This has not been a good preseason for pitchers. Johan Santana is behind schedule, Justin Duchscherer is out for a month or more, and we’re hearing even more today. Cole Hamels’ elbow isn’t recovering as quickly as they hoped it would, and he officially isn’t in contention to be the opening day starter anymore. His fastball is still only in the 85-88 miles per hour range so he has some work to do, but that’s much better than what it was earlier in the spring. The Angels also got some bad news – John Lackey is out until late April or May. The good news, if there is some, is that the MRI showed that the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The Angels have a lack of depth in their rotation at the best of times, so the sooner they can get their ace back the better.

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