See you for a rehab start in June, Rich.

It's Greg Smith time!

The injury is believed to be minor and it might have been the aftereffects of the long flights to and from Japan last month.

If anybody thought the long flight to Japan might have ill effects on the back of a man made of fine porcelain, why the hell did he go to Japan? It's not like anybody's going to get suspicious if Rich Harden gets slapped on the DL about March 15th.

"If anybody thought the long flight to Japan might have ill effects on the back of a man made of fine porcelain, why the hell did he go to Japan?"

Because if the A's left Harden at home, there was a substantial fear that he may have broken six ribs getting out of his bathtub without assistance from two of the team's trainers.

Lasted longer than Mike Hampton.

True. Hampton would have broken seven ribs just trying to take his clothes off so he could get into the bathtub.

I'm skeptical that long plane flights can contribute significantly to a guy straining a lat. More likely the lat was already strained and the plane flight aggravated it, but probably not as much as pitching a full game in Japan did.

Rich Harden is a situation, like Mark Prior a couple years ago, where I advocate simply paying him to stay home and not touch a baseball for a full year, and then spending another year slowly rehabbing him back up to where he can pitch. His body just needs to recuperate before we try it again.

Rich Harden is a situation, like Mark Prior a couple years ago, where I advocate simply paying him to stay home and not touch a baseball for a full year, and then spending another year slowly rehabbing him back up to where he can pitch. His body just needs to recuperate before we try it again.

That might make sense as a baseball fan, but the A's are paying him $4.5 million this year and have a $7 million option on him for 2009. Sitting him for a year to see if it helps probably isn't in their best interests.

I'm skeptical that long plane flights can contribute significantly to a guy straining a lat.

I guess you've never had back problems. Sitting in an uncomfortable seat for a long time can do a lot of things to your body.

What Danny said. Even if that aproach would guarantee Harden be fully healthy and ready to dominate in 2010, he'd just make a nice free agent addition for somebody else.

He pitched great in his first two starts of the season, so he couldn't be all that injured.

Besides, isn't that pretty much what they tried last year?

I guess you've never had back problems. Sitting in an uncomfortable seat for a long time can do a lot of things to your body.

Right, which brings us back to... why did Harden go to Japan?

Well I can't answer that one. Until I read this thread, I hadn't realized that he went to Japan in the first place, so it's not like I've given that much thought anyway.

Since when do lat injuries get lumped in as back injuries? I always thought back injury was used in a different context.

Using the defintion of "back injury" as anything not on the front or side of the body, couldn't a back of the shoulder injury qualify?

Not only did he go to Japan, he pitched pretty well there, 9? strikeouts or something.

>>Ben Sheets high fives himself in mirror<<

I guess you've never had back problems. Sitting in an uncomfortable seat for a long time can do a lot of things to your body.

The flight back from Japan was almost two weeks ago, and he made a start after that, correct?

It seems a lot more likely to me that he tweaked it either during that last start or in his side throwing more recently.

Would be just like the A's to trade the first class tickets they got from the league office for economy seats wouldn't it? The metrics are unanimous, first class is inefficient.

Don't do that, Ben! You'll sprain your wrist!

>>Ben Sheets high fives himself in mirror<<

Hopefully he didn't use his pitching hand, because he probably broke the glass.

Hey, you guys are overreacting. It's just a lat problem. He's gonna start on saturday. That's what the trainer said...they...never lie to us...

:runs out of room crying:

Their top draft pick from 2007, James Simmons, left his AA start yesterday after 3 scoreless IP. No word yet on an injury, but they usually don't tell us until he's scratched from his next start.

So we got two out of him this year.

Their top draft pick from 2007, James Simmons, left his AA start yesterday after 3 scoreless IP. No word yet on an injury, but they usually don't tell us until he's scratched from his next start.

This is more concerning, but ultimately probably appropriate.

Duchscherer to the DL to make room for Gaudin. At least Harden hasn't been DLed yet, though he very well could be to make room for Smith on Saturday.