A.J. Burnett's arm has taken more abuse than almost any pitcher in majors this season, so I didn't expect that there would be any mystery as to the cause when he inevitably hit the disabled list. However, the origin of the injury that caused Florida to place the pitcher on the DL Monday isn't entirely clear. Burnett reportedly awoke Monday after throwing a 111 pitches in his Sunday start and found that he couldn't move his arm due to a swollen right elbow. He confessed no problems during the game the previous night and could not recall anything that might have taken place afterwards to cause the elbow to swell.

Burnett underwent tests that revealed an acute bone bruise at the tip of his elbow. South Florida Sun-Sentinel Staff Writer Juan C. Rodriguez wrote that "Trainer Sean Cunningham said two bones inside the elbow 'bumped very subtly,' irritating synovial tissue." Consequently this injury appears to be the result of a singular incident rather than the buildup of abuse.

Nevertheless, no one should have been able to quote GM Larry Beinfest saying "We didn't see this one coming", or Manager Jeff Torborg calling the injury "an absolute shock." Unfortunately, both those comments were widely circulated along with a number of other equally oblivious statements. Although it's possible that Burnett possesses what Torborg referred to as "a rubber arm", there has been no excuse for the Marlins to repeatedly test that theory over the past two years. Extensive research indicates that a pitch count over 120 pitches in an outing puts a pitcher at significant risk for injury. Burnett crossed that threshold twice last season, which was troubling. This year Burnett has thrown over 120 pitches in 7 games, which is criminal. He's averaging 111.4 P/GS and already has thrown a total of 3007 pitches in games this season; only Randy Johnson has thrown more pitches.

Sadly, due to the nature of this injury, Florida likely won't view this as a reason to protect Burnett in the future. Burnett's taking anti-inflammatory drugs and constantly icing the elbow to reduce the swelling. While he'd like to return before the end of the season, Florida isn't in a pennant race and should force him to rest now to help forestall future workload-related injuries.

Blaine Neal returned to the majors to fill Burnett's roster spot. Each team seems to have at least one pitcher whom they repeatedly bounce between AAA and the majors, and Neal fills that role on the Marlins. Since we last discussed him in late May, Florida has recalled Neal to fill the DL'd Josh Beckett and Charles Johnson's roster spots, returning him to the minors when each player was activated. Hopefully with Burnett likely out for the season and September roster expansion approaching, Neal will be able to remain in the majors for the rest of the season.

Beckett spent a month on the DL with his second blister problem this season, but he has not been troubled with the predicament since his mid-July return to the team. Charles Johnson missed the first half of August with a strained back and only rejoined the team last week. Torborg has suggested that perhaps Johnson should lose some weight, which is a tactic that certainly worked for Ivan Rodriguez after his last trip to the DL. However, the Marlins don't really have difficulties when one of their catchers goes down because they carry three full-time backstops.

Ramon Castro rejoined the team in early June after spending almost a month on the DL with a strained elbow, so the club didn't suffer from C.J.'s injury. The Marlins attempted to outright Marty Malloy in order to clear room on the roster for Castro and lost Malloy when he refused his minor league assignment.

Malloy signed a minor league contract with the Reds in mid-June. The thirty-year-old minor league veteran second baseman has demonstrated good plate discipline in the past and possesses some speed, so he might be worth a September call-up for the Reds as an extra middle infielder.

As expected at the time of our last Marlins' article, Florida placed Brad Penny on the DL in late May. Penny needed over a month to recover from an inflamed nerve in his right arm, but he's reported no further arm problems since rejoining the team, although he did have one start pushed back at the end of July due to a blister. Armando Almanza returned from his stint on the DL to fill Penny's roster spot. Almanza has not been bothered by elbow problems since his activation. In order to clear room on the roster for Penny's return, Florida demoted Kevin Olsen.

The only other Marlin to hit the DL in the past couple months has been Oswaldo Mairena. Mairena strained an abdominal muscle in mid-June and spent 15 days on the disabled list. Florida had demoted Pablo Ozuna when they activated Kevin Millar from the DL, but the Marlins recalled Ozuna to fill Mairena's roster spot. Mairena returned from the disabled list at the end of June, causing the Marlins to demote Nate Teut to make room on the roster. Teut had only been in the majors for five days after Florida recalled him to replace the demoted Hansel Izquierdo. Izquierdo was unable to maintain control of his pitches in the majors and has not had much more success since his demotion to AAA. The club removed Teut from the 40-man roster in mid-July, so he likely won't return in September.

Millar has grabbed fairly regular playing time since returning from the DL, particularly over the past few weeks as he's been quite hot. Although he probably won't match his production levels from last season, he should come quite close and he's certainly earned a stable starting job.