Seattle placed RHP Rafael Soriano on the disabled list with a sore elbow on May 11th. Soriano complained of elbow soreness following his May 9th appearance in the Mariners' game against the Yankees. The 24-year-old has been diagnosed with a mild strain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Seattle plans to have him rest for a couple of weeks before beginning a throwing program, so I expect him to miss at least a month. The Mariners will be cautious, because severe damage to this ligament is cause for Tommy John surgery. He only had been back in the majors a week when he hit the DL, as he returned from his minor league arm strengthening assignment on May 4th. That assignment resulted from the Seattle's belief that Soriano's spring groin injury prevented him from fully preparing for the season during spring training.

IF-S Ramon Santiago replaced Soriano on the roster. Santiago received a couple of starts at shortstop late last week while SS-R Rich Aurilia rested a sore side. Aurilia's was not seriously injured just tender after a hard dive on the Minnesota turf. However, the Mariners have not been pleased with Aurilia's play this season and there are rumors that he may not remain in Seattle much longer. If he departs, Santiago stands to inherit the starting job at short. At the time of his call-up, Santiago was only hitting .180 with a .284 OBP and .220 SLG on 18 H, 2 2B, and 1 3B with a 10:13 BB:K and 6/8 SB% in 100 AB at AAA Tacoma in the Pacific Coast League, supporting his need for further practice. The rebound in the 24-year-old's walk rate is promising, but his last two seasons in Detroit testify to the negatives of trying to learn in the majors. Regrettably, his .377 spring training batting average seems to have convinced the club that he deserves another look in the majors.

2B-R Bret Boone began complaining of back spasms on the first day of May and the discomfort caused him to miss a couple of games. Boone then suffered an injury to his left hip flexor during the Mariners' May 11th game in Minnesota, which has caused him to remain out of the lineup for the last five games. Seattle hopes that the few days have allowed him to heal, and he's scheduled to return to the lineup tonight. With Boone hurting and UT-R Willie Bloomquist on the disabled list, the Mariners evidently felt that filling Soriano's roster spot with an infielder made more sense than maintaining a twelve-man pitching staff.

UT-R Jolbert Cabrera has filled in at second with Boone on the bench, and as long as his bat remains hot, Seattle will continue to try to find him playing time. I saw some promise in Cabrera when he was with Cleveland, but he's failed to improve his walk rate while his contact rate has dropped, his speed has dissipated with age, and he's begun to hit more groundballs. Consequently, I suspect his production will retreat to his career standards before the end of the year.

The Mariners placed Bloomquist on the disabled list on May 4th. Bloomquist exited Seattle's May 1st game with back spasms. He began to feel somewhat better after a couple of days, but the Mariners chose to send him to the DL so that he could rest until he fully recovered. The 26-year-old began a rehab stint with AAA Tacoma yesterday and may be back in the majors later this week. Soriano initially filled the roster spot opened by Bloomquist's trip the disabled list.