Dreadlines: Pujols Headed to DL

Pujols Pulls up Lame 06/11/2008

BY Aaron Gleeman

Pujols to have tests on injured calf

Glavine to return to DL with elbow strain

Furcal likely to miss rest of June

Tulowtizki set to begin rehab assignment

Tigers option Willis to Single-A Lakeland

Brewers 2B Weeks lands on disabled list

Cardinals to place Wainwright on 15-day DL

Albert Pujols has remained in the Cardinals' lineup while posting his usual 1.000 OPS despite a series of nagging injuries dating back to last season, but may have finally found something that even he can't play through. Pujols had to be helped off the field Tuesday night after aggravating the calf injury that's been bothering him for some time, and is now scheduled to leave the team in Cincinnati and fly back to St. Louis for further testing."Based on what I saw-and I'm not a doctor-it was pretty bad," general manager John Mozeliak said. Pujols has certainly shown in the past that he can play through various injuries and continue to dominate, but at first glance that seems unlikely in this case. Rookie Joe Mather replaced him at first base Tuesday and sliding Troy Glaus across the diamond is another option, but recalling Chris Duncan from Triple-A would also seemingly be a good fill-in choice. Duncan was demoted last week after batting just .252/.356/.386 with his usual shaky defense in left field, but he posted an .802 OPS against right-handers and wouldn't be nearly as stretched at first base. Given their handedness a Duncan-Mather platoon would be a natural fit while allowing the Cardinals to leave Glaus at third base and thus avoid weakening the offense even further. In that scenario, Duncan would reclaim solid value in NL-only leagues.While Pujols waits to see if he's headed for the first extended absence of his career after playing in 96.3 percent of his team's 1,200 games, here are some other notes from around baseball .

Scott Baker stopped the bleeding for Minnesota's pitching staff Tuesday, holding the Indians to one run over seven innings after the Twins coughed up 40 runs while being swept in a four-game series against the White Sox. Unfortunately for Baker he was matched up against C.C. Sabathia, who tossed a complete-game shutout. Handed a first-inning run to work with, Sabathia breezed through the Twins' lineup, throwing 77 of his 106 pitches for strikes while walking none.Sabathia's overall ERA remains at a mediocre 4.34 thanks to a string of brutal April outings, but since then he's been every bit as dominant as he was while winning the AL Cy Young last year. If you set aside Sabathia's first four starts, he has a 2.09 ERA and 73-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 73.1 innings. It takes a long time for a stat line to recover from beginning the season 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA, but Sabathia is definitely back to being a fantasy stud.

After being examined by doctors over the weekend, Rafael Furcal was told that his injured back won't allow him to see game action for at least two more weeks. Furcal had been hoping to return next Tuesday, but now figures to miss the remainder of the month and is far from a sure thing to be back prior to the All-Star break. Meanwhile, Nomar Garciaparra is set to begin a minor-league rehab assignment this week and is eligible to return from the 60-day disabled list on June 25. If Garciaparra beats Furcal back from the DL, the Dodgers have indicated that he'll get a chance to start at shortstop despite not having played the position since 2005. Since then he's played 1,588 innings at first base and 416 innings at third base, so returning to his old posit ion at the age of 34 may prove to be a disaster. Of course, when the alternatives are Luis Maza or Angel Berroa suddenly taking a hit defensively doesn't sound so bad.

Dontrelle Willis started Monday versus the Indians, allowing eight runs while throwing just 27 of his 64 pitches for strikes and walking five of the 12 batters he faced. That gave him a 10.32 ERA and 21 walks in 11.1 innings overall, and the Tigers decided that they'd seen enough, demoting him all the way down to Single-A. It's been a gradual decline followed by a sudden collapse for Willis, who saw his ERA rise from 2.63 in 2005 to 3.87 in 2006 and 5.17 in 2007.Now he can't even find the plate, which perhaps isn't shocking given his odd throwing motion and 190 walks over the previous two seasons. Willis clearly needs to throw a whole bunch of innings in an effort to find some semblance of command and if they still have any notion of contending the Tigers simply couldn't afford to keep running him out there. Willis was one of my "bust" picks coming into the season, but that merely assumed that he'd pitch poorly, not completely implode.

AL Quick Hits:

Manager Jim Leyland said Tuesday that Ivan Rodriguez and Brandon Inge will alternate starts behind the plate, suggesting that Rodriguez may not be long for Detroit . Called up from Triple-A to replace Asdrubal Cabrera at second base, Josh Barfield left Tuesday's game with a sprained finger and is considered day-to-day . Jose Contreras came into Tuesday's game against the Tigers at 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA in his last six starts, but took the loss while allowing six runs on 13 hits . Dustin McGowan allowed one run in Tuesday's complete-game victory over the Mariners, matching a season-high with seven strikeouts . Rocco Baldelli went 1-for-4 in an extended spring training game Monday and could be close to beginning a minor-league rehab assignment . Curt Schilling (shoulder) threw 40 pitches off a mound Tuesday and reported no problems . Asked Monday about a rumor that the Cubs are interested in dealing for him, Gil Meche responded by asking "how's that going to happen?" while indicating that he'd block any move with his no-trade clause.

NL Quick Hits:

Jake Peavy (elbow) is scheduled to come off the disabled list with a start Thursday against the Dodgers . With Rickie Weeks (knee) on the DL, Bill Hall started at second base Tuesday for the first time since May of 2006 . Meanwhile, general manager Doug Melvin denied a rumor that the Brewers are interested in Brian Roberts . Initially expected to miss most of the season, Josh Johnson is ahead of schedule in his recovery from Tommy John surgery and could return around the All-Star break . With Jerry Hairston (finger) heading to the shelf Tuesday, the Reds are hoping that Jeff Keppinger (knee) is able to return by this weekend . Manager Bob Melvin said Monday that Chad Tracy isn't ready to play the outfield yet following knee surgery, but that "it certainly could be a consideration down the road" . Ryan Ludwick came into Tuesday's game hitting just .219 this month, but went 4-for-5 with a homer, two doubles, and four RBIs . As expected, Matt Holliday (hamstring) returned to the lineup Tuesday after the minimum stay on the DL.