Casey Janssen, who left thursday night's game with tightness in his throwing shoulder, had an MRI which revealed that, for now, he's essentially fine. The MRI revealed a very slight muscle strain unrelated to his labrum troubles in 2008. Janssen will take 3 days off and then can start throwing again, which will also mean he will miss at least his next start.
Since Casey was supposed to go 60 pitches on Thursday (he obviously didn't), there's essentially no way he'll be ready for the 100 pitches for which Arnsberg had him planned by the start of the season. That said, if he doesn't have a further setback, he could certainly be ready for starting duty sometime in April. But we haven't seen enough of him yet to know one way or the other, so I think the Jays will have to move on without him in making their 4th and 5th starter selections. The next installment of the competition will feature both Clement and Richmond, who are scheduled to pitch on Sunday against the Twins. Later this weekend, we will take an in-depth look at what a team really needs out of different spots in the starting rotation. My hopes are that it will be interesting.
In the meantime, check out the latest "Know Thy Enemy" featuring the Tampa Bay Rays.
In a further wrinkle for the battle for the Jays' starting rotation, the Jays are negotiating with 27-year old pitcher Shawn Hill, who was recently released by the Washington Nationals. Hill is a native of Mississauga, Ontario. While being released by the woeful Nats is never a career-enhancing event, Hill's problems have lied more in the stars, that is to say, injuries, than in himself or his abilities. He has had a whole host of arm problems and they've continued into the spring, where he has had some forearm soreness. He did pitch a shutout inning earlier this week and had 2 Ks and reportedly felt fine afterward. Hill had a nice season with the Nats in 2007, where he was able to make 16 starts and had a 3.42 ERA with 65 Ks and 25 Ks over 97 innings. It's a good move for the Jays, who can use the depth and it's a good situation for the native son to try to revive his career. Of course, I can't imagine Hill will immediately move into contention for a starting job; he'll have to pitch himself into contention.
Today's post from the Arcade Fire song off the great record Neon Bible. It seemed ridiculously appropriate given the content of the post.