San Francisco placed 2B-S Ray Durham on the disabled list on Sunday. Durham severely strained his right ankle while sliding into third base in an attempt to stretch a double into a triple in the fifth inning of the Giants' Saturday game against the Braves. He's expected to miss three to four weeks as a result of the injury. A shorter recovery time is possible but not likely.

This injury comes at a bad time for those arguing that players should forego headfirst slides. We've strongly chastised players for sliding headfirst and risking serious injury to their shoulders, elbows, wrists, arms, and hands. However, proponents of the headfirst slide argue that the hook slide can leads to ankle, knee, hip, leg, and foot injuries.

San Francisco called up SS-R Cody Ransom to replace Ray Durham on the roster. We discussed Ransom last season when he received a September call-up. Back at Fresno for the third consecutive season, Ransom was hitting .219 with a .305 OBP and .325 SLG on 25 H, 4 2B, 1 3B, and 2 HR with a 14:25 BB:K and 3/5 SB% in 114 AB at the time of his promotion. Those numbers represent an improvement in his contact rate, but he obviously still has a lot of ground to cover before he'll warrant even a regular bench position in the majors.

IF-S Neifi Perez will start at second in place of Durham. Unfortunately, while he's not quite performing at last season's horrific levels, Perez should not be in any lineup regularly. At least against left-handed pitchers, 3B-R Pedro Feliz should play third, while IF-R Edgardo Alfonzo shifts to second. However, Felipe Alou doesn't seem inclined to exercise that option with any regularity.

OF-L Marvin Benard hit the disabled list on May 9th due to inflammation in his right knee. After resting for a few days, Benard has begun a rehab assignment and his knee is not currently bothering him. However, his knees are a problem area for him, so while he should rejoin the Giants when he's eligible to leave the disabled list on the 20th, I suspect he'll miss time with a similar problem again later in the season.

The Giants called up OF-R Jason Ellison to replace Benard on the roster. San Francisco drafted Ellison out of Lewis-Clark State University with their 22nd round pick of the 2000 draft. After finishing out the 2000 season in the Short-Season Northwest League, Ellison advanced to A Hagerstown in the South Atlantic League for the 2001 season. Last year, the Giants started him at San Jose in the A+ California League, but when he excelled during what was supposed to be a brief stint at AAA Fresno he remained in the Pacific Coast League for the rest of the year.

Ellison complements promising plate discipline with strong speed skills and marginal power. He displayed significantly improved plate discipline and base running skills during his time at AAA last season, and his performance this year indicates the development was not merely a sample size illusion. When called up for his major league debut this year, Ellison was hitting .315 with a .376 OBP and .433 SLG on 40 H, 8 2B, 2 3B, and 1 HR with a 12:15 BB:K and 10/12 SB% in 127 AAA AB.

The 25-year-old made his major league debut as a leftfield defensive replacement for Barry Bonds in the ninth inning of San Francisco's May 9th game in Atlanta. Starting in leftfield on the 11th, he grounded out to pitcher Mike Hampton in his first major league at-bat. Later in the sixth inning, after a fielder's choice, and a fly out, he hit a single off Troy Hodges into center for his first major league hit. Since the Giants seem quite happy with Marquis Grissom in centerfield, Ellison likely will play sparingly during this trip to the majors. However, I suspect he'll be recalled whenever San Francisco has an outfielder go down this year, and he should be starting in center by next season.

Coincidentally, San Francisco drafted Benard out of the Lewis-Clark State University with their 50th round pick eight years before drafting Ellison. As the 30-year-old Benard's knee problems are now causing him to consider retirement at the end of this season, we can hope Ellison will be gifted with better health.

On the same day the Giants placed Benard on the DL, RHP Ryan Jensen rejoined the team. Jensen spent a month on the disabled list with a strained lower back. He appears to have recovered from the injury, but he won't reclaim his rotation spot, as San Francisco plans to leave RHP Jesse Foppert in the rotation while placing Jensen in the bullpen. Foppert has struggled with his control, but the Giants feel comfortable allowing him to work out his problems in the majors.

If San Francisco were facing a sizeable hike in Jensen's salary next season, I'd advocate putting him back in the rotation for a few months to boost his trade value before the deadline. I think Foppert will eventually find his footing in the majors, but additional time in AAA wouldn't hurt him. However, since Jensen likely won't even be arbitration eligible until after the 2004 season, there's little reason to move him. With RHP Jerome Williams still waiting at AAA for a rotation spot to open, I don't see Jensen shifting back into the rotation except as an injury replacement. Consequently, the Giants should focus on building Jensen into a solid swingman.

In order to clear room on the roster for Jensen, San Francisco demoted LHP Chad Zerbe. Zerbe lacks the command of a pitcher worthy of a regular bullpen spot. Nevertheless, the Giants prefer to carry two lefty relievers, so once Jensen's established as their long guy, San Francisco will probably send Jim Brower down and recall Zerbe. However, they aren't likely to promote Zerbe unless he's fully healthy and he was dealing with a little tendinitis in his arm prior to his demotion.

RHP Robb Nen underwent a third shoulder surgery last week, which officially eliminated the possibility of him returning before the end of the season. The Giants noticed a problem with Nen's shoulder in early September of last year, but he chose to wait until after the season and the playoffs before addressing the trouble surgically. When doctors went in to clean up the joint in November, they noticed a small rotator cuff tear, but they hoped it would heal during the rehab process without surgical attention, which would necessitate a much longer recovery time. Reportedly, when they went in on April 18th, doctors noticed the tear had grown rather than healed. Consequently, Nen sought the opinion of a number of sources and chose to have surgery to repair the tear last week, though some reportedly advised him to simply retire.

He probably won't begin throwing for another four months, but San Francisco hopes to have him back by Spring Training of 2004. Unfortunately, there's a significant possibility that Nen will never return from the surgery, and a high probability that he won't have the same stuff he possessed before the injury even if he does return.