Quick Injury Updates

Rockies reliever Chin-Hui Tsao was activated from the DL yesterday, threw a scoreless inning, and will assume the role of closer in Colorado. Manager Clint Hurdle indicated that Tsao would not pitch on consecutive days, but seriously, big deal. How often do the Rockies have save opportunities on consecutive days?

In Arizona, Greg Aquino's elbow is inflamed, but structurally sound. He could be throwing within 10 days. However, if the inflammation around his ulnar nerve doesn't subside, he could face nerve transposition surgery, which sounds pretty nasty. In other Arizona ex-closer news, Jose Valverde still has that inflamed biceps tendon, but the D-Backs may call him up from his minor league rehab assignment by the end of the month, and, well, Matt Mantei is in Boston. (I couldn't discuss injured Arizona relievers without mentioning MM at least once.) None of this really matters, because Brandon Lyon has excelled in the ARZ closer role, and he's not giving it back any time soon.

In more important news, Eric Gagne is now feeling only "minor stiffness" in his pitching arm, and is confident that he will begin a throwing program in the next couple of days.

Finally, Joe Borowski and his physicians were happy with the results of his most recent x-ray, and he began some light throwing over the past week. He's still probably a week away from returning, and while there's no guarantee that he'll assume the closer role upon his return, LaTroy Hawkins is 0-for-1 in the young season.