Seems like Cahill’s problems have significantly been induced by left-handed batters waiting him out on the outside corner. It could be that he started shying away from the inside corner after giving up all those HRs in first few months. I’m sure A’s pitching coaches are aware of this and we could very well see him coming in aggressively on left-handers more often to move to prevent them from waiting him out outside.

But that’s just a part of problem. That knuckle-curve has to be rediscovered if he wants to duplicate strikeout numbers from minors on the big level some day (or alternatively, his slider or changeup should improve into big-time punchout pitches). What’s most comforting is the fact that time is still on his side. There aren’t many 21-year old pitchers who can survive 32 American League starts, with crappy defense behind them and some initial bad luck in HR/flyball ratio.

I’d say he earned the benefit of the doubt regarding 2010 rotation spot. But if there’s no improvement early on, A’s shouldn’t be shy about sending him to Sacramento to work on things without costing us games (and hair).