Waivering

John Halama became the A's de facto 5th starter as Aaron Harang was sent to Sacramento. This was expected as Harang had option, Halama didn't. Halama cost money to sign, harang came up through the organization (via texas). Halama hasn't looked good. The sound of hitters teeign off on him hasn't sounded good, either. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Also, Chad Harville cleared waivers and accepted an assignment with the AAA club. We think his assignment is to get people out with very few pitches.

Out Patient

Chris Singleton has more than a hamstring injury (and another part of the same hamstring) to deal with. Singleton flew back to the BayArea to have a cyst removed from his thyroid gland.

This will force Singleton to some serious bed rest. One of the concens for Singleton, as is always a concern with leg injuries, was futher complications due to compensation.

Anyone who has ever limped around for a week or two and then noticed the leg that was injured is suddenly not as bad as the 'good' leg knows how this feels. Jermaine Dye went through similar problems last year when coming back from his broken leg.

Now, Singleton just has to make sure he gets enough food, liquid and PS2 time in. There's also a lot ot watch on TV, too.

Zito Is Connected to the Foot, i.e. Boot

Zito got booted as the A's Opening Day starter as the Japan trip has started a sequence of administrative nightmares. Zito's program woul dhave him slated to pitch on April 2nd, a day after opening day. This would set up a rotation of Hudson, Zito, Mulder, Lilly, Halama.

Mulder started Opening Day last year, after Hudson was injured in Spring Training and had his work program adjusted. Hudson started Opening Night two years ago. It would be cool to see Zito to start on Opening Day just to keep the trio thing going.

The Big Three Rule #45: The pitcher with the highest Cy Young vote total gets the nod for Opening Day starter the next season.