesday night’s game. General Manager Theo Epstein said X-rays were negative.

Youkilis said he woke up feeling worse this morning than after he was hit.

“I didn’t think it’d be anywhere near what it is (Thursday),” he said.

Cameron played in 33 games this year and was batting .149 with three home runs and nine RBI. He is a .249 career hitter with 272 homers, 950 RBI and 296 stolen bases in 17 seasons with the White Sox (1995-98), Reds (1999), Mariners (2000-03), Mets (2004-05), Padres (2006-07), Brewers (2008-09) and Red Sox (2010-11).

Boston has 10 days to trade or release Cameron.

“We’ve been scratching our heads with Mike for a little while,” Epstein said. “And I’ll take the hit on this one. He was still a productive player when we got him, but maybe with age, he just didn’t recover from injury as well.

“It was tough for him to overcome the injuries and then with the reduced role, it was a bit of a double whammy for him with us. He’s used to playing every day.”

Epstein said he talked to some teams regarding a trade before the designation, and will continue to do so.

“He took it like you’d expect,” Epstein said. “He’s a real professional and he knows we were in a tough spot.”

The 23-year-old Navarro hit .258 with five home runs and 13 RBI in 34 games with Pawtucket this year. He made his major league debut with Boston last August and hit .143 with five RBI in 20 games.

“It’s not ideal,” Epstein said. “We would have liked him to have some more seasoning, but given the state we’re in, we think he can help us right now.”