Cardinals left-hander Jaime Garcia has tearing in his labrum and rotator cuff, reports Joe Strauss of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Surgery is not recommended at this time but he will be shut down for a minimum of four weeks. Garcia signed a four-year, $27MM extension last July.
Here's the latest from the NL Central, which just lost one of its best young pitchers…
- ESPN's Jayson Stark hears that the Pirates are expected to offer eighth overall pick and Stanford right-hander Mark Appel a slot $2.9MM signing bonus and hold the line until the July 13th deadline as they sign their other picks. "I don't see how," said one executive when asked if a deal will get done between the team and the Scott Boras client.
- Indians closer Chris Perez told Andrew Wagaman of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he was excited when the Cardinals traded him "because I could go do my thing." Cleveland acquired Perez from the Cards for Mark DeRosa in June 2009.
- We know the Cubs are willing to absorb most of the $54MM left on Alfonso Soriano's contract to trade him, and ESPN's Buster Olney wonders (on Twitter) if the outfielder's recent power surge will create some interest. Soriano hit two homers last night and has 11 in his last 23 games.
