DUNEDIN, Fla. -- It's hard to see many positives when the words "disabled list" come up. In A.J. Burnett's case, though, it's not as bad as it might sound.

Toronto will most likely place Burnett on the 15-day disabled list to begin the season, considering the fact that the right-hander was going to miss his first start anyway. With Burnett on the DL, the Blue Jays can carry an extra player while he continues to recover from his right elbow injury.

"If he can't make that first start," Toronto manager John Gibbons said, "I think you almost have to [place him on the DL]. Then we could maybe carry an extra position player or fill a bullpen spot."

Burnett would become eligible to come off the DL on April 8 and he'd be available to rejoin the rotation in the second week, when he was projected to begin the season even if he didn't go on the DL. In the meantime, the Jays have a few options as far as the extra roster spot goes.

On Sunday, Gibbons sounded as if he were leaning towards carrying an extra reliever. Left-handed starter Gustavo Chacin had limited innings this spring due to the World Baseball Classic and lefty Scott Downs, who will slide into the fifth spot of the rotation during the first week of the season, has only made three starts.

"That first week of the season, without having an off-day, you never know how far the starters are going to go," Gibbons said. "So we may need that extra arm down there."

Another option would be to carry a third catcher -- either Guillermo Quiroz or Jason Phillips -- because Gregg Zaun is currently nursing a pulled right calf muscle. Gibbons said a third scenario would be to call up an extra infielder, because John McDonald has a sore back.

Burnett played catch again on Saturday and Sunday and he's scheduled to throw in a long toss session on Monday. Gibbons said if everything goes well with that, Burnett will pitch off the mound in the bullpen on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Then, Burnett would most likely make an appearance in an exhibition game against Triple-A Syracuse on Friday or Saturday.

The injury that Burnett suffered occurred when scar tissue -- leftover from the Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery he had in 2003 -- broke off while he was pitching against Boston on March 18.

Check ups: Zaun pulled his right calf muscle during the March 14 split-squad game against Tampa Bay. He served as the designated hitter the following day and then the calf tightened up again in the March 16 game at Philadelphia.

Zaun hasn't played since then, but he has been taking batting practice and throwing. He flew to Toronto to have the leg looked at last week and no major injury was found. Gibbons said that he plans on trying to get Zaun back in a game before Spring Training is over and that the catcher will be ready for the season.

"He just can't run on it right now. I mean, he can, but it's bothering him," Gibbons said. "He's doing everything but running. ... We don't want to push it too far, too fast. But he's ready to go."

McDonald said that his lower back "locked up" some time during the trip to Fort Myers, Fla. on Saturday -- maybe during the bus ride. The infielder made the trip with the team, but he didn't play. McDonald noted that the injury wasn't anything serious, but that he was going to rest it for a few days and see if he could maybe get in another game before the season starts.

Missing big: Starter Ted Lilly wasn't sure exactly how many times he had to turn around and watch one of his pitches sail over the outfield wall on Sunday, but he knew the number wasn't good.

"At no point do you want to have an outing like that where you give up, five?" Lilly asked reporters. "To be honest, I didn't even really want to count. I might have taken over the Grapefruit League record or the [Spring Training] record for one outing."

Five was right. Lilly gave up back-to-back home runs to Pittsburgh's Jason Bay and Craig Wilson twice and he yielded another shot to Chris Duffy. When the left-hander's outing was over, he had given up seven runs -- six earned -- on eight hits with two hit batters and a wild pitch. It didn't help that the wind was blowing straight out at Knology Park.

"Maybe the first [home run] was a ball that wasn't struck real well," Lilly said, referring to the wind's affect on the blasts. "Bottom line is I don't think, if I were to look at film, any of those pitches were executed either. Maybe one of them. The rest of them -- I was missing [Bengie Molina's] glove by quite a bit."

Lilly's spring ERA jumped from 3.21 to 5.21, but he struck out six and actually picked up the win.

"I was throwing strikes," Lilly said. "The bad thing is, I was throwing a lot of strikes down the middle of the plate. It was a tough day."

Close call: Troy Glaus drove to Georgia on Saturday afternoon to tend to his wife, Ann, who was injured in a horse riding accident that morning. Ann Glaus, who is an acomplished equestrian, was not seriously hurt, but the horse had to be put down due to a broken leg. Glaus is scheduled to return to Spring Training in the next few days.

Roster move: Left-hander Matt Blank was returned to Minor League camp before Sunday's game against Pittsburgh. Blank was 0-2 with an 8.31 ERA in eight games this spring.

Schedule change: The game time for Toronto's exhibition game against Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday at Knology Park has been changed to 10 a.m. ET. Admission for the game is free.

Coming up: Chacin will face Minnesota righty Kyle Lohse when the Blue Jays play the Twins at 1:05 p.m. on Monday in Lee County, Fla. Chacin is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three appearances.