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In a strange move, the Washington Nationals recalled Ray King from Triple-A Columbus and immediately placed him on waivers. If King were to clear waivers, the left hander could elect to return to Columbus or choose free agency.

The move was a follow up move to when the team optioned King to Columbus a few days ago to call up Mike O’Connor. King wasn’t happy with the move and there were questions about whether or not he would report to Triple-A. The Nationals felt they couldn’t afford to have a one out guy like King in their bullpen right now, especially not knowing what they’re going to get each night from Chad Cordero with his ailing shoulder.

“With our bullpen right now, we can’t afford to have a lefty specialist like Ray to pitch to one or two guys,” manager Manny Acta said on Thursday. “We need a guy who can give us more than one inning, could pitch to lefties and righties and bridge the gap — like O’Connor.”

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Following last night’s start in which he gave up six runs over 2.1 innings, Ubaldo Jimenez will make his next start with his spot in the rotation on the line.

Manager Clint Hurdle talked with Jimenez today, telling him that he needs to pitch better his next time out or lose his spot in the rotation.

Jimenez gave up five runs in the third inning, giving up five hits, throwing two wild pitches and hitting a player with a pitch before being removed from the contest.

Kip Wells has a 2.29 ERA over 19.2 innings out of the Rockies bullpen and may be a candidate to take Jimenez’s spot in the Rockies rotation.

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After injuries to Mike Hampton, Rafael Soriano, Peter Moylan and Tom Glavine depleted their pitching staff, the Braves are moving closer to getting a few of those names back.

Tom Glavine will be activated from the disabled list to start in Tuesday’s game against the Nationals and Rafael Soriano doesn’t seem to be far behind.

Now for the pitchers on rehab assignments, the Braves Mike Hampton and Mike Gonzalez are both working in the minor leagues as they are trying to come back from injury.

Hampton was scratched from what would have been his first start of the season due to a strained pectoral muscle. In his first rehab game last night, Hampton went three innings for the Richmond Braves without allowing a run. Hampton threw 45 pitches, 29 for strikes. The Braves will not need a fifth starter until May 10 because of off days and Hampton’s start last night puts him in line to come off the disabled list to make that start on normal rest. If Hampton stays on normal rest, he’ll make two more starts – April 30 and May 5 – before coming off the disabled list to start on May 10.

Gonzalez, who is trying to come back from Tommy John surgery, appeared in his second game in extended spring training this morning and worked two perfect innings. Gonzalez only needed 12 pitches to get through two innings, all of the pitches were strikes. The Braves are hoping to have Gonzalez back in the middle of May. The Braves start a lengthy homestand on May 16th, which may be a good estimate on when Gonzalez could return.

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The Texas Rangers have recalled catching prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia from Triple-A. Saltalamacchia will split time with Gerald Laird and probably get time as the team’s designated hitter. He was promoted to stay, not to hang around and be a backup only to return to the minors in a few weeks.

“We’ve been pretty consistent in saying he’s not going to come up here and sit like a veteran backup would,” general manager Jon Daniels said.

Saltalamacchia was batting .291 with two homers and 13 RBIs in 55 at-bats at Triple-A Oklahoma at the time of his call up.

The move was the chain reaction from Adam Melhuse breaking a bone in his hand after being hit in Thursday’s game. The Rangers have decided to release Melhuse, though they talked with him about trying to get him a major league job elsewhere. With his broken hand, he’ll probably need 4-6 weeks to fully heal.

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Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Mariners have signed catcher Kenji Johjima to a three-year extension. The extension would lock him up through the 2011 season.

The finances of the deal have not yet been announced, but another source reports that this is a deal the Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi felt he had to make because of the lack of major league catching.

“As an organization, we view quality Major League catching as a scarce commodity,” Bavasi said. “This extension allows us to feel very comfortable with our catching depth for the foreseeable future.”

Obviously, with Johjima now a fixture behind the plate for the Mariners, questions will be raised about what the team will do with Jeff Clement, one of the Mariners top prospects and a catcher in his own right. Don’t be surprised if you don’t see Jeff Clement as the Mariners designated hitter soon.

They showed their hands when it came out that they were at least interested in Frank Thomas when he had been released. The interest signifies that they are unhappy with the production they’re getting out of their current designated hitter, Jose Vidro. Clement could fill in as the team’s designated hitter and take over at first base when the team is able to get Richie Sexson off the books at the end of the year.

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The Twins sent left handed phenom Francisco Liriano back to Triple-A today and recalled Bobby Korecky to take his place on the roster.

The team has three off-days coming up and would rather have Liriano pitching to get over this recent struggles than skipping over his start if he were with the Twins. Korecky will give the Twins an extra arm in the bullpen for the time being.

Korecky was 2-1 with a 0.68 ERA and four saves at Triple-A at the time of his call up. He recorded 35 saves last year at Rochester.

Liriano has struggled with his control since being recalled from the minors earlier in the season. In three starts with the Twins this season, Liriano has lasted just 10.1 innings, giving up 13 runs in the process. He had given up 15 hits and 13 walks in his three appearances.

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Dan Johnson cleared waivers this time during his DFA stint and has accepted an assignment to the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Durham.

Johnson was claimed off waivers by the Rays after being designated by the A’s and spent just one day with the club before being designated again. The Rays designated Johnson to make room for Gabe Gross on the roster, whom they acquired in trade.

Johnson will report to Triple-A and add to the Rays organizational depth. It’ll be better for him to play every day in Triple-A than sit and rot away on the Rays bench behind Carlos Pena, anyway. With the designated hitter in the American League, Johnson could have more ways to slide into the lineup if an injury were to occur.

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Moises Alou is “as close to day-to-day as can be,” according to general manager Omar Minaya. So, when will he play?

The Mets were hoping to activate Alou prior to tonight’s game and have him in the lineup when the Mets play the Braves this weekend, but that scenario may be in doubt now because of Brian Schneider’s thumb injury. If Schneider were able to play, the Mets would send Gustavo Molina to Triple-A and activate Alou, but with Schneider unable to go, the Mets need to keep Molina around in case they need a backup catcher.

It may turn out that the infection of Schneider’s thumb will land him on the disabled list, but the Mets are going to play that carefully before ending up having to carry their third and fourth catchers on the depth chart as their only catching options. The Mets may have played Alou’s activation more aggressively if Angel Pagan wasn’t playing as well as he has in place of Alou.

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Erik Bedard threw a bullpen session Thursday and reported no problems. With his clean bill of health, Bedard is scheduled to return to the Mariners rotation on Saturday against the A’s.

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Sheffield took a pair of cortisone shots in his ailing right shoulder, and one in the left shoulder, just this week. He’s hoping that the shot he took on Wednesday will clear and allow him to get back in the lineup this weekend against the Angels. However, it seems that Sheffield’s shoulder problems have frustrated him enough to contemplate retiring over the injuries.

“I don’t know what it’s going to do,” Sheffield said. “I don’t know how damaged my shoulder is. When I got the shot in that area last year, my shoulder wasn’t in the type of situation that it is now. …. This is after surgery. I need to find out why it’s pinching in that area.”

Sheffield went on to question how much longer he’s going to play, saying, “am I wasting my time trying to play? That’s another thing. Once again, I have decisions to make. I’m not going to put myself through … like the past. I’m not going to do it. I don’t need to play. It’s just a matter of having an opportunity to win again.”

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