Astros Berkman on DL

Houston Astros first baseman Lance Berkman suffered swelling in his left knee when testing it today after having it surgically repaired on March 13.

He is being placed on the 15-day DL as of March 26 and will be eligible to play April 10.

The Astros will badly miss Berkman’s bat and will struggle in their opening series against San Francisco without him. They follow that up with a series against Philadelphia and Houston could very realistically start 0-6.

Uncertainty in Mets Rotation

The New York Mets shuffled their rotation around in response to poor play by their number two and three pitchers.

Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez move down to get the easy starts against the Washington Nationals while John Maine and Jon Niese move up.

Pelfrey has a 7.97 ERA after spring action and Perez has an 8.66 ERA.

The struggles of the Mets pitching staff and their injury troubles has caused the Mets season wins odds to plummet. They were projected to win 82.5 games at the start of Spring Training, but now the under pays just -180 reflecting the lack of confidence in the Mets ability to overcome these early-season problems.

Pre-Season Betting Update: Astros and Mets by MLB Baseball Previews