Gosselin to miss 6-8 weeks with thumb fracture

ATLANTA -- Braves infielder Phil Gosselin received some discouraging news when he learned that the left thumb injury he sustained on Sunday proved to be much more significant than he initially thought.

An MRI exam performed on Monday in Atlanta revealed that Gosselin has an avulsion fracture. The versatile utility man will need approximately 6-8 weeks to recover from the surgical procedure Dr. Gary Lourie is scheduled to perform on Wednesday morning.

Adonis Garcia, a 30-year-old third baseman who exited Cuba in 2010, has been promoted from Triple-A Gwinnett to take Gosselin's spot on Atlanta's active roster. Garcia has batted .351 with one home run and a .836 OPS through his first 34 games with Gwinnett this year. But his defensive limitations will likely limit the amount of time he spends playing in the field at the Major League level.

There was not much reason for the Braves to even consider promoting top prospect Jose Peraza to fill Gosselin's roster spot. The recently red-hot Jace Peterson has not played enough third base to be moved to that position to simply accommodate Peraza at second base.

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But more importantly, Garcia's promotion might simply serve as a short-term fix. The Braves are hoping third baseman Chris Johnson will be ready to return from the disabled list within the next 7-10 days. Johnson has been sidelined since a May 2 MRI showed he had been playing with a left hand fracture that had been previously undetected.

With Gosselin and Johnson unavailable, Pedro Ciriaco and Alberto Callaspo are expected to share third-base duties.

Gosselin injured the thumb while diving to his right on Adeiny Hechavarria's groundout during Sunday's third inning against the Marlins. After spending most of this season's first five weeks on the bench, he served as Atlanta's starting third baseman during each of this weekend's three games in Miami.