The A’s still don’t have a listed starter for Saturday, but they know who won’t be starting against the Angels – Henderson Alvarez.
Not that the subject hasn’t come up. Alvarez will join Triple-A Nashville Saturday for what is expected to be his final injury rehabilitation start, an expected 70-pitch stint. So the A’s did think briefly about skipping Nashville and plugging Alvarez into the Oakland rotation.
Ultimately they decided that was tempting fate. A month ago when Alvarez was making what was then thought to be his final injury rehab start, he felt some discomfort in his shoulder and had to be shut down for over a week, then get gradually built back up.