OAKLAND -- With Saturday's starter against the Angels to be determined, the A's ruled out Henderson Alvarez.
Alvarez is expected to throw roughly 70 pitches in a rehab assignment Saturday at Triple-A Nashville. A's manager Bob Melvin said the idea of Alvarez bypassing his rehab assignment and rejoining the rotation Saturday "has crossed our minds, but at this point, that's not going to be the case."
"I think based on what happened last time, he really needs to get to that [pitch] threshold," Melvin said. "Trust me, I'd love to do it. If we knew it was going to be 70 pitches [at the Major League level], it would be really exciting.