TODAY: Davis didn’t play in Oakland’s 7-2 win over Cleveland this afternoon, though he was still officially active for the game. Melvin told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other media that since Thursday is an off-day, the team will wait until Friday to officially decide on Davis, though Melvin said there is “probably a great chance that he goes on the IL.”
TUESDAY, 9:03pm: Davis himself now tells reporters that he’s also dealing with what could be an oblique issue (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Julian McWilliams). He’ll undergo an MRI tomorrow morning to determine the extent of his injury.
8:49pm: The Athletics will place designated hitter Khris Davis on the 10-day injured list, manager Bob Melvin told reporters after tonight’s game (Twitter link via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). Davis exited tonight’s contest after just one plate appearance due to what the team announced as ongoing discomfort stemming from a hip contusion. He’d previously missed a few games in May due to the same issue. Oakland has yet to determine a corresponding roster move.
The ultra-consistent Davis, who signed a two-year, $33.5MM contract extension to remain with the A’s earlier this season (forgoing free agency in the process), is hitting .248/.318/.497 with 12 home runs and an improved 24.3 percent strikeout rate through 173 plate appearances to begin the season. With him landing on the injured list, the A’s could perhaps temporarily use the DH spot as a means of cycling through Robbie Grossman, Mark Canha (who homered while pinch-hitting for Davis tonight) and Chad Pinder in an effort to get increased playing time for the latter two.
Of the Athletics’ 40-man options to replace Davis in Triple-A, outfielder Skye Bolt is the only one who’s already been up in the Majors this season, and he’s hitting better in Las Vegas than teammates (and fellow 40-man options) Dustin Fowler and Franklin Barreto.
Skye Bolt coming to you.
It’s about time
Dustin Fowler is ready
No he’s not. He’s hilariously inconsistent at the plate. Bolt is going to come back up because he actually is ready.
Bolt isn’t in the lineup for Las Vegas tonight.
They might end Martini’s rehab.
Martini is on the 40 man (not mentioned in article) and is a vastly superior player to Grossman, he needs to come up and play everyday, with Grossman relegated to PH role until Khrush comes back, then he gets DFA’d.
Also very curious why Melvin never plays Pinder, a guy who is about a 100 times a better hitter than Grossman, is he lowkey hurt too?
I agree with your assessment that Martini and Pinder are much better then Grossman. I just don’t think the A’s (knowing the A’s) will give up on Grossman given his salary.
Yes I agree too Grossman should be used as pinch hitter and Martini needs to Platoon with Pinder. He needs to see more playing time.
Pinder is a platoon hitter. Mashes lefties. Meh, against RHP…actually below, Meh. Is there an acronym for that, yet?
Since Pinder is playing LF you would expect above league average production from a corner OF. If he were still at 2B it might be passable.
A’s have never been afraid to dump a player if they’re not performing, regardless of salary. Considering his replacements will be players getting paid league minimum, it isn’t really too much of a concern.
Billy Butler says hi!
Billy Butler was sadly one of the best players on those 2015-2017 teams.
I agree with you to some extent…. Look at Fernando Rodney for example though
Would not be surprised if the A’s decide Rodney’s done as a big leaguer after today.
We also have a lack of relief pitching depth in the minors.
Butler was definitely not one of the best players. In ‘15 Billy Burns had a higher slugging percentage than Billy Butler. That says a lot. Butlers power disappeared when he came to Oakland.
Butler was awful for the A’s, and wasn’t ever near their best player.
Another broken toy in the land of broken toys…..
They’re also 5-0 with a suspended game they’re leading over their last 6. Not much is broken other than Melvin’s brain.
the broken toy team is now the giants. They have lived off the waiver wire the last month. I think that was what the comment meant when it was the A’s using the waiver wire a couple years ago.
Why is Grossman still employed? He’s gross! Pun intended…..
Because he has a .333 OBP which is 3rd highest on the team among regulars. He’s also a valuable trade chip at the deadline particularly to a NL team as a switch hitter who can player COF.
Valuable trade chip. lol
We actually got something for Yonder Alonso. There is always a stupid GM that will take a stupid trade that we can capitalize on.
He’s A trade chip, value? Debatable. He’s basically a PH-only/insurance guy in the NL, so there’s half the teams gone. He’s a FA after this year, so only a rental. There goes like 5 more teams. Grossman’s bringing back a top 30-40 guy at best.
And that .333 OBP is about 50 points less than where the A’s are paying him to be. He’s not worth the PT he’s been getting. Pinder’s a significantly better defender, like an upgrade over the splits.
Pinder has a .675 OPS vs RH in 73 AB and .911 vs LH in 49 AB.
Grossman has a .717 OPS vs RH in 111 AB and .536 vs LH in 12 AB.
Playing Pinder everyday > platoon of Grossman and Pinder, period.
just a week late
AAA 1B Seth Brown is hitting for power and SS Jorge Mateo looks like he’s ready for the show.and both look better than Skye Bolt. The A’s are replacing their DH; is defense crucial?
Brown isn’t on the 40 man, Martini is, and Martini should come up and never leave, with the A’s DFAing Gross man when Khrush comes back.
Mateo has no strike zone judgment or patience at the plate. His OBP is just .4 above his average. For his career he strikes out 3x more than he walks and he’s at 4x so far this season. He’s an A ball hitter who rode BABIP luck up to AAA.
There are a lot of players that ride their BABIP to AAA and do just fine in the majors. I’d probably compare Mateo to Jean Segura, and he’s been a solid hitter with a roughly similar OBP throughout his 8 year career.
Mateo will always have a higher BABIP because of his speed, and it’s pretty difficult to quantify his approach based on just BABIP, average and OBP. Hard hit data isn’t available to us, but as someone who follows a lot of Vegas’ games a good portion of his base hits are opposite field or right up the middle.
you sound like a bitter Yankees fan
I think you missed out on the strike outs and lack of walks. Mateo is already in his age 24 season after a full season in AAA last year. You have to keep in mind that any A’s prospect will theoretically play 81 games a year in the Oakland Colisuem where BABIP dries up. Someone without plate discipline or strike zone judgment will not last. Take a look at Franklin Barreto. Mateo is not going to displace Semien or Profar. The A’s probably ship him off at the end of the season.
Man it’s a really good thing you don’t work in baseball ops, because that is terrible personnel management.
To start with, Semien and Profar are free agents after next year, and Mateo already has a 40-man spot. In those 2 years anything can happen, ranging from injuries to other undesirable events. Then there is no guarantee we’ll keep either of those two guys, in which case Mateo is the heir apparent to Semien at short.
Second, then we have to promote another shortstop to Triple A who isn’t ready. Kevin Merrell isn’t ready for Triple A, and Nick Allen isn’t ready for Double A. So you’re throwing more kids into the fire at levels they may not be prepared yet.
Thirdly we’ve thinned our middle infield depth in the minors over the last couple of years, starting with the trade of Eli White for Profar and opting not to protect Richie Martin and seeing the dumpster fire Orioles take him and waste his development so they didn’t have to waste any of their own prospects.
Finally we aggressively promoted Mateo after the Yankees had held him down in favor of other middle infielders in their system. I understand it, but when you’re considered “behind other players” you’re not really encouraged to do any better when you know your path to promotion is nowhere to be seen.
There is still a lot of time for Mateo to improve his on base skills and pitch recognition, and with a guy like Chapman, who did it on the fly in the majors to such a degree they’re talking potential MVP in coming years with his K/BB rates, I have faith they can help Mateo improve.
they said the same thing about Matt Chapman, Marcus Semien, and to a lesser extent Matt Olson too….
and again, this is terrible management by the A’s, who are again not understanding when a bat is ready but not having the wherewithal to move Mateo to a position of need, making him think he’s going to be stuck at AAA until 2021, which stinks.
In a just world, Mateo would get the call to replace Davis, as his numbers are the best and he’s on the 40 man, but in the real world its going to be either Bolt or Martini. Melvin won’t play any of them anyway, Grossman will get everyday ABs vs RH though, even though his OPS is .717 vs RH and Pinders is .675, which is negligible when you consider what an upgrade Pinder is defensively over Grossman. Really sick of Grossman and his 1 tool, which is fading fast.
I wonder how many more games the A’s would have won if they never had Morales or Grossman and just staffed those 25 man spots internally?
Man, I can’t believe I get to say this twice, but thank GOD you don’t work in baseball ops, because that’s TERRIBLE personnel management. There’s no point in bringing Mateo up to sit on the bench right now. He won’t play short. He won’t play second. He won’t DH. He won’t play center. There is NOWHERE for him to play that he has seen minor league time at.
And while I’m a fan of Mateo’s bat, I recognize Grossman’s appeal, and he had a solid game today. It’s almost like you criticize the team without actually watching them play or something.
Nick Martini is on the 40 man and at AAA with a .406 OBP in 32 PA, right along with his career average. He’s clearly a superior player to Grossman, who really needs to be DFA’d if he isn’t going to OBP over .350. Martini/Pinder in LF is the only way the A’s are going to contend this year.
A’s took off after they called martini up last year too
They took off after they sent Liam Hendricks down.
But that’s all Martini is…OBP, he has zero power, he has no real speed, coming off a knee injury… He would be a great fit on a 2003 A’s team…
This is a couple weeks late at least
Looks like there is no IL stint after all via Slusser’s Twitter
Huh, interesting.
I absolutely loathe how terrible the A’s are at using the IL, year in and out. They always screw themselves so bad instead of just immediately using it. It’s 10 days now too, its barely any games, and Oakland has plenty of prospects and older tweener types piling up big numbers in the minors who could fill in. Yet instead, they play a man short. Great “strategy”.
They really do need to be shamed more for this, fans pay money to see stars and they’d rather lie on the scorecard that youre going to see a star, but instead you see a star at 50%, which is a cruddy player. Great. just great.
I’m with you on that. They need this guy fully healthy in the second half.
Mateo needs to be called up. Put Profar at DH and have Mateo play 2B.
Also, can the A’s cut Rodney already? He just can’t get the outs anymore. They need to release him. It’s only like $5 M Chunk change compared to most other teams. It was a questionable decision picking up his option, and it’s not working out. They need to dump him and move on. Recall Wendelken or Blackburn.
He’s got his big contract.
He’s taking a long vacation.