Jayson Durocher underwent surgery Saturday to remove two bone chips from his elbow and will break camp on the disabled list. The chips became a problem for Durocher in late February after he reportedly banged his elbow on a dresser and then hyper-extended it while throwing batting practice. Recovery is expected to take at least six weeks and considering Durocher missed most of Spring Training, the Brewers may want to extend his rehab a bit.

Milwaukee signed Durocher to a minor league deal prior to last season, and the 28-year-old provided them with solid setup work after his June major league debut. The Brewers have numerous candidates available to take Durocher's roster spot, but he'll likely be able to reclaim his position on the major league team once he's healthy.

Durocher and Nick Neugebauer are the only serious injuries on the Brewers, however no one should be surprised that Geoff Jenkins has not been healthy this spring. Jenkins sprained his wrist making a diving catch early this month. He's begun swinging a bat again and should resume game play in the next few days, but after missing the second half of last year it would have been nice for him to get more at-bats in this spring. I doubt this will be his last injury of the season.

Luckily, Richie Sexson was not seriously injured when he strained his neck stretching out his hat on photo day. On the Brewers' picture day, Sexson received a cap significantly smaller than the one he normally wears and not realizing the extent of the problem attempted to stretch it out by pulling on the bill while the hat was on his head. Although he reportedly could not drive himself home that evening, he was able to resume play within a few days, so the injury only deserves note as one of the more unusual of the season.

Without an abundance of injuries narrowing their choices for them, Milwaukee has been left with a number of roster choices to make this spring. The Brewers took decisive action yesterday with the release of Dave Mlicki. I support this move, as Mlicki did not deserve a spot in the rotation and $750,000 was too much for Milwaukee to pay for his services as a reliever. The 34-year-old will now likely seek out a minor league deal. Mlicki's departure leaves Matt Kinney as the favorite for the fifth starter's job. I don't expect Kinney to perform significantly better than Mlicki would have as a starter, however the innings are better invested in the 26-year-old. In order to provide the Brewers with someone other than their developing pitchers to fill any injury openings in the rotation, Milwaukee should probably seek to sign a couple players who hit the market in the next few weeks to minor league deals.

The irregularities in this off-season's free agent market appear likely to extend to spring roster decisions as well. While Bruce Chen chose to accept his minor league assignment after finding no one willing to commit a roster spot to him, the Reds released him yesterday to avoid paying his full $700,000 salary. Chen will still receive one sixth of his salary.

Milwaukee could probably sign Chen for near the minimum, improve their rotation, and grab valuable trade bait. However, teams have given Chen very little leeway for a pitcher with his upside, so I'm uncertain he will find more than a minor league deal and doubt he'll break camp in the majors. Hopefully, he'll choose a team that will have a rotation spot available for him when they notice the 25-year-old tearing up AAA.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh released Al Reyes. Reyes compiled a 21:7 K:BB with 9 H and 1 HR allowed in 17 IP for a 2.65 ERA over 15 relief appearances in the majors last year. At AAA, the 31-year-old compiled a 90:22 K:BB with 40 H and 5 HR allowed in 66.2 IP for a 2.70 ERA. I felt his skills would earn him a spot in the Pirates bullpen despite their other commitments. While I've applauded the Pirates' efforts to add depth to the organization's pitching, no organization has the depth to toss a pitcher with Reyes' talent away given the minimal cost of retaining him. In the current market, he probably won't find more than a minor league deal and most teams already have a grasp of who'll break camp on their pitching staff, so he'll likely start the season in the minors. However, teams across baseball should jump to add him as a potential mid-season replacement.

The Pirates didn't discover any specific injury when they took an MRI of Mike Lincoln's shoulder after he tripped on the golf ball while jogging. Nevertheless, he still hasn't been able to resume pitching and may open the season on the DL due to a lack of spring innings if not from his injury. While they still possess depth, Pittsburgh's pen doesn't look quite as good now as it did a few months ago.

Pirate Pat Meares was the first player to hit the DL this season. Per an agreement with Pittsburgh, Meares will sit out the entire season with his chronic hand injury and retire at the end of the year, having received his full salary. However, insurance will cover most of that salary for the Pirates.