A Saber-Slanted Baseball Community

Could we get Francisco Hernandez back from the A's?

Bye-bye, Dan Johnson?: Tuesday night was very possibly Dan Johnson's last in an A's uniform. The team must make room on both the 25-man roster and the 40-man roster for tonight's starter, Greg Smith, and Johnson appears to be the most expendable. He has only one at-bat this season, and the A's have Barton at first base and Mike Sweeney and Jack Cust available to DH. Johnson is out of options and there's a good chance he would be claimed on waivers (the Giants are among those in the market for a first baseman). The A's can send him down only if he clears waivers, a process that takes three business days.

"Obviously, all I'm doing is sitting here waiting to see which way it goes," Johnson said. "There's really nothing I can say. If it happens, it happens. I'm a big boy, I'll keep going. ... I still think you haven't seen the best of me yet."

Should the A's decide not to risk losing Johnson, another option would be to send Rule-5 draftee Fernando Hernandez (who has yet to pitch) back to the White Sox. There's a remote possibility they could place Rich Harden on the disabled list if it doesn't appear his back soreness has improved, but they'd still need to make a move to get Smith onto the 40-man roster. In that case, they might consider putting third baseman Eric Chavez onto the 60-day DL.