After placing Sean Burroughs and Brian Tollberg on the DL Thursday, San Diego will send Phil Nevin back to the disabled list today. Nevin was active for four days following his most recent DL trip, which ended Monday, before a new injury once again took him away from the Padres. The only similarity in the two injuries is that both were acquired while making defensive dives.

Back at third base again due to a benched and injured Sean Burroughs, Nevin dove for a groundball hit by Todd Zeile in the seventh inning of Wednesday's game against Colorado. He cracked the humerous bone in his left arm up near the shoulder. The bone will take four weeks to heal, and then he'll likely spend two weeks on a rehab assignment. He will be able to begin strengthening exercises after about three weeks once the bone begins to grow back, thereby closing the fracture. Fortunately, there was no accompanying tissue damage in the shoulder and he will not need surgery to set the bone.

The Padres finally decided Thursday that Burroughs' shoulder problems warranted time on the DL. He was first bothered by soreness in the shoulder late last season while still in the minors. Burroughs reportedly suffers from tendinitis in the shoulder, a carry-over from an injury sustained swinging a bat last year.

San Diego thought the cause for his soreness this season was simply the tendinitis, but he reportedly recently admitted that his shoulder popped, like it did last season, in an April 21st game in LA. Given this new information, the Padres decided to place him on the DL so that he could rest the arm for a good week and receive treatment, likely in the form of a cortisone shot. As with his injury last season, an MRI showed a small tear in his labrum. Following rest and treatment, he'll need a rehab assignment.

Burroughs really should have spoken up about the extent of his injury sooner. Although the damage has not increased as a result of his silence, the Padres started to lose some faith in his readiness for the majors, leading to his benching and talk of a demotion to AAA.

With both Nevin and Burroughs out for at least a month, the Padres will once again shuffle their infield. Ryan Klesko, who moved to the outfield when Burroughs took over at third base and Nevin moved to first base, returned to first during Nevin's first DL trip and will now likely cover first until Nevin once again can rejoin the team. Consequently, Bubba Trammell and Ray Lankford should both play full-time in the outfield.

The situation at third is a bit more complicated. The Padres reportedly plan to use D'Angelo Jimenez, who has gradually lost time at second this season to Ramon Vazquez, at third base. Vazquez will then cover second nearly full-time with Deivi Cruz now the undisputed starting shortstop.

San Diego called up Julius Matos to replace Burroughs on the roster. I believe Matos can cover second, short, and third, so he will likely work off the bench as a utility infielder since his statistical history doesn't suggest any prospect of a starting job in the majors.

The Padres demoted Alex Pelaez when they activated Ron Gant from the DL last week, so he probably will not be among the infield mix. San Diego would have liked to have the option of promoting Xavier Nady to fill a portion of the void caused by these injuries, but the first base prospect is unavailable defensively. He had Tommy John surgery last fall and is still rehabbing from the operation and unable to play the field.

However, Nady can DH and was recently promoted to AAA after compiling a .278 BA, .382 OBP, and .580 SLG in 169 AB at A+ Lake Elsinore in the California League. He produced those numbers with 47 H, 2 2B, 3 3B, and 13 HR, while amassing a 28:40 BB:K. He'll continue to DH in AAA for a couple of weeks, but after that if his elbow allows he may begin playing defense. Aside from one major league at-bat after he signed in 2000 that followed the Padres' selection of him in the second round from of the University of California, Nady had not played professionally for any team other than Lake Elsinore prior to this season. His injury and need for at least some extended AAA time to work on his plate discipline and experience tougher competition mean that San Diego really shouldn't call him up until September, regardless of their injury problems.

Tollberg, also injured in Wednesday's night game, strained his ulnar collateral ligament. He felt a pinch in the third inning, throwing a curve to Juan Uribe, faced two more batters, and then left the game mid-batter after throwing a first pitch curve to Todd Zeile, which caused the same feeling. Tollberg knew to remove himself from the game, as he experienced an elbow injury in 1999 and suffered the consequences of attempting to pitch through it: he tore the ligament and missed the remainder of that season.

According to San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer Bill Center, Padres' trainer Todd Hutcheson commented that "If it's chronic, it's probably a stretch over time and we'll know more in a couple of weeks. If it's acute, he'll probably be better off having surgery." Tests today should tell the Padres at which scenario they're looking.

San Diego merely swapped one starter for another on the DL with Tollberg, as they activated Bobby J. Jones from the disabled list to fill Tollberg's roster space. Jones seems to have recovered from his strained oblique and has re-entered the rotation. However, as the Padres didn't really pick a steady replacement for Jones while he was on the DL, they are still out a fifth starter.

Kevin Pickford and Jason Middlebrook have each been used for a single spot start. However, Middlebrook is the favorite to enter the rotation as he finished Tollberg's aborted start with a quality performance, allowing only 4 H in 7 innings with a 6:2 K:BB.

San Diego had cut down to an 11-man pitching staff when Nevin returned from the DL, designating Tom Davey for assignment to make room for Nevin on the roster. Davey missed the first month of the season following shoulder surgery and didn't pitch well after he was activated, allowing 8 H in 5 IP with a 3:2 K:BB. As Davey showed definite promise as a short reliever prior to his injury, I'm somewhat surprised that San Diego didn't give him a longer look.

However, the Padres plan to call up Rodney Myers to replace Nevin on the roster. San Diego feels they need the additional help in the pen with two starters out and they don't really benefit from calling up another utility infielder. The 32-year-old Myers has bounced between AAA and the majors for the last six seasons. His skills look good in the minors, but he tends to suffer control problems upon promotion. Nevertheless, he should be able to provide the Padres with some innings without causing much damage.