With reigning Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey already raising alarms in Toronto with lingering upper back spasms, another wave of concern has hit the Blue Jays' starting rotation with the news that Josh Johnson had to miss a scheduled start with triceps tightness.

The Blue Jays, who claimed Aaron Laffey off of waivers on Tuesday, will utilize him as an emergency fill-in for Johnson tonight against the New York Yankees. While there are no immediate plans to place him on the disabled list, the Blue Jays are hopeful this precautionary move will prevent him from having to spend any time on the DL.
"We kind of wanted to play it smart and make sure I'm not out an extended period of time," Johnson said.

Johnson admitted that he felt some tightness in his previous start last Sunday, and skipped his usual side session this week.

With a history elbow and shoulder injuries that included elbow reconstruction surgery in 2007 and shoulder inflammation that caused him to miss the majority of the 2011 season, this recent sideline is even more concerning, although Johnson says it isn't anywhere close to his elbow or shoulder and describes the tightness he is experiencing as more towards where the triceps and biceps meet.

"It's nowhere near the shoulder, the shoulder feels great," Johnson said. "It's one of those things that came out of nowhere and you have to deal with it."

He had an MRI on Friday, saying the test was ordered because of the unusual location of the pain.

"Hopefully it's no big deal," manager John Gibbons said.

Johnson, a one-time staff ace for the Miami Marlins, has struggled since joining the Blue Jays in an offseason trade. He has compiled a record of 0-1 in four starts, with an earned run average of 6.86.

Johnson was inclined to pitch through the tightness in hopes that it would work itself out, but because of his injury history, his coaches and trainers persuaded h him to be cautious and to skip a start.

“I’ve been on the other side of this before, where it’s hopefully I’ll be back in a couple of weeks or whatever, and it ends up being five months,” Johnson said. “Hopefully it won’t be that.

“While I’m walking around and doing everything else I don’t feel it. When you start throwing, right when you release the ball, it feels like someone’s poking you with their finger. It doesn’t really hurt but if you end up pulling a muscle back there it can set you back a long time.”

For a team that opened the season as a World Series contender, this is another blow to their confidence. Heading into this weekend, they had a record of 9-14, they have lacked consistency from their starting rotation which has put a strain on their bullpen.

When asked about the timeframe for Ricky Romero's, who is scheduled to make his first start of the season this weekend for Single-A Dunedin after opening the season in extended Spring Training to work on mechanical issues, Gibbons said that he thinks he needs to get at least a couple of starts in the minors before being called back up to Toronto.

Romero was originally slated to be the team's fifth starter before the team decided he needed to work on his mechanics. While early reports are positive, with the way things are going for the Blue Jays, nobody would be surprised if they were extra cautious in bringing up Romero.