Florida placed Josh Beckett on the disabled list on Wednesday. Beckett developed a blister on the middle finger of his right hand last week. He would have missed his scheduled start today anyway, so the Marlins decided to take the additional precaution of placing him on the disabled list.

He reportedly has two blisters on the finger one described as below the fingernail and the other on the pad of the finger. Pitching will be very difficult until they heal. Beckett has already experienced some soreness in his shoulder due to the way he was pitching because of the blisters. Florida expects that soreness to dissipate naturally while he is on the DL and is more concerned about the blisters. Beckett had similar blister troubles last season, so the Marlins hope this will not become a continual problem.

Beckett will be eligible to return from the DL May 14th though he may not be activated immediately. Oswaldo Mairena was called up to replace Beckett on the roster, but Hansel Izquierdo is expected to replace him in the rotation.

Izquierdo split last season between A and AA. The right-hander was slowly converted to rotation work after the Marlins drafted him as a reliever. Prior to last season, the 25-year-old was allowing too many walks, which prevented him from advancing. Last season he seemed to correct some of his control problems. So far this year, in 9 IP out of the bullpen, he has a 5:5 K:BB with 9 H and no homers allowed.

He was called up when the Marlins placed Julian Tavarez on the disabled list. Tavarez went on the DL April 17th with tendinitis in his right shoulder. When Brad Penny could not make his start due to illness, Tavarez volunteered to start a day early. Afterwards, the team discovered that he had pitched the game while injured. In 6 IP, he allowed 6 R on 7 H with 3 BB, 3 HBP, and 3 WP. It was apparent to everyone watching that something was wrong. Tavarez was struggling to throw above 80 MPH. Manager Jeff Torborg inquired after his health, but he kept saying he was fine. Therefore despite the fact that according to an AP quote, Torborg "almost had a heart attack watching him pitch", he continued to let him pitch, only pulling him after his pitch count reached 104.

Reportedly Tavarez also neglected to inform anyone when he felt pain during his April 11th start. If he could tell that something was wrong, Torborg should have pulled Tavarez from the April 16th start. However because Tavarez not only failed to report his discomfort but also denied that he was in pain when asked, the majority of the responsibility falls on the starter.

Kevin Olsen took Tavarez's place in the rotation. The 25-year-old righty spent the majority of last season in AA aside from a short major league call up. While he probably would have benefited from some time in AAA, his skills are excellent across the board. In 170 IP last season, he had a 147:23 K:BB while only allowing 134 H.

He broke camp with the team in the bullpen and pitched acceptably in 3 relief appearances. Olsen had a 3:4 K:BB while allowing 4 H in 5 IP. Unfortunately, he has failed to either make it through more than 4.1 innings or strike out a batter in his only two starts to date. In 8.1 IP as a starter, he has allowed 13 H and walked 5. Four of the five walks came in the second start, when Arizona also managed to steal 5 bases while he was pitching. Between the starts, he served a three game suspension for hitting Marlon Anderson with a pitch, causing the benches to clear in a game where three Marlins had previously been struck.

Mairena, a 26-year-old left-handed reliever, split last season between AA and AAA. His strikeout and walk numbers are both good, but he allowed too many hits at AAA even for someone pitching for Calgary in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He could probably use another partial season at AAA before he's ready for the majors. Mairena will assist lefties Vic Darensbourg and Michael Tejera in the pen.

In order to make room for Mairena on the 40-man roster, LHP Benito Baez was moved to the 60-day DL. Florida is uncertain when this season, if at all, Baez will be able to return. He has a badly strained elbow.

Lefty Armando Almanza was also placed on the DL prior to the start of the season. The 29-year-old has been bothered by a variety of injuries over the past few years. Along with OF Brant Brown, RHP Alex Fernandez, and RHP Dan Miceli, he was also one of the Marlins who caught the mumps in the spring of 2000.

Last spring he was bothered by shoulder tendinitis, and he had surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow in early October. Due to the elbow surgery, he didn't throw over the winter and the elbow became sore during Spring Training. The soreness was diagnosed as tendinitis.

When healthy, Almanza is a fairly good lefty reliever. He strikes out over a batter an inning and has a career H/9 of a little under 7. His only trouble has been in allowing a few too many walks with a career 6.8 BB/9, though he also allowed an increased number of home runs last season. Almanza began throwing a couple weeks ago and should start a rehab assignment soon, so he may be able to rejoin the Marlins in the next two weeks. When he returns, Mairena will likely be the lefty demoted to the minors.