FanPost

DLD 3/30: Choose title carefully - cannot be changed!

Tom Fitzgerald gives us the rundown on Oakland injuries:

Esteban Loiaza, the listed starting pitcher, was scratched because of tightness in the trapezius muscle in his right shoulder. He never even warmed up. That forced left-hander Dallas Braden, who was supposed to start for the River Cats, to change uniforms and start for Oakland.

And just before the game, center field Milton Bradley was scratched of soreness in his right side. Geren didn't seem that concerned about Bradley, who, like Loiaza, is listed as day-to-day.

FitzGerald mentions that Loaiza's trapezius kept him out last year, but neglects to mention that this apparently a problem in the other shoulder.

DJ hits the DL

The A's gave no indication how long Johnson would be out, but the 27-year-old Johnson could be sidelined up to three months.

"It depends on the treatment and what they plan to do," Geren said. "He's being evaluated further. We'll have a timetable after he's evaluated."

The sillies have come out the woodwork complaining that Johnson went from "day-to-day" to "out for up to three months" overnight.  I wonder if people stop to think that perhaps new information came to light, changing the diagnosis to something more severe.

Should it be Buck or Barton instead of Durazo?  No.  To do that, we would necessarily lose Durazo, who can opt for free agency -- and almost certainly will do so -- if he doesn't make the 25-man roster.  By keeping Durazo for at least a few weeks, we have the opportunity to keep him.  If he bombs out before DJ gets back, we have a few options: one, we can release him; two, we can attempt to send him down as fewer teams will be looking for a cheap lefty bat off the bench once 25-man rosters are set.  

In either case we can call up Buck or Barton or whoever.  On the other hand, if we go with Buck or Barton initially, we lose the Durazo option immediately and never get to see what he can do.  And neither Buck nor Barton nor Durazo (nor DJ, for that matter) will have anything resembling good defense, and we're talking about a corner spot in any event.  The difference between best and worse over a half season isn't so large that it's worth sacrificing offense or flexibility.

Losing DJ is a pretty big blow, as Durazo is older has been out of the majors for a while and DJ is younger and seemed to be coming around toward the end of spring training.  There's a small but finite possibility that DJ has a career year, particularly in his age-27 season.

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To avoid the tagging fiasco we've seen over the last few days, I checked out AN's handy tag tips page.  What's that?  Can't find it?  Add another to the list of things to fix on new AN...