In fact, it looks like he isn’t going to make the cut for this round. After the workout, after most of the team had boarded buses back to the downtown Westin, Saito went to the visiting bullpen with Torre and Honeycutt and had a side session to try to work out a mechanical problem that has plagued him since he returned from the DL. The problem is with his balance pitching out of the windup, and the solution for now is that he has scrapped pitching out of the windup and will go exclusively out of the stretch, but that’s if he goes at all. Saito said the decision rests with others, but he seemed to offer a cryptic hint that he won’t be on the roster when he said this, with Kenji Nimura translating:

“I’m never going to say I’m (off) the roster, because that isn’t for me to decide. It’s up to oe and the coaching staff, and they might want me to give it some time and work on my mechanics so I can be ready for the World Series.”