Jays' Burnett likely heading to DL

[Halladay_is_God]

TSN : MLB - Canada's Sports Leader

Canadian Press

6/17/2007 5:32:59 PM

TORONTO (CP) - Toronto Blue Jays starter A.J. Burnett is likely headed to the disabled list next week after stiffness and soreness in his right shoulder derailed his throwing session Sunday.

The flame-throwing right-hander left his start last Tuesday in San Francisco with what the team described as shoulder fatigue. Burnett was hunched over in pain on the mound against the Giants before leaving a 3-2 loss in the fifth inning.

The Blue Jays initially expected him to start next Saturday against Colorado but shut him down when the pain in his shoulder persisted. They do not believe the injury is more serious than previously thought.

"All indications are that it's not," said manager John Gibbons. "He was a little tender so he won't make that one Saturday. We'll probably throw him on the DL. We'll know something Tuesday."

Burnett, who signed a US$55-million, five-year deal before the 2006 season, had carried a heavy workload in his three starts prior to the outing versus the Giants. He threw 125 pitches on May 27, 117 on June 1 and 130 on June 7.

Burnett, 5-6 with a 4.00 earned-run average in 14 starts, declined comment.

Should he be placed on the DL, the move would be retroactive to June 12 and leave him eligible to come off June 28.

"He's still feeling it and we're not going to throw him out there if he's still feeling it," said Gibbons. "We got to get rid of it before he throws a side, anyway."

The club offered no hints of who might cover Burnett's start, other than saying it won't be someone from the bullpen.

"I got no idea," said Gibbons.

Burnett would be the latest Blue Jays starter to hit the disabled list. Gustavo Chacin, John Thomson and Victor Zambrano are all on it while Roy Halladay missed time with an appendectomy.

"You get used to it," said Gibbons. "It doesn't phase you anymore."

This team just hates telling the media the truth right away.


More bad news is that Josh Towers will continue in the rotation

[realmofotalk]

Whatever happened J.P.'s plan of building the Blue Jays cheaply?

[Halladay_is_God]

it all started after the 2005 season.
When he couldn't build a contender with a payroll of 50 million and he wanted more money and he got it for 2006 (up to 210 mill over 3 years), but then he wanted even more since he said they still couldn't contend with a 70 million payroll, and he got up to 90 million to play with for this season.

And what did he do he signed Frank Thomas for 9 million per season, thanks Frank for doing almost nothing this season.

[realmofotalk]

Which is ironic since Paul Godfrey hired J.P. because he wanted someone who didn't say "Give me $100 million and I'll give you a winner."

[Halladay_is_God]

yes that is true, pretty funny when I think about it more.

and the search for a starting short-stop that will stick, well JP did himself in, trading both Cesar Izturis and Felipe López for what ended up as pure crap.

JP could never pull off a good trade until he got Lyle Overbay and Troy Glaus (although Hudson doing great with the D'Backs)

[brewersfan19]

Did he hurt himself racing the hot peppers or whatever those mascot things were?

[Halladay_is_God]

thankfully no


Before Burnett got pulled from his last start against the Giants, the 3 starts he made before that he was throwing over 110 pitches (125, 117, 130), the manager (John Gibbons) gave Burnett an extra day off between the 117 and 130 performances.

I have no clue why they would let Burnett throw 130 pitches after giving him an extra day off to rest from those 2 starts and now he's on the shelf.

It's like they wanted him to get hurt.

[brewersfan19]

Is Gibbons clueless or something???? Pitching a guy like that with a HUGE history of injury problems sounds dumb to me. Is Gibbons trying to loose his job or what??? That has got to be frustrating to the Jays' fans!!!

[Halladay_is_God]

It's official

The Official Site of The Toronto Blue Jays: News: Toronto Blue Jays News

Burnett returns to disabled list

Taubenheim gets the call: Toronto recalled right-hander Ty Taubenheim from Triple-A Syracuse to make Saturday's start in place of Burnett. Taubenheim will take the mound against the Rockies, the same team he made his Major League debut against on May 20, 2006.

The 24-year-old made seven starts for the Jays last season, going 0-5 with a 4.99 ERA. Gibbons said because of that 2006 experience, he was expecting Taubenheim to make an appearance with the Jays sometime this season.

"He got here fast last year," Gibbons said. "He pitched OK, but we liked everything about him out there, we figured it's a matter of time -- sometime this year -- [that] he would come up and help us out."

The young righty has had an up and down season at Triple-A Syracuse. In 11 starts, Taubenheim is 3-5 with a 5.82 ERA. He was demoted to the bullpen earlier this year, but rejoined the rotation on June 9. In his two starts since, he is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA. He was acquired along with the first baseman Lyle Overbay from the Brewers prior to the 2006 season.

I would like to see John Thomson get a chance to start in the majors but the Jays' mgmt keeps ****ing him over because of his contract (1 mill if called up)

[Turn 2]

Losing Burnett to the D.L. is another of the many blows the Jays have had to deal with this season. What amazes me about the jays with all the injuries they have had they are still playing .500 ball.

[Halladay_is_God]

Burnett coming back this Thursday, we'll see how effective he is.

[Turn 2]

Well it looks like the Jays have another legit starter in the rotation now in McGowan, so maybe some pressure could be off of Burnett when he returns.

[realmofotalk]

I would like to see John Thomson get a chance to start in the majors but the Jays' mgmt keeps ****ing him over because of his contract (1 mill if called up)

He got his chance today pitching for Kansas City, and he's in line for the win.

[Halladay_is_God]

typical, guy gets released and wins his 1st game with his new team, congrats Thomson, you don't have to deal with JP screwing you around now.

[Turn 2]

And he pitched pretty well against a very tough lineup in the Angels. How could a team that has been riddled by injuries to there pitching staff get rid of a guy like this? It doesn't make much sense to me.