Dan Johnson's down in AAA, rehabbing. He went 2-3 with a homer last night, apparently. He will likely be ready to come back somewhat soon, which is good, because Todd Walker isn't a first baseman (the jury is out on whether Johnson is, but he's a better bet to bring some offensive value than Walker). Unfortunately, that doesn't solve the outfield quandary, because it's not like Walker can cover center, and neither can Johnson.

But hey, wasn't Johnson supposed to be out for something on the order of months? What is going on with the A's medical team? Why do we never know what's happening with Oakland injuries?

UPDATE: Huh. I spoke too soon. Dan Johnson has been activated, with Adam Melhuse headed to AAA. That's an odd move on a lot of levels. I guess they really wanted Johnson's bat, such as it is, in the lineup. It really is kind of punchless right now, so I guess that's a good thing. But oddly, this means no backup catcher for Kendall. Melhuse can't come back up for ten days unless there's another injury, so that means that Mike Piazza is the in-game option at this point. (If there were an injury, presumably Kendall would be DL'd and Melhuse would just come on back. It's the old Earl Weaver move - your backup shortstop should be in AAA. You can make do with a random guy standing around out there for a few innings until you can get a real player there for the next game.)

I wonder whether Melhuse will be back at all or whether the A's will just (a) start Kendall every game from here on out; (b) go with Piazza behind the plate once every two weeks; (c) find out that Marco Scutaro was a catcher in little league. Who would Melhuse replace if he came back? I guess Danny Putnam would be the guy to head back down once the A's get Kielty and Buck back.