MRI results indicate that Shaun Marcum does not have a serious injury and should be back on the mound soon.

Baltimore Orioles

As the Orioles head into Chicago today to play a three game series against the team with the best record in baseball, O’s first baseman and de facto team spokesman, Kevin Millar, is talking trash, as usual. Jeff Zriebiec of the Baltimore Sun asked Millar about the possibility of Brian Roberts being traded to the Cubs, and Millar said, "I think Brian is happy to be here. Like I told you in spring training, he's on the 2008 World Series champion Baltimore Orioles. I told you, it will be the Cubs against the Orioles and look, both teams are right where they need to be right now. Like I've said, the Cubs have to go through us to win the World Series."

Millar actually has a point here; the Orioles have a record of 38-36, which would put them in contention in several divisions, including the NL Central. Too bad they reside in the AL East where they are just good enough to be out of the basement.

Incidentally, there has been no movement in trade talks regarding Roberts according to team president Andy McPhail. However, as the two teams meet in Chicago this week it is a sure bet that speculation will heat up, especially since McPhail has such strong personal ties to the Cubs, having worked in the organization for 12 years.

Boston Red Sox

The news from Curt Schilling’s surgery is as good as can be according to Dr. Craig Morgan, who operated on him Monday. Morgan reattached the biceps tendon as planned, and repaired a small tear in the labrum, but found no major problem with the rotator cuff as originally feared. Had his cuff been more seriously affected his career might have been over. As it is he can begin throwing in about four months, and could potentially come back next season at some point. Of course that assumes all goes well during rehab.

Kevin Youkilis had a precautionary CT scan on his right eye, which came up negative, but the team will reevaluate him Tuesday morning. Youkilis was forced to leave Monday night’s game after being hit in the eye after a ball thrown by Mike Lowell took a bad hop during warm up tosses before the fifth inning. The Sox need Youkilis to play because their only other first baseman, Sean Casey, is serving a three game suspension for his actions during the brawl with Tampa Bay a few weeks ago.

New York Yankees

The Yankees are expected to name Sidney Ponson as one of the starters for this Friday’s scheduled double-header against the Mets. Ponson was signed last week and was sent to the minors to tune up.

With the Yanks in a holding pattern, waiting for their pitchers to get healthy, any news is good news; Ian Kennedy made the first of what is expected to be four or five rehab starts yesterday for the Gulf Coast League version of the Yankees. According to reports he threw 58 pitches over three innings and did well.

More pitcher news for the Yanks – Phil Hughes is expected to begin his throwing program today. He is not expected back until late July.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays will call up INF Ben Zobrist to join the club for the interleague series against the Marlins. Zobrist is needed because SS Jason Bartlett is expected to miss a few games to attend the birth of his child at some point this week. Also, Akinori Iwamura has his suspension appeal hearing today (Tuesday) and may have to begin serving his suspension immediately if his appeal is denied. If you are a Cliff Floyd owner, be advised that he will likely be limited to pinch hitting duties, as manager Joe Maddon has indicated there is little chance Floyd would play the field.

Prospect watch – Uber hot prospect David Price has gotten all the attention lately, but the Rays just promoted another pitcher to Double A Montgomery that might be just as good and who is certainly worth keeping an eye on. Righty Jeremy Hellickson has been lights out for Single A Vero Beach, compiling a record of 7-1 with a 2.00 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 77 innings with just 5 walks. If both he and Price are really that good, the Rays could be contenders for several years to come.

Toronto Blue Jays

Now that the team has replaced John Gibbons with the legendary Cito Gaston as manager of the team, speculation has turned to GM J.P. Ricciardi and whether or not his job is on the line. One theory postulates that Gaston, 64, and out of the managers role for 11 years, was promised the GM’s job for 2009, and that either Gene Tenace or Nick Leyva, whom he talked into joining him in the dugout, will assume the managers job next season. Further speculation is that Ricciardi is already out with the decisions now being made by team president Paul Godfrey.

Indications are that Shaun Marcum is not seriously injured and should be able to return sometime around July 4^th, when he is eligible to come off the DL. The team has not announced a timetable as yet. Dr James Andrews registered a second opinion on Marcum’s elbow that agreed with the team’s initial assessment of a ligament strain.

Chicago White Sox

Paul Konerko is recovering quickly from his oblique strain, but he won’t be taking the trip to Los Angeles with the rest of the team this week. He is hoping to hit off a tee by Wednesday and take live batting practice over the weekend. He is eligible to come off the DL June 30^th, but the team isn’t certain he’ll be ready then.

The White Sox bullpen is among the best in baseball. Over the last 82 innings of relief pitching covering 30 games, they have an ERA of 1.64 with 84 strikeouts. For the season the bullpen has an ERA of 2.76. Octavio Dotel, Scott Linebrink, and Matt Thornton are all good choices for your fantasy team if you need pitching that will lower your ratios and still provide good strikeout totals.

Cleveland Indians

The Indians demoted second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera to Triple A Buffalo to give him a chance to regain his confidence at the plate. He struggled all season long to hit, batting just .184 with no power numbers to speak of.  In 12 games with Buffalo, Cabrera is batting .434 with nine multihit games, 4 RBI, and 9 runs scored. It’s a good bet that he will be back in the majors soon.

Fausto Carmona was to be evaluated Monday after being shut down during his rehab sessions last week. He was experiencing pain while throwing a simulated game. Right now the team has no idea when he will return.

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers recently contacted the agent for pitcher Freddy Garcia, who is recovering from surgery he had last year and whose rehab is progressing to the point where he expects to be ready to pitch in the big leagues again sometime in July. The agent, Peter Greenberg, said that Garcia is getting calls from numerous clubs and expects to audition for teams shortly after the All Star break. Garcia has several ties to other players in the Tigers organization and reportedly would be interested in playing for Detroit.

Gary Sheffield’s return to the lineup appears to be imminent. He was to fly to Detroit today to speak with team management, and word is they could activate him in time to play tonight’s game. If they do, Jeff Larish will lose his playing time and could be shipped back to the minors. Tigers may be losing their catcher and super sub, Brandon Inge, who recently had to have a cortisone shot to manage the pain associated with an oblique strain.

Kansas City Royals

Mike Aviles has taken over at shortstop. With 17 games under his belt, Aviles is batting .328 with 3 home runs 12 RBI, 13 Runs, and a stolen base. The only chink in the armor seems to be an unwillingness to take a walk, with only two in 66 plate appearances, and a .340 BABIP which is a tad high. Otherwise, he’s got pop, hits for average, and the Royals are 10-7 with him in the lineup.

Billy Butler is rumored to be on his way back to the big club. Since being demoted, he is batting .366 with 5 home runs, 13 RBI, and 17 runs scored.

Mark Teahen has made some adjustments to his swing and they appear to have increased his power, which all but disappeared last season, but seems to be returning lately. He has 4 homers in has last 18 games, and 9 of his last 20 hits have been for extra bases.

Minnesota Twins

Jason Kubel has been on fire during the month of June. In the 16 games he has played, Kubel has batted .340 with 4 home runs, 11 RBI, 15 runs, and an OBP of .438. Carlos Gomez has been slumping of late, batting just .239 in June, so the Twins are considering bringing Denard Span up to spell him a bit. Span just came off the DL in the minors and went 8 for his first 12 over three games. Alexi Casilla has claimed the second base job with some great hitting while several players were on the DL, and now Brian Buscher is about to do the same at third base. Buscher has batted .385 with 11 RBI since he was brought up from the minors on June 13^th. He has started the last seven games over Mike Lamb, whose .224 batting average was not getting it done.

LA Angels of Anaheim

Francisco Rodriguez nailed his 31^st save Monday night and is on a pace for 65 saves, which would shatter the record of 57 saves in a season by Bobby Thigpen back in 1990. Considering that K-Rod is in a contract year, each save makes his price go up a little more, making it less likely that the Angels re-sign him. They have Jose Arredondo waiting in the wings, or could turn to Scott Shields to handle the closing duties, but it’s doubtful they deal K-Rod before the deadline with the team playing so well.

One reason that K-Rod has so many saves is that the team has given up two more runs than they’ve scored. This happened when they lost Chone Figgins for a bunch of games in May. They averaged 4.8 runs per game in April, sunk to 3.6 per game in May while Figgins was out, then soared back to 4.3 runs per game in June when he came back. Over the last seven games they’ve scored 35 runs, so the offense is firing on all cylinders.

Oakland Athletics

Here’s a surprise, Bobby Crosby is the only Oakland A to have started and played all 75 of the team’s games this season. Who would have thought that was possible with Crosby’s long history of injuries? Of course, I probably just jinxed him.

When Carlos Gonzales hit his first big league home run a couple of games ago, the team sent a staffer out to the stands to retrieve the ball. Gonzales has signed a couple of bats, and they even threw in a Kurt Suzuki signed baseball to sweeten the deal. The fan in question refused to turn over the baseball unless the A’s also threw in a signed jersey. At that point the A’s decided the ball wasn’t worth it and told the fan to keep it. Imaging the gall of someone like that, holding out to get the most value possible from a baseball team. Where on Earth did a fan of baseball learn that kind of behavior?

Seattle Mariners

Felix Hernandez hit the first home run by a pitcher in Mariners history, and the first grand slam by any pitcher since Dontrelle Willis did it two years ago. It is kind of funny that he hit the homer off of Johan Santana, the pitcher to whom he is often compared. The ankle sprain he suffered later in the same game looks as though it won’t put him on the DL. Manager Jim Riggleman described it as “mild” and at worst he may have to push his next start up a couple of days.

Brandon Morrow was back in uniform after missing five games with back spasms. He injured himself while picking up baseballs last Wednesday. He should return to game action in a day or two. Erik Bedard will miss his next start because of back spasms. Look for either R.A Dickey or Miguel Batista to take Bedard’s place.

Texas Rangers

Gerald Laird had an MRI that indicated he would be out of action for a solid 4-6 weeks. He’ll likely return right around the trade deadline. Jarrod Saltalamacchia will take over as the full time catcher in the interim. This will be his chance to “Wally Pipp” Laird into oblivion. All he has to do is hit because neither of them are good defenders. Just look at all the steals that both of them have allowed. Between the two of them there have been 69 stolen bases attempted on them, with 53 of them being successful. That’s a 76% success rate folks. Not good.

Old friend Hank Blalock continues to find new and exciting ways to stall his return to the lineup. He jammed his surgically repaired hand diving for a ball in a game Sunday. Supposedly, he didn’t do any new damage, but he won’t be activated for the big club Tuesday as originally planned. They want him to play at least one more game in the minors.

Nelson Cruz, who bombed out in his big league chance last season, is once again making pitchers look foolish in Triple A. He is batting .322 with 22 home runs and 65 RBI. How come this kid cannot hit better than .231 in the majors? With the way the current outfield is hitting, Cruz may have to get traded to have another shot at the Show.