SAN FRANCISCO - Oakland right-hander Esteban Loaiza was scratched from his scheduled start Saturday for the second time in three days and might begin the season on the disabled list with tightness in his right shoulder blade.
While manager Bob Geren called a DL stint possible, Loaiza hopes it doesn't come to that and isn't ruling himself out to make his first start Thursday in Anaheim against the Angels. He didn't even attempt to loosen up in the bullpen, instead telling Geren he was still experiencing tightness behind his throwing shoulder.
"If all goes well, I'll throw a bullpen Monday and Tuesday and go from there," Loaiza said.
Loaiza also was scratched from his outing Thursday against Oakland's Triple-A club in Sacramento.
"My first guess is he would start on the DL," Geren said before the A's exhibition game with the San Francisco Giants. "He couldn't pitch two days ago and he couldn't pitch today. I don't see him pitching in four or five days."
Geren and his coaches were scheduled to meet Saturday night with general manager Billy Beane to finalize the roster.
If Loaiza goes on the DL, Oakland would consider right-hander Chad Gaudin -- the emergency starter Saturday -- and lefties Brad Halsey and Lenny DiNardo to replace him in the rotation. After opening stretch with 10 games in 10 days, Geren said the A's don't need their fifth starter until mid-April thanks to how the team's off days fall.
Johnson among D'backs on DL
The Arizona Diamondbacks placed pitcher Randy Johnson and outfielders Carlos Quentin and Jeff DaVanon on the 15-day disabled list yesterday.
Quentin, who has a shoulder injury, was backdated to March 23. He could be available April 7.
Johnson, who is returning from offseason back surgery, is scheduled to make three minor league starts before joining Arizona's rotation in the third week of April.
There is no timetable for DaVanon, who has an ankle injury.
Teams monitoring drug tests
Major league teams are monitoring players during the period between when they are notified they must take a drug test and when they provide a urine sample, according to The New York Times.
The procedure was instituted in July 2005 and covers a period that ran be up to several hours, the paper reported on its Web site last night.
"Players may not be aware they're under observation, but we're watching," baseball executive vice president Rob Manfred was quoted as saying. "It doesn't mean we tell them we're watching."
Three general managers are monitors, 18 assistant GMs, four vice presidents, four directors of baseball operations. The title of the other wasn't disclosed.
"There is absolutely no evidence that a player scheduled for a test is left unattended for a period of time that permits him to defeat the purposes of the test," Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players' association, was quoted as saying in an e-mail message. "From the moment the player is designated for a test, he is under observation by the team coordinator."
