Alfonso Soriano could miss up to six weeks after suffering a broken left hand on Wednesday night against Atlanta. Soriano was hit in the second inning by the Braves' Jeff Bennett. The Cubs media relations department stated that Alfonso will remain in a splint for 3 weeks.

Soriano entered the game with a .284 average, and led the team in homers (15) and RBIs (40).

...Just a week or two after signing him to a minor league contract the New York Yankees have released former Texas Rangers first baseman Ben Broussard.

...The San Diego Padres have designated left handed pitcher Wil Ledezma for assignment. The Padres recalled relief pitcher Joe Thatcher from Triple A Portland to fill the roster spot.

...Jose Canseco's former lawyer is suing him for not paying him. Robert Saunooke claims that Canseco didn't pay him for five years of work. He says that Canseco owes him anywhere between $350,000 and $500,000 for representing him in criminal, civil matters, book deals and the list goes on.

...Only known as "Joe", he's the man who caught Ken Griffey Jr's 600th home run ball. He still hasn't made a decision on what to do with the ball, either sell it or return it to the future Hall of Famer. Here's what Marlin President David Samson had to say.

"I think he knows what all his options are, in terms of selling it, in terms of getting something else for it, in terms of a trade," Samson said. "There's all sorts of different options and I'm just going to try to do what's best for everybody."

Dontrelle Willis and the Detroit Tigers were optimistic the 26-year-old lefty could go deep in his second start since returning from the 15-day disabled list.  Willis' performance failed to meet minimum expectations -- he gave up eight runs on three hits and five walks in 1 1/3 innings.  Now, the Tigers have taken drastic measures to salvage the three-year, $29 million investment the team made after acquiring Willis from Florida in December.  The team announced today that Willis was optioned to Class A Lakeland to work on his control problems.

In Lakeland, Willis is expected to work with Lakeland pitching coach Joe Coleman and Tigers pitching coordinator Jon Matlack to overcome his control issues which has led to 21 walks in 11 1/3 innings.

Willis has disappointed so far in his first season in Detroit.  He suffered a hyperextended knee on April 11 and made his first trip to the DL in his Major League career then re-injured his knee in rehab before finally returning to the club to work from the bullpen.  Willis made a piggyback start last week and Monday was expected to work as long as he could with no limitations on Monday.  Willis failed to make it through the second inning after his rough outing.

Willis will be replaced on the 25-man roster by Aquilino Lopez who is returning from the bereavement list.  No announcement has been made on who will replace Willis in the rotation and further thins a group of starters already hurt by the loss of Jeremy Bonderman. 

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The day started off bad for the Atlanta Braves and things took a turn for the worst during their game on Tuesday night.  First, the team received a disappointing recap following John Smoltz's surgery followed by Tom Glavine leaving Tuesday night's game with an injury that could lead to his second stop on the disabled list this season.

Tuesday morning, Smoltz had shoulder surgery at the Andrews Clinic in Birmingham and during the surgery it was revealed that Smoltz's injured shoulder was caused by a damage labrum.  Recovering from surgery on the labrum is difficult and for a 41-year-old veteran, it is expected be more challenging.  The last Braves pitcher to have a similar injury, Blaine Boyer, took nearly two years to return fully from the surgery.

In Tuesday night's game against the Cubs, Glavine was forced to leave with an elbow injury after just three innings of work.  Glavine gave up four runs on six hits and four walks.  He is expected to return to Atlanta on Thursday to have an MRI and could end up on the 15-day disabled list again depending on the seriousness of the injury.

Atlanta was a popular pick to win the NL East amongst baseball writers and are now one game under .500, 6 1/2 games out of first place and facing the possibility of being without Glavine for the immediate future and without Smoltz for at least the rest of the season and possibly forever.

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Albert Pujols needed to be helped off the field after suffering a strained left calf running out a grounder in the top of the seventh inning of the Cardinals 7-2 win over the Reds on Tuesday night.  Pujols is expected to be reevaluated on Wednesday but the injury looked serious.

The injury was to the same left calf that Pujols experienced soreness in last Tuesday that caused him to leave their game with the Nationals.  Pujols is the Cardinals biggest offensive producer this season.  He is hitting .347 with 15 home runs, 40 RBI and 40 runs scored in 64 games.  If Pujols were to miss an extended period of time, being without Pujols' bat in the lineup would make their job of keeping up with the red hot Cubs more difficult.

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The Baltimore Orioles designated pitcher Steve Trachsel for assignment two weeks after removing him from the rotation and placing him in the bullpen.  To replace Trachsel on the 25-man roster, Baltimore recalled infielder Oscar Salazar from Triple-A Norfolk. 

With 10 days to trade, release or outright him to the Minor League, it is expected the 37-year-old Trachsel would refuse any Minor League assignment which means the Orioles and Trachsel are likely to part ways.  In 2008, Trachsel posted a 2-5 record with an 8.39 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts).

At 143-159 with a 4.39 ERA in 420 career games, Trachsel should be able to find a team willing to take a shot at a pitcher who has proved he can be a double-digit winner in his 16-year career.

Salazar, 29, has not played in the Major League since 2002 with the Detroit Tigers.  He was signed at the age of 16 by the Oakland Athletics and has bounced around from organization to organization in the Minors and in Italy in 2005 and Mexico in 2006.  In his one Major League stop, Salazar went 4-for-21 with one home run in eight games.  So far this season with the Norfolk Tides, Salazar hit .311 with seven home runs and 44 RBI.