Around the League

* Jake Peavy admitted Monday that he's been pitching through elbow soreness for several weeks and was placed on the disabled list Tuesday, but manager Bud Black indicated that the Padres don't expect him to miss significant time. "The ligament looks fine, so that's good," Black said. "Hopefully in two weeks the edema of the joint will subside and the swelling will subside, and he'll be able to resume throwing."

For now at least there's no need for Peavy owners to panic, but with a 17-30 record putting them 9.5 games out of a playoff spot the Padres would be smart to play it very safe with his recovery. It's possible that they'll hold Peavy out for longer than the minimum 15 days even if he's healthy enough to resume pitching by then, likely giving Wilfredo Ledezma first crack at replacing him in the rotation. Ledezma started in Peavy's place Monday and could have some NL-only value.

* Each season Daniel Cabrera puts together a good stretch that has his fantasy owners thinking that he's finally going to put everything together to become a consistently dominant starter. And then each season he ends up with 100 walks and a 5.00 ERA. With that disclaimer out of the way, it should be noted that after holding the Yankees to two runs over seven innings Tuesday he's now turned in eight straight Quality Starts.

Best of all, he's walked just 15 batters over 57.1 innings during that stretch, including zero walks in back-to-back starts and a total of three free passes in his last four outings. Along with improved control Cabrera has seen his strikeout rate decline significantly for the second straight year while his average fastball velocity loses about two miles per hour, but he's still clocking in at 93 MPH while throwing his heater about 20 percent more often and is inducing far more ground balls.

Trying to throw a 95-MPH fastball by everyone produced the occasional overpowering outing, but for the most part just made Cabrera one of baseball's biggest enigmas. His current strong stretch may simply prove to be another tease, but giving up some velocity to better control his fastball is looking like an excellent plan right now and continuing to get grounders on 60 percent of his balls in play would make up for the lack of missed bats. In other words, maybe this is the year. Maybe.

* Andruw Jones was scratched from Monday's lineup with a sore right knee and an MRI revealed torn cartilage, meaning that he could be headed for arthroscopic surgery. "I'm going to give it two days, and if it doesn't get better we'll go ahead and scope it," Jones said. "Hopefully I can just get treatment on it and then probably get it done during the offseason." Jones playing through a knee injury that will eventually require surgery likely doesn't sound very appealing to the Dodgers.

On the other hand, it might be interesting to see how much worse a guy hitting .167/.275/.273 can really get. Also "interesting" is Jones revealing Tuesday that he has a "golf-ball sized" wart behind his knee, which may also require surgery. Giving manager Joe Torre more excuse to put Juan Pierre into the lineup every day is likely about as appealing to Dodgers fans as Jones' Titleist-style wart, but the good news is that it'll be tough to avoid playing Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp.

* Remember last month when general manager J.P. Ricciardi explained his decision to cut Frank Thomas by saying that the Blue Jays couldn't afford to wait around for his bat to heat up? My take at the time pointed out that the Blue Jays didn't have many great options to replace him and Thomas recovered from horrible starts to put together very good overall numbers in both 2006 and 2007. Much to Ricciardi's chagrin it looks like he's doing the same thing again this year.

Thomas went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers Monday and then went deep again Tuesday, making him 22-for-75 (.293) with three homers, seven total extra-base hits, 13 walks, and 14 RBIs in 23 games since returning to Oakland. That works out to a .293/.400/.480 hitting line that's very close to the .277/.377/.480 that Thomas hit for the Blue Jays last season, and predictably makes Ricciardi cutting him loose based on less than a month's worth of struggles look plenty foolish.

AL Quick Hits: Derek Jeter left Tuesday's game after being hit on the hand by a Daniel Cabrera pitch, but X-rays were negative and he's considered day-to-day … Justin Verlander showed signs of life Tuesday, holding the Mariners to one run over six innings while racking up a season-high seven strikeouts … With Matt Tolbert undergoing thumb surgery and manager Ron Gardenhire unhappy with Brendan Harris' defense, speedster Alexi Casilla figures to see extended action at second base … Alex Rodriguez returned from the disabled list Tuesday after missing three weeks and homered … C.C. Sabathia was a tough-luck loser Tuesday despite tossing seven innings of two-run ball versus the White Sox … Erick Aybar exited Tuesday's game after dislocating his right pinkie finger, with Maicer Izturis replacing him at shortstop … Mike Mussina was rocked for seven runs while recording just two outs Tuesday, but the good news is that only one run was earned thanks to a Jeter error … Carlos Silva went 3-0 with a 2.79 ERA through six starts, but after allowing seven runs in Tuesday's loss he's now 0-3 with an 8.85 ERA since.

NL Quick Hits: Mike Piazza announced his retirement Tuesday, ending his Hall of Fame career at .308/.377/.545 with 427 homers and a dozen All-Star appearances in 16 seasons … Mopping up in a seven-run game Tuesday, Eric Gagne was yanked after serving up a two-run homer and complained of shoulder soreness afterward … Doug Davis (thyroid cancer) is scheduled to come off the disabled list to start Friday versus the Braves, likely pushing Max Scherzer back to the bullpen … Rich Hill has been placed on DL at Triple-A with back spasms, further delaying his return to the Cubs' rotation … Mike Cameron went 3-for-4 with a homer Tuesday, giving him five long balls and 14 RBIs in 18 games since returning from suspension … Less than one week after saying that he'd be "shocked" if he's not "back by the All-Star break" Mark Mulder (shoulder) was scratched from his scheduled minor-league rehab start Tuesday at Triple-A and will be shut down for 10-14 days … Dallas McPherson hit three homers Monday at Triple-A, giving him 15 long balls and a 1.055 OPS on the year.