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Injured Athletics Hurlers Making Progress

By Jeff Todd | May 16, 2019 at 10:59am CDT

Several injured Athletics pitchers are on the march back to the majors, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Whether they’ll make it in time to help draw the team back into the postseason race remains to be seen.

Jharel Cotton is furthest along among those sidelined with long-term maladies. He’s slated to launch a rehab assignment on Friday in his effort to return from Tommy John surgery, which means he could be pitching from a big-league mound by mid-June.

The 27-year-old Cotton hasn’t appeared in competitive action since the 2017 campaign, his first full go at the MLB level. He managed only a 5.58 ERA in 129 innings, with 28 long balls largely to blame. Still, he has long been seen as a potentially solid back-of-the-rotation big-league hurler.

There’s an even more talented trio of lefties also grinding through the rehab process as well. Former first-rounder A.J. Puk just threw his first simulated game, which is quite a notable step in his own TJ recovery. He could be an option as soon as July, Slusser indicates, with Sean Manaea (shoulder surgery) and Jesus Luzardo (rotator cuff strain) potentially being available after the trade deadline.

This glance at the injured list serves as a reminder of how much talent the Oakland organization has been forced to go without in the early going. Unfortunately, it seems as if the club will need to claw back into the race before it receives much in the way of reinforcement.

The rotation hasn’t been the sole cause of the A’s slow start, but there are certainly some issues. The three veteran offseason signees haven’t exactly thrived. Outside of his no-hitter, Mike Fiers has struggled. Marco Estrada did the same before going down with an injury. Brett Anderson has been solid but is hardly a dominant rotation piece. There are mixed results otherwise. Frankie Montas is pitching quite well and Chris Bassitt has shown some promise in a four-start sample, but Aaron Brooks has been homer-prone and Daniel Mengden’s first start of the year didn’t go well.

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Someone Should (Finally) Put Andrew Cashner In Their Bullpen
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22 Comments

  1. bowserhound

    6 years ago

    No mention of the horrible bullpen results this year? The A’s will gladly welcome back anyone with a pulse at this point.

    Reply
    • athleticsnchill

      6 years ago

      You mean you’re surprised that bullpens are volatile? Results can change from one year to the next. No one in the A’s organization thought Trivino or Treinen would struggle as much as they have.

      2
      Reply
      • PopeMarley

        6 years ago

        Did you take an impromptu poll of everyone in the “A’s organization”?

        Reply
      • Strike Four

        6 years ago

        Speaking of which, have any of you seen Emilio Pagan’s numbers this year?

        Reply
      • bowserhound

        6 years ago

        Sweet Lou and Treinen are the better portion of the pen. Rodney, Soria, Petit have been useless unless you’re talking about the other team.

        Reply
  2. braves4stros

    6 years ago

    Luzardo out til August????

    Reply
    • sacball

      6 years ago

      He’s not guaranteed to be in the majors when he’s ready…he’s definitely starting off in AAA, and he is not on the 40 man,,

      Reply
      • Strike Four

        6 years ago

        Brooks and Anderson are goners asap, Luzardo is taking one of those spots, bet.

        Reply
  3. Asfan0780

    6 years ago

    Too late, this team already dug themselves a hole. I blame front office terrible offseason additions. Also the bullpen has regressed as a whole. Their best rlievers habe been lousy in late game situations. And i doubt theyd trust any AAA relievers reinforcements to fix it which they dont even have anyways. The hope was treinen and trivino would be top tier, soria a solid veteran, and a chance wendleken could be the next breakout reliever like trivino in 2018. Picking up rodneys $5 mill option was a disaster

    Reply
    • arc89

      6 years ago

      Picking up old vets and crossing fingers they will be good again is the GM’s fault. They been bad. Never understood the love for Rodney but my guess that is on Melvin who loves him

      2
      Reply
    • Lefty Grove’s right hand

      6 years ago

      They’ve dug themselves into a hole, but there is still plenty of season left to climb out of it. It’s not time to jump ship yet.

      Reply
      • Strike Four

        6 years ago

        It’s frustrating because Beane actually talked big about making significant upgrades with the pitching but then went out and got nothing but 5th starters, and left Keuchel on the table at basically any cost, just a draft pick.

        That being said, one rotation spot goes to Bassit, 5 GS 32 IP 1.93 ERA. It’s now or never for him and he’s coming through like a thoroughbred. Montas has been great too. That’s two breakout guys not many are talking about. If I was an A’s fan, I’d be pretty confident with those two, they both get a lot of grounders which fits perfectly with the all-world defenders at the corners and CF. That said, Marcus Stroman was made to pitch on this A’s team with that defense, he’s the #1 groundball guy in the bigs. They really do need to make a deal with Toronto again, but bigger than Kendrys.

        Off topic, but damn, Semien, Phegley and Bassit are amazing this year. All a gift from the White Sox for one year of the Shark. Wow.

        Reply
    • athleticsnchill

      6 years ago

      We were like this last year too. What?

      2
      Reply
    • jorge78

      6 years ago

      So Rodney’s not shooting many arrows this year?

      Reply
  4. davealden53

    6 years ago

    And we no longer even mention James Kaprielian?

    1
    Reply
    • sacball

      6 years ago

      he’s apparently heading to single A Stockton this weekend…I wouldn’t expect him in the majors until at least the second half of next year

      1
      Reply
      • Strike Four

        6 years ago

        Parker Dunshee might make it to MLB in 2019 too. His first game in AAA was a blinder, I saw it, he looked big league-ready for sure.

        Reply
  5. RootedInOakland

    6 years ago

    Think Mengden would pair well with an opener and would make a solid 5th starter combo, def better than Brooks smh. Also a reunion with Gio made so much sense, stupid Estrada

    1
    Reply
  6. julyn82001

    6 years ago

    A’s started this way last year and still made the playoffs. Not reason to believe they cannot do it again this season…

    Reply
    • jorge78

      6 years ago

      Never give up hope!

      Reply
    • Strike Four

      6 years ago

      If the A’s are 5 over .500 in August they’ll get there. They always seem to. The elite prospect arms are all about to hit in August, so…hmm….

      Reply
  7. Strike Four

    6 years ago

    MLBTR, I know this piece was about the hurlers but Chris Hermann has resumed baseball activities too. This is significant because with Murphy out the A’s have had to use Nick Hundley, who has been immensely terrible but also easily-removable. I mean, they should be DFA’ing him for Beau Taylor right now, but swapping out Hundley for Hermann is a pretty large upgrade regardless.

    Reply

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