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Rich Harden and Felix Hernandez

Yesterday, the A's and Mariners placed their respective aces, Rich Harden and Felix Hernandez, on the 15-day D.L.  Hernandez's trip doesn't raise any eyebrows.  The initial diagnosis called for a 10-20 day lay-off.  Putting him on the D.L. was a foregone conclusion with that time frame.

However, Rich Harden is a slightly different case.  When he was removed from his start versus the Yankees on Sunday the 15th, initial reports from him had him making his next start the following Friday 4/20.  A's management was a little more circumpsect.  Then he missed that start but was going to start today 4/24.  However, he was placed on the D.L. instead.

Precautionary, maybe, but his prognosis has gotten progressively worse, and that is a red flag I look for when trying to guess how bad an injury is.  It is also what I am attending to with Hernandez.  Right now he is scheduled to come off the D.L. on May 4th and start against the Yankees.  Any change in that schedule is a warning that things may be worse than hoped for and reported.