More aches and pains

It can’t be good news for the Red Sox that RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first scheduled throwing session has been pushed back a week. He’s sidelined by a back injury.
The Reds put RHP Edinson Volquez on the 60-day disabled list while he recovers from reconstructive elbow surgery. Meanwhile, 1B Joey Votto said he is making progress in overcoming anxiety and depression that put him on the disabled list last season.
Rangers LHP Derek Holland’s knee injury has been diagnosed as a mild sprain.
Orioles 2B Brian Roberts’ back injury has been diagnosed as a herniated disk.
Twins RHP Joe Nathan said he would be following his normal spring workout schedule even though he underwent off-season surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow.
Position battles:
The Yankees haven’t handed their left field job to Randy Winn. Brett Gardner and non-roster invitee Marcus Thames also are in the mix. Currently, the fifth starter’s job would come down to RHPs Philip Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. As well as Hughes pitched in relief last season, our money would have him in the rotation and the big guy in the bullpen.
The Phillies are good enough that their fifth starter could have some value. Going into the exhibition games, the competition is between LHP Jamie Moyer, who’s too old for you to count on him for your fantasy team, and RHP Kyle Kendrick, who hasn’t proved he could be successful in the majors. If Philadelphia makes a deal for even a journeyman veteran, expect that he could bring more value than a number three starter on a weak team.
The Athletics are hardly strong, but their pitchers have two benefits: 1. Working in a good pitchers’ park and 2. Being young enough to have an upside. That doesn’t mean their fifth starter could have great value, but there are many pitchers in the majors without the talent and potential of Oakland’s candidates: RHPs Trevor Cahill and Vin Mazzaro and LHP Gio Gonzalez. It’s quite possible that two or even all three of them could end up in the rotation, because RHPs Justin Duchscherer and Ben Sheets would have to show they could come back successfully from an injury-imposed year off.
Duchscherer underwent a manipulative procedure to relieve discomfort in his lower back. The A’s said Sheets is scheduled to make his exhibition debut March 5 against the Brewers.
It shouldn’t matter who will be the Pirates’ fifth starter between RHPs Kevin Hart and my homeboy Daniel McCutchen. Pittsburgh will need just four starters for much of April, and even after that the team is hardly good enough to win games behind its top-of-rotation starters. Hart seems likely to get the first shot at the job because the Pirates would like to prove that he is better than the 1-8 record he posted for the Bucs. That would reduce the embarrassment of the bad trade that brought Hart from the Cubs.
RHP Chan Ho Park isn’t likely to be a starter in the majors this year. However, he told Korean media that he would sign a free-agent contract with the Yankees, but the team said a deal hadn’t been reached.
The crack of the bat:
Today, the last team (Cleveland) opened workouts for its pitchers and catchers. Some of those pitchers threw to real batters, because 12 teams brought their position players on to the field for their first workouts. Those teams were the Orioles, Tigers, Braves, Phillies, Pirates and Cardinals in Florida, and the Royals, Angels, Mariners, Cubs, Reds and Giants in Arizona.
One of the greatest:
Willie Mays has been showing up on various TV interview shows, because there’s a new Mays biography out. Two of the interviews were with Charlie Rose and Jon Stewart. Both very interesting, in part because Willie seemed more eloquent and thoughtful, and probably patient, than he was as a player. Made me want to get the book. I couldn’t find the Stewart interview at YouTube or the Comedy Central web site.