Sunday Morning Roster Noise: Roy Oswalt, Kendrys Morales, Nelson Cruz and Rafael Furcal

On Friday, the Phillies placed starting pitcher Roy Oswalt on the DL with lower back inflammation, and he could return by Friday May 13th. The Phillies put Kyle Kendrick in Oswalt's spot in the rotation. Kendrick is only rosterable in NL-Only leagues. Kendrick pitched on Saturday night, shutting out the Braves on 2 hits and a walk in 5 innings.

The Rangers placed outfielder Nelson Cruz on the DL on Friday with a right quad strain, and called up outfielder Craig Gentry. Gentry wills serve as the Rangers 4th outfielder until Cruz returns. Mitch Moreland started in RF for the Rangers in the last two games vs the Yankees, so he should probably see the most of the starts with Cruz out.

The Red Sox placed shortstop Marco Scutaro on the DL today with a strained right side muscle and called up SS prospect Jose Iglesias to replace him. Iglesias was hitting just .229-.256-.229 with no homer, 4 RBIs, 11 runs scored and 2 SBs. Iglesias is only rosterable in AL-only leagues.

The Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez is dealing with a strained quad muscle and has not played since last Tuesday when he injured it running the bases. The Pirated have elected to hold off on sending Alvarez to the DL, and fantasy owners can only hope this time off snaps Alvarez from his funk at the plate. Alvarez has only one HR this season and is approaching the Mendoza line in batting average.

Former Angel Brandon Wood has been playing in place of Alvarez and is actually hitting. He is hitting .292-.370-.417 with no homers, 6 RBIs, 3 runs scored and a 14-3 K/BB rate this season.

More Roster Noise after the jump:

The Astros placed outfielder Jason Bourgeois on the DL today with a strained left oblique. The speedster has put fantasy teams back in the race in the steals category as he has stolen 11 bases in less than 55 at bats this season. The Astros were playing Borugeis in the outfield with Carlos Lee out with the injury he sustained in the collision with shortstop Angel Sanchez earlier in the week, and have also played him at second base a few times. He will have tremendous value in fantasy leagues should he gain second base eligibility this season.

Dodgers shortstop thinks he is close to returning after taking batting practice this weekend. This from Dylan Hernandez from the LA Times:

Taking batting practice for the first time since he broke his left thumb three weeks ago, Rafael Furcal said he

thinks he will be able to start a minor league rehabilitation by the middle of this week.

The Dodgers lineup sorely misses Furcal at the top of the lineup. Furcal was quoted earlier this week saying that his back has not felt this good in more than a year. I wonder if Furcal will be running more to jump start the struggling Dodgers offense when he returns.

Mike DiGiovanna from the LA Times reports that Kendrys Morales will get a second opinion on his ankle this week:

The Angels announced after Saturday night's 4-3 loss to the Cleveland Indians that first baseman Kendrys Morales, whose rehabilitation from a broken left ankle has stalled over the last few weeks, will travel to Vail, Colo., this week for a second opinion.

DiGiovanna goes on to say that the Angels may have been optimistic in their previous forecasts for Morales' return to the Angels lineup:

Asked on Friday if he was surprised by how slowly Morales is recovering, Manager Mike Scioscia’s response was an indication that the Angels don’t expect Morales back until June, at the earliest, and perhaps an admission that those earlier forecasts were far too ambitious.

Mark Trumbo owners can hold onto him for the foreseeable future.

Diamondbacks SS Stephen Drew was pulled from last night's game with soreness in his groin. There is something weird about writing that, but that is his injury. Manager Kirk Gibson said he will sit out Sunday's game and get an extra day of rest with Monday's off day. Those in daily lineup leagues, plan accordingly.