Chipper Jones placed on the DL; Smoltz's start pushed back

Well today was the deadline for the Atlanta Braves and Chipper Jones on whether or not to put him on the disabled list. And they have decided to go ahead an place him on the 15-day DL and call up Yunel Escobar to replace him. Jones has been diagnosed with a bone bruise near the base of his thumbs, but Jones is more concerned there might be some ligament or other damage, especially since the pain had begun raidiating down into his wrists. X-rays were taken last week and they showed no breaks or other structural damage. This will be Jones' fifth trip to the DL in the past three seasons and it's obviously frustrating him.

"I have absolutely no idea," he said of the next course in treatment. "I don't know what to do. We?re doing everything. I'll try to strengthen the wrist, and hopefully the bone bruises will heal in this down time."

His replacement will be Yunel Escobar, who is more of a shortstop, but has experience at thirdbase. Escobar was hitting .333/.379/.456 with 2 HR, 29 RBI's and 7 stolen bases in 46 games. For his complete statistics, here's his profile page. He is expected to arrive in Chicago in time for tomorrow's game and possibly start at third, this in all likelihood will be his major league debut.

More injury news, John Smoltz scheduled start this Sunday is probably going to be pushed back until Tuesday in which the Braves' have a double-header scheduled against the Florida Marlins. Smoltz's shoulder is still a little sore when he threw this morning after tweaking it on a warmup pitch before the fourth inning last Saturday at Milwaukee. He had previously dislocated his pinky again in that game but he said it didn't bother him when he threw Friday in a bullpen session at Wrigley Field. It looks like Buddy Carlyle will be starting the series finale against the Chicago Cubs this Sunday.

I'm torn with the "Chipper to the DL" thing, I mean Chipper is my favorite player and I never want to see him get hurt, but if he is hurt--and he is--I want him to take as much time as he needs so his season isn't full of injuries, and on another plus side we get to see Escobar play who is most likely one our top "trading pieces". As bad as it sounds, there is just no where for him to play and if he continues his hot hitting, he could fetch us another pitcher.

[Photo of Chipper(1st pic) is from May 11th when he collided with Pirate's third baseman, Jose Bautista, that was when he first injured his wrists.]