A confession...

Yeah, I'm a Yabu supporter and I still believe that Yabu will be an integral part of the A's pitching staff in the upcoming season despite his so-so spring.

I still have faith in Yabu. But it seems that many others, fans and people in the A's organization alike do not share that faith. For he has been officially been declared out of the race for the #5 spot in the A's rotation.

"The remainder of his work this spring will be out of the bullpen," Macha said. "The other guys have pitched better than he has."

Yabu signed a guaranteed $1 million deal in the offseason, so he's a virtual lock to make the big league roster, but Macha sounded less than confident about using the newcomer in high-pressure situations.

"He's going to have to earn his stripes out there," Macha said.

Yabu explains that his most effective pitch, the split-finger, isn't working real well this spring. Another person who who relies on his split is Danny Haren. He's been shellacked in his last few ST starts, even though he still K'ed a whole lot of batters. I remember reading that he blamed his current funk on his splitter. It's been said that pitchers who are used to the Grapefruit League may need time adjusting since Arizona is much more arid than Florida. The humidity could affect grip, so I've been told at least.

I could name another place that's more humid than Arizona...Japan.

Give this man time. As I've said before, he's too much of a Billy Beane-style to be a bust, in my opinion. But then, no matter how awesome he is, Billy Beane is far from infallible.