Athletics lefty Sean Manaea exited yesterday’s game after just two innings due to left shoulder tightness, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The departure of yet another of the Athletics’ top starters is troubling enough, but Slusser adds that Manaea’s velocity was topping out at 90 mph on Wednesday — a far cry from the 95 mph at which he usually tops out and from the 92.5 mph he’s averaged thus far in 2017. Slusser has since tweeted that Manaea did pass some initial strength tests with his shoulder today and hopes to try throwing tomorrow.
Oakland already has Sonny Gray and Kendall Graveman on the disabled list, though they’ll welcome Graveman back to the rotation tonight. If Manaea needs to miss time, I’d imagine that right-handers Cesar Valdez and Paul Blackburn would be options to step into his rotation spot. Each is already on the 40-man roster, and Valdez is presently serving as the team’s long reliever after making a spot start last week.
A few more injury notes from around the game…
- While the Rangers hoped at the time of Adrian Beltre’s most recent setback that he’d be able to join the club by the end of April, it’s now questionable whether he’ll even be ready to take the field at some point in May, according to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. “It’s at the point where we didn’t necessarily see the progress results we thought we would see,” manager Jeff Banister tells Sullivan. Banister said there’s still no timeline on Beltre, adding that the team is still trying to reduce the swelling and soreness in Beltre’s strained calf. Joey Gallo will continue to man third base in Beltre’s absence.
- Red Sox reliever Carson Smith has had a setback in his recovery from 2016 Tommy John surgery, as Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com writes. Smith was throwing off a mound a couple of weeks ago but has “had to slow down,” manager John Farrell told reporters. Smith is long tossing from 110 feet but is now two weeks removed from his most recent mound session. Boston had been targeting a June return for Smith, but a July return is now more realistic, per McCaffrey. The Red Sox have had rough luck when trading for potential setup arms; in addition to losing Smith for more than a year due to Tommy John surgery just months after trading for him, the team has yet to reap any benefit from its trade to acquire Tyler Thornburg this offseason, as Thornburg has been sidelined all season by a right shoulder impingement. CSNNE.com’s Evan Drellich tweeted recently that Farrell said on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that Thornburg essentially needs to progress through Spring Training all over again, which would normally consist of seven to 10 appearances.
- The initial MRI on Denard Span’s shoulder revealed no serious injuries to the Giants center fielder (Twitter links via Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle and Chris Haft of MLB.com). Span, who has already been placed on the 10-day disabled list, said that his shoulder was in too much pain yesterday to even get through the first attempt at an MRI (via Schulman). Manager Bruce Bochy told reporters earlier today that the expectation is that Span will miss more than the minimum 10 days on the disabled list (Twitter link via Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News).
Span is made of glass. Doesn’t make half the impact he did with the Nats. I gave this guy my patience in not bad mouthing him but he’s been a straight up bust. Pagan in decline was still better.
Not like they gave up a ton for either reliever though. Wade Miley and Travis Shaw plus for 2 high ceiling cheap relievers is still a good deal. I would do it again because Miley didn’t do much and Shaw wasn’t even that good. These guys can still provide a lot of value. Thornburg seems more likely than Smith, but still.
I saw Pennington throw in person 2x at Ft myers right after coming back from TJ. That kid can buzz it and was then. They stole him way down in the draft knowing he needed TJ at the time and the kid was upset at only going 2innings his 1st start.. pacing up and down the dugout, then threw his glove down in disgust after being pulled once. Pitch limits almost certainly.
i’d take him back in a heart beat.. he reminds me of another toss in they gave away name of pete ladd many decades ago who saved the Brewers bacon in a WS later on.
Dubon was solid too, but if Thornburg is good, it’s worth it.
Don’t forget Joel Haranahan a couple years ago. He was supposed to be another X closer to fill in the eighth inning roll. He never worked out he was injured from the get-go.
Graveman pitches tomorrow and Gray should be back very soon just pitched a 6 inning 2 hitter in AAA. Starting depth is the one luxury the A’s have with Bassit to begin pitching soon.
Ha, we posted pretty much the same comment at the same time *jinx*
Corey Walker is absolutely on fire right now too, and my fave sleeper Evan Manarino is doing that “walk absolutely no one and give up no homers” thing again this year, although he’s a little old for A+ ball, same with Brett Graves. Logan Shore looking filthy so far too. The A’s currently have 10 SPs with ERA’s under 3 in the minors, spread over all levels, that’s a pretty good thing.
It’s already been reported that Manaea has had this issue before and he won’t be missing his next start.
Sonny Gray is also extremely close to returning – there’s your real story: who does he kick out of the rotation? Hahn, Triggs, Graveman, Manaea and Cotton have all done enough to cement their places in the rotation. Graveman is the only one with a FIP over 4, but he’s always going to have an ERA way lower than his FIP. There’s no clear path for Sonny right now, so whoever has options, or has a bad game like, this week, is probably going to be the one. The A’s have a mountain of pitching depth too.
Hanh will get bumped.
I’m surprised that the Red Sox haven’t seriously reevaluated their throwing program. They’ve been boasting that it’s cutting edge since they implemented a few years ago but all that it seems to do is cause a bunch of their new arms to go on the DL and the organization to lose millions of dollars.
Thornburg didn’t do the program, which screwed him up, and Smith was already hurt at the time of the trade if I’m not mistaken.
Smith wasn’t hurt, but his mechanics made it look likely that he would get hurt.
The Sox are struggling–they need another threat in the lineup..
The order will change dramatically by
Trading JBJ to the Brewer’s for Ryan Braun.
Sox take on a big salary so no extra prospects.
Braun LF, Bene CF and Betts in RF.
Line-up: Pedroia, Bene, Betts, Braun, Hanley, Boggie, Moreland, Leon and Holt/Devers.
I love JBJ but he’s got to be factored in re. large payroll in years to come.
Brewers dont need JBJ. They have Brinson on the verge as their future CFer. I also think that would make them too RH heavy in the middle of the lineup
So that’s Thornburg, Smith, Hanrahan, Bailey, Gagne to name a few of recent memory relief acquisitionfailures. Even Melancon came here and couldn’t pitch well. What gives BoSox?
It’s not an easy fan base to please and when these guys came they may have been used up and abused where they were. Melancon went on to have career years with the Pirates and a nice payoff in San Fran.
Smith has such an unusual delivery and we haven’t seen Thornburg throw other than ST.
Time will tell–sometimes really good scouting delivers diamonds in the rough. I enjoy following the Sox A and AA teams and who the pitching draftees are that might be lower drafted pitchers. In addition to the Red Sox the Yankees have some great young kids both pitchers and position players to watch.
Yankees battle Sox for division title in 2017. Loser gets 1st Wild Card