At the beginning of Spring Training, I don’t think there was a lot of talk about possible injuries to Dan Johnson and Esteban Loaiza, but here we are, on one of the last days before the season is to start, and it appears we need to rebuild the team a bit.
First piece of big, season-changing news (and take it any way you want) is that Dan Johnson has been placed on the DL, and it could be for a while (the rumor is up to three months). Most likely (but don’t hold me to it), Durazo will make the club, apparently having been trained in Marco Scutaro’s witchcraft, but other possibilities include starting Daric Barton at first, or moving Swisher there, and starting Travis Buck in the outfield.
I have no idea why Loaiza didn’t start tonight’s game. MLB.com is not being especially helpful tonight, and information out of the clubhouse is not forthcoming. However, we will be updating breaking news as soon as we learn about it. In the meantime, if you have seen Esteban Loaiza, could you please return him to either Sacramento or Oakland, or better yet, try to exchange him for Johan Santana first?
[UPDATE: Loaiza does appear to be hurt. No more info available yet.]
Another potential hot issue is the absence of Milton Bradley from center field. Having already lost one CF’er this year, I would think we’d rather not lose two. If the madness continues, I’d say it’s highly likely that we will not go the whole season without seeing Barton or Buck, and who knows? The way things are going, we might not start the season without at least one of them, and I would not be at all surprised for Beane to start dealing for another starting pitcher.
[UPDATE: Bradley had some tightness in his side, but hopefully is just day-to-day.]
Please feel free to chime in with any news as it becomes available. I’m waiting for the dust to settle. Have fun tomorrow, Nico!
Oh yeah, and there was a game tonight. Possible scores include 9-7, 8-6, 14-3, 156-45 (okay, I made that one up), but I think it was 11-10, in favor of the big kids. You don’t really care, do you? Well, except for the two homeruns by Swisher. I think that is what’s known as a little glimmer of hope.
