The Diamondacks have placed left-hander Joe Saunders on the 15-day DL with a strained throwing shoulder. Saunders had been slated to start Friday night but was unable to get loose beforehand, which was the first sign of trouble.
Arizona has backdated the move to June 17, which means Saunders, so long as he's not seriously hurt, could return in very early July. The club has not replaced him on the roster with top prospect Trevor Bauer, who's presently dominating at Triple-A Reno. Instead, they've recalled right-handed reliever Jonathan Albaladejo. It's not certain who will replace Saunders in the rotation, although Josh Collmenter, who started in place of Saunders on Friday, would seem to be the likely stop-gap. Still, it's a bit hard to understand why Bauer isn't yet in Arizona, especially given the lack of rotation depth.
As for the 31-year-old Saunders, he has a 3.44 ERA across 13 starts this season. Saunders also spent time on the DL with shoulder problems in August of 2009.
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