Susan Slusser notes that the it sure looks like Andrew Triggs and Raul Alcantara have won the last two slots in the rotation, behind the clear 1-3 of Kendall Graveman, Sean Manaea, and Jharel Cotton. Sonny Gray's injury opened up at least a temporary slot that gave Jesse Hahn some breathing room, but he's been unable to capitalize and instead has continued his miserable 2016 into 2017 by allowing 15 runs in 15 1/3 innings this spring.

It's never too late for a pitcher, but it's hard to see where Hahn goes from here. He has an option, so he's a lot easier to send down than Alcantara, and given that he was beaten out by the five guys listed above, he'll be at best seventh in line for the rotation when Gray returns. Then you figure you've got Chris Bassitt and Daniel Mengden coming back from their own injuries at some point, Frankie Montas hopefully transitioning into the rotation in 2018, and Daniel Gossett and Grant Holmes rising through the ranks, and even with the inevitable injuries and trades and all the rest, Hahn's performance is only going to merit so many more looks. Plus I guess there's even Paul Blackburn? Granted that Hahn's lasted in the rotation competition to the end of the spring, how many players is he ahead of on the 40-man at this point? Probably Daniel Coulombe, maybe Bruce Maxwell ... I think that's it. The 38th guy on the 40-man is a guy who gets designated for assignment in July with some frequency. Maybe that's for Simon Castro or Gossett, maybe Jaff Decker, maybe even Matt Chapman. Maybe it's for a new acquisition.

Whatever the final blow is, we're sure a long way from a promising half season in 2015, a 3.75 DRA in nearly 100 innings that had us dreaming on a very solid third starter for four, five, six years. Pitchers. Injuries. SMH.