Jamie Cambell just said JP said Doc could have pitched the next game but they're going to play it safe.

I understand it's early in the season and you want to be careful with your pitchers, but if JP said Doc can pitch than why are they holding him back?

The Jays did the same thing with AJ. He could have started today but they're playing it safe and giving him more rest. Are the Jays going to continue to skip their pitchers starts if they're a little bit nicked up?

I don't agree with this.

If skipping starts prevents a long term injury, I'm all for it. We're not going to win the division in April, so I want to give Doc and A.J. the best possible chance to be pitching in September. If we're in the race come August and September, that's when you start rushing guys back.

Assuming they are healthy enough to pitch, you could look at it the other way too.

The more you skip their starts, the less of a chance the Jays will be in the race in September. A game in April is worth the same as a game in September in the standings.

I'm with Ron on this one. Either the arm trouble is a legitimate concern or it's not; if it's not, pitch him. This is Roy Halladay, not a creaky, injury-prone 42-year-old. I can live with the "we could start him but we won't" line in spring training, when it's just exhibition games, but this is the regular season, and wins in April are as important as those in September.

If, on the other hand, this is something that has the team worried, then fine, but be upfront about it. I don't like this trend towards hush-baby treatment of the team's two most important arms.

All that said, this probably is nothing -- if it was in the elbow or shoulder, I'd be worried no matter what the team said. I do suspect this has something to do with Doc having absolutely nothing in the 8th inning against Tampa on Sunday.

I understand it's early in the season and you want to be careful with your pitchers, but if JP said Doc can pitch than why are they holding him back?

There's a difference between "Doc can pitch" and "Doc can pitch without discomfort and to the best of his ability".

We're not going to win the division in April, so I want to give Doc and A.J. the best possible chance to be pitching in September.

This is not true. As Jordan said, the games this month count just as much as they do in August and September. Last year the A's buried themselves with a 17-31 record thru May 31, and while they reached first place in last August, they simply could not sustain their hot streak all the way thru September. Had they played better in April and May, they would have made the playoffs last year.

It's just not a good idea. If he's hurting in some way, why risk it?

Sure, it's april, sure, the A's MIGHT have buried themselves with their poor start last year- although theres absolutely NO way to establish proof that if the A's had gone 31-17 in April last year they would have made the playoffs, that's entirely a what-if scenario. If they had gone 31-17 maybe they would have stumbled in August/September. The moment they got to first place is enough to prove that really their start didn't do a whole lot to deter their chances, because everything averaged out the way it should have.

Sure these games mean as much, but let's be honest. It's one start. I'd rather have him miss THIS start, while they still have 150+ games to make it up, versus a start at the end of the September when they're 2 games outta the wildcard.

I'm with JP on this one, even if it does mean I won't get to see Halladay for that much longer.

Speaking of taking it slow with Halladay and Burnett, A.J. only went 4 innings again today in his second rehab start in Dunedin.  He allowed 6 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, and struck out 4.  He only threw 58 pitches, according to ESPN.  That's even fewer pitches than in his first rehab start!

What gives?  Shouldn't he be increasing his pitch count to build up his arm strength?  I hope he wasn't feeling pain again.  We shouldn't expect any more than 5 innings in his start against Chicago. 

timpinder, Jerry said a few times on the radio today that Burnett was limited to 60 pitches today specifically because of the Halladay injury, because they wanted him ready sooner and that he was 100% ready to go.  He's now going on Saturday so they wanted to limit his pitch count since he is going on three days rest.

Would it be possible to hear some positive Jays news in the early part of the season?

Yeah, it's possible.

Wells and Glaus are just devouring pitchers out there,  Molina is hinting that he might actually repeat 2005, Hill's outhitting Hillenbrand and at times fielding like him too, BJ's dominating the ninth, Chacin has a bit more than beginner's luck, and Rios could actually make his tools count.

So we lost a couple games we woulda coulda shoulda won. Halladay and Burnett are out for a bit. Adams is still having trouble making plays at short. Hillenbrand is killing rallies like Sam Raimi kills zombies. Basically, it wasn't really a playoff-caliber Week 1. But we're thinking long-term for the playoffs, and long-term, I'd say things look pretty good. There have been a few momentary setbacks, but the positive signs for the season to come have certainly showed up.