Athletics reliever Trevor Rosenthal tore a labrum in his hip and will require surgery, manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Shayna Rubin of the San Jose Mercury News). He won’t pitch at all in 2021.
It will go down as a completely lost season for Rosenthal, who began the year on the injured list with shoulder soreness. Further evaluation revealed he’d need to undergo surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome, which he did in early April. The hope had been that Rosenthal would be able to return at some point in August, but his new injury obviously forecloses that possibility.
It’s a horrible development for Rosenthal, who has had a few recent seasons derailed by injury. The former Cardinals closer suffered a UCL tear in 2017 that required Tommy John surgery. He lost all of 2018 rehabbing and looked nothing like himself when he returned the following season. Rosenthal walked an astounding 30.6% of opposing hitters with the Nationals and Tigers that year, forcing him to settle for a minor league contract with the Royals over the 2019-20 offseason.
Remarkably, Rosenthal completely reversed his fortunes to be among the top relievers in baseball last year. He cracked the Kansas City roster and pitched well enough to attract the interest of the contending Padres, who acquired him in advance of the trade deadline. Between the two clubs, Rosenthal pitched to a 1.90 ERA over 23 2/3 innings, striking out a whopping 41.8% of opponents while walking a lower than average 8.8%.
That positioned Rosenthal as one of the top free agent relievers in last winter’s class. He lingered on the market until late February, when the A’s stepped up and landed him on a one-year, $11MM contract. It was a surprising reversal from Oakland’s otherwise thrifty offseason, which included the team declining to make $18.9MM qualifying offers to star reliever Liam Hendriks and shortstop Marcus Semien.
The A’s will ultimately get no return on that investment, as Rosenthal’s unfortunate injury woes will keep him from donning the green and gold in a meaningful game. His contract contained a series of deferrals — Rosenthal is making just $3MM in 2021, followed by $3MM in 2022 and $5MM in 2023 — but he’ll again reach the open market this winter.
It’s not yet clear whether Rosenthal is expected to be ready for Spring Training in 2022. Given the injury-wrecked campaign, it’s plausible he’ll need to throw in front of scouts to demonstrate his health before he lands a new deal. Rosenthal is still just 31 years old and was brilliant when last able to take the mound, so it stands to reason there’ll be interest from teams if/when he works his way back to full strength.
“Oakland police how can I help you?”
“I’d like to report a robbery.”
Did they also rob the story about Arrieta placed on the DL? It’s not here yet. Hello??
Well the difference is the Cubs don’t actually matter since they won’t be winning another ring any time soon
Ya and the A’s will?
You’ll have to consult Chicago police on that one
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
A’s fans should be mad. They go out and spend a decent amount on a reliever, they hardly spend, and this happens. Which will make ownership hesitant to do so in the future.
Padres dodged a bullet with Yates and Rosenthal this year. Glad they went with Melancon.
Not saying he hasn’t been good this year, but Melancon is lowkey the luckiest reliever in baseball.
Melancon isn’t as good as Yates or Rosenthal, but staying on the field is pretty damn valuable.
There’s no way you can predict health when it comes to pitching, despite what many of the savants on this page might tell you. I also think the A’s are smart enough to not be reactionary in their thought process as they have never been in the past.
Yeah, but Rosenthal probably knew he wasn’t right and still took the money.
Why wouldn’t he?
Because the successful navigation of a capitalist economy is looked upon – in some circles – as a bad thing.
– “Rosenthal knew he wasn’t right, and still took the money” ….. I’m always wondering what the dumbest thing I’ll read on here each day, and today’s wondering is over. You’ve heard of physicals, correct? He passed one to get the money THAT WAS OFFERED TO HIM, correct?
His name is Dingus, so it is to be expected.
Law of Contracts dictate that if a person through misrepresentation fails to disclose this he/she has reneged on the agreement which will allow for the contract to be terminated and possible damages claims.
If you sign a insurance contract and state you have no underlying illnesses but you suspect or know you may have cancer, that is a voidable action. The same applies to sports contracts which are employment contracts, misrepresentation is a voidable ground.
Once you pass a physical you’re good to go. Can’t void a contract after a player passes a physical cuz they might have felt a wee bit off before signing. That’s what the third party physical is for. And “suspect you may have cancer”? Give me a break. No contract can be repealed on such personal, vague suspicions.
There’s no way you can 100% predict pitching injuries but you can decide to invest in pitchers like Brad Hand, Mark Melancon or Yusmeiro Petit who don’t throw hard and have smooth mechanics or you can invest in hard throwing pitchers with a history of injuries like Doolittle or Rosenthal. Seems like the smart teams take the cheaper option every year. Every year some team makes a splashy signing on a Rosenthal, Wade Davis, Kimbral or Holland and gets burned by injuries. Luckily for them insurance covers a good chunk of their salary.
It’s not like insurance doesn’t cover any of his salary. This should have no bearings on their future decisions to sign higher-priced players. It’s business.
How do you know they got insurance policy on his contract? Older. Pitcher. Not good rates. Either way it cost them money. But like you said it wont stop them from spending money.
That’s just based on assumption as smart businesses like to hedge their bets. Same as insurance companies sometime taking risky bets such as Rosenthal to foster future return business.
The team pays an insurance premium. I don’t think you get to pick and choose who it covers. It’s factored into payroll and counts against the cap towards luxury tax.
Incorrect, @Karma.
Insurance policies on players is decidedly not some type of umbrella policy. Every single one is unique & covers that specific player.
There is no way they were able to get insurance on a contract like that for a player like Rosenthal. Which is why the A’s got creative with the contract in the first place. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rosenthal resigned with the A’s for $2 Million with escalators to bring it up to $5 Million.
Of course they got insurance. They get insurance on all contracts. The company covers all of the players on the team and gets premiums for all of them. Unless a team has multiple big money contracts go down for the entire season the insurance company makes money. How many players per team actually miss out on the entire season? Lloyd’s of London is pretty much still the exclusive insurer of athletes. For close to 50 years they have been covering athletes, actors and anybody else making millions of dollars. It doesn’t cost as much as you would think either. I’m sure there is a sliding scale on oft injured players but that’s just a guess.
as for Melancon – ….tick…..tick……tick….
as for every pitcher ever-….tick….tick….tick….
Melancon doesn’t throw hard and has smooth mechanics. He will be fine. Chapman on the other hand is someone the clock is definitely ticking on.
Why should A’s fans be mad? It’s not my money. I don’t care one bit. Out of the 4 relievers bought in, the other 3 (Petit, Romo and Guerra) have been good-to-great (look at Romos FIP, not ERA), thats exactly what all teams hope for. Would we prefer to have Rosenthals ceiling and talent over Guerra? Sure. But the 3 out of the 4 says its these 3.
A’s ALWAYS spend, they just dont spend over $100M on one player. So bored of this outdated narrative. A’s literally spent $6M on Hiroyuki Nakajima only to have him never get out of the minors. It happens and we have the 5th best (and only 4 games out of 1st) record right now in the AL, so it really does not matter at all. Watch us add Kimbrel next week no problem
It’s the A’s… They will probably trade for Britton and get the Yankees to throw in Nick Nelson or Nestor Cortes and they will go on to be one of the best closers in baseball next year.
I beg to differ on this one. They had bad luck on this one, but you don’t know if they had insurance on his contract. They also have situations where they’ve gotten lucky where others have failed. Brodie van Wagenen gave Jed Lowrie a nice contract on the heels of his resurgence with the A’s though he had a history of injuries. He had about nine plate appearances in two seasons. He returns to the A’s at the vet’s minimum, I believe, and puts together a decent season thus far.
Lowrie made 2/20 from the extremely-rich Mets, that is NOTHING. Stop acting like it matters – plus 100% of players are massively underpaid for the early seasons when they are good – salaries are viewed as a correction for that, NEVER based on future performance.
Lowrie also stinks for Oakland currently, so I have no idea why Mets fans are harping on him. He’s been great and performed way over his salary in prior years, but you NEVER talk about that – why? Because you hate players.
Is that directed at me or at commenters on here in general? I don’t hate players and I have nothing against Lowrie. I don’t blame the past couple years on him. It’s not his fault. As for “decent season,” I admit I don’t closely follow the A’s, but I know he made the team to start the season and got regular playing time due to injuries. He managed to earn a regular role on a good team when his career was all but written off as over.
Yes, the Mets are a wealthy team in the top market, but before this season you had compromised owners who downplayed the effect the Madoff scheme had on the organization. Their previous two managers of record basically ruined their managerial careers through scandals (Yes, the news about Mickey came out after he was gone, but he was participating in his “extracurricular activities” while he was there. Beltran never managed a game, but he was supposed to be a “savior.”). The previous hot shot agent turned GM proved he didn’t have a clue. So they may be rich, but they’ve still been a dumpster fire that some of us who grew up loving still continue to root for.
Always happens when OAK tries to make a big move. Ben Sheets was a waste of money back in 2010, they acquired big names like Matt Holliday, Jon Lester and Jim Johnson via trades for them to underperform and now Rosenthal is the latest player. Shame that he suffered this injury and you hope he can make a comeback again. Just unfortunate for OAK organization and their fans.
Classic case of picking “best available player” vs “player who might not be as good but fits the team better” – Beane refuses to learn this, ever.
Also the A’s criminally-cheapskate owner, Gap billionaire John Fisher, refuses to spend money and therefore the A’s are stuck only ever signing possibly-washed up-at-any-moment over 35s who could fall off at any moment (Moreland, Lowrie). It is a good thing to have vets on the bench, but too often Oakland puts a lot of responsibility on these guys whos best days are behind them. I’d love Lowrie as a bench guy, but they play him everyday. Lowrie has a .681 OPS over his last 50 (!) games. That is HORRIBLE for a bat-first guy, especially this season.
Why “especially this season”?
League average OPS has bounced between .699 & .708 this season. Long gone are the days of league average being .750.
FYI.
Isn’t his contract absurdly deferred too? So it’s not like this will be hurting them for a single year either, they’re basically gonna be paying a few years for 0 games this year.
Its $3M then $5M the next two years. Doesn’t hinder them in the slightest in any way shape or form. Rosenthal was a lotto ticket that didnt pan out. Big whoop.
$5 million isn’t chump change for a team like that. I’m an Indians fan and remember it being reported that their front office had to beg ownership to let them sign Eddie Rosario for this year, so it’s not like that’s just some insignificant amount for teams in markets like that.
Cleveland’s cheapness doesn’t mean other teams are that bad. Talk about notorious
A team that has a billionaire owner – yes it absolutely is chump change. 100% of Oaklands FA busts have never hindered them in future seasons. They gave Nakajima $6M to never play in MLB. Know what youre talking about before arguing phony narratives that have been debunked over and over.
Methinks we should stop doing Business with Scott Boras clients.
He told us Kyler Murray was committing to baseball, not football, and now we’ve blown $10M on Rosenthal. I think we blew $10M on Ben Sheets in the past and he lasted about half a season before getting Injured.
I hope we went out and got some kind of Re-insurance policy on Rosenthal prior to Signing him?
Ok but what about all the other ones?
More hits than misses with Boras. Grant Green comes to Mind. We paid above-Slot money to draft ahead of Mike Trout in 2009. Logan Davidson we drafted in the First Round 2 years ago. There were legit questions about his Hit tool that have been proven as a concern in the Minor leagues.. He can’t Hit. Matt Chapman was a strong Draft choice but has been struggling with the Bat since last year. How much is Boras going to ask for his Services long-term? Ditto with Sean Manaea and Jesus Luzardo, two more Boras clients.
There are more Agencies out there that we can Deal with. Just seems like Boras always gets us to overpay for either his Draft picks or the few Free Agents that we signed of his. Buyer beware.
When the A’s eventually get a new stadium with a projected influx of new money, it’s a big pool of high talent to eliminate under Boras. I don’t understand how burning bridges helps the A’s.
As new stadium in Las Vegas should help them bring in more revenue.
No it wont. LV’s AAA team where the average ERA is like 9.00 proves we cant play baseball there.
Yeah stop doing business with Boras clients… who is left?
CAA is the biggest one that I can think of.. Excel sports is another one.
Here is a list of Agents for the A’s players this year:
Jet Sports
Pro Star
Beverly Hills
RMG
Godoy Sports
Icon Sports
Paragon Sports
Meister Sports
Republik Sports
Ballengee
GSE
Warner Cos.
I agree its hard to avoid Boras players altogether but maybe we can limit the destruction to Draft picks as Signing his Free Agents hasn’t panned out.
Think of it this way… If the A’s decide to spend on a big free agent, they can’t even leverage a similarly-profiled Boras player against a CAA one because CAA won’t call their bluff since B Corp has been blacklisted.
As a Mets fan, they dodged a big FA bust.
Dear A’s. A top 3 prospect for Kimbrel. Sincerely Cubs.
Luis Barrera and Logan Davidson it is!
Chad Pinder, Seth Brown and a PTBNL is all you get.
You measure bullpen pickups by all the relief pitchers involved.
They are a volatile group, you don’t add one, you add three. You have to share the risk.
If any team thinks they can fix a broken bullpen by adding one guy, they are in the second division.
Exactly, @Halo11.
Good example here. Royals cashed in on that same thing. It’s a volume game. Why we see so many MiLB signings of relief pitchers.
Being that Petit, Romo (FIP not ERA) and Guerra have been awesome for Oakland this year, this tracks.
Wonder if Billie Beane might be interested in speaking with Cashman of the Yankees about either Britton or Chapman to replace Trevor……could be a match made in heaven! Maybe even expand into a blockbuster that helps both teams!
Pick up the phone Cash and make it known that either can be had and target a left handed infielder or outfielder in return!
I don’t think the Yankees are waving the white flag nor making upgrades pass the CBT this year. It’s swim or sink with this current squad. Chapman has been shakey lately and Britton hasn’t pitched much all year. The A’s won’t trade for either of those two.
We’ve seen this from Chapman before. Remember in ’17 when he was demoted from the closer role but reclaimed it by August?
His timing certainly sucked & those were pretty spectacular meltdowns. But he’ll get straightened out.
Bet.
& I think the Yanks will add. Need to address CF & could use some starter innings. I believe Hal when he said he’d pay some tax to help this club. Because it is all about money. A playoff series is worth ~ $20MM. The good news for us as Yankee fans, is Hal has come to like that little end of season come up.
Unless the bottom completely falls out before the deadline the Yanks will add.
No. I’m not worried about Chappy. I still think we’re stuck with Gardy and Locastro in CF. I don’t believe Hal at all. Cashman will state the day after the deadline that other team’s asking prices were too high and that he didn’t want to sacrifice “our near-ready exciting prospects” for non-impact players. He’ll give Boone another vote of confidence to get his squad to step up their game again.
As a true Yankee fan, if we’re stuck with Gardy and Locastro in Center….we’re doomed based on rest of the overall defense and offense…..
I also think its time to worry a lot about Chappy as his slider is poor to milling and everyone is catching up to his heat these days….gives up way to much in critical situations…maybe spoiled by too many years of Mariano but Chappy is tough to watch against superior teams who tend to own him.
Ducky…if you had to choose between barely making the playoffs this year as a wildcard and then getting swept out immediately, and several more years of hoping and watching the same team philosophy resulting in not getting to the WS….would you trade in this year for a re-boot and better results in the future? I bet many fans would gladly follow through on this.
You mention CF being addressed, but with who and at what cost……teams will absolutely drain them of assets to acquire even a middling CF’er let alone someone elite.
I believe the bottom line is that this is a very dysfunctional team and there is a great need for new talent evaluators at the scouting level and a change in philosophy to create more runs in a way other than by the HR!
Well, like everything in life, I always want to have the chance, @Rock.
So.
Yes. I will take squeaking into the playoffs Vs a possibility of something better in the future. Can’t win if ya ain’t playin’.
I understand the frustration with this ballclub. & Cashman by extension. I do. I can be as salty of a New Yorker as anyone on the board, serious.
I’m generally a pretty crappy GM in both baseball & football. But. I would try to patch Center & add 60-80 competent starting pitcher innings & try to muddle through or whatever.
It’s a cliché, but anything *can* happen *if* you make the postseason.
Marte is my pick for CF.
@YBC –
I hear what you’re saying.
But I’m following the money. Hal didn’t ok additions in the past – at times – with this core. Those teams – coincidentally or not – were postseason locks.
But that playoff windfall is in jeopardy this summer. Changes the math.
That’s why I think Hal would cosign adding payroll. If we completely crumble over the next few weeks all bets are off. If – however – we are in striking distance I fully expect to see an addition or two.
@Ducky Those 60=80 IP will come from Sevy and Britton (and possibly Deivi Garcia when he’s done mucking it up in Scranton). If the Yankees really want to go bonkers, they can trade for Scherzer (plus a contract extension) and Marte.
After he gave up that homerun to Rajai Davis in WS most cub fans said thanks for helping us but we got it from here
Just another free agent ripoff. Then again, Oakland was very stupid to offer this guy any kind of contract when NOBODY else wanted him. Some foolish clown GM will likely make him an offer for 2022. Why? Because the sore armed-broken hip Son of a “Gun” was good at one time, just not now.
Are you implying Rosenthal would’ve taken a minor league and the A’s were bidding against themselves?
Yes.
he was awesome last year, what a casual you are
Pretty awesome this year, huh? Why no interest from all teams but Oakland? Injury prone. Everything in 2020 was a fluke, a 60 game season. You are the casual.
No interest? The Mets, Braves, Brewers, Twins and Padres were all connected to Rosenthal. And I’m sure there were more teams calling that weren’t reported
That’s projected top teams from 4 of 6 divisions, NLE, NLC, ALW and NLW who called. A’s got snake-bit. But they were hardly the only team in on Rosenthal
@JerryBird Nope, you casual if you think Rosenthal wasnt heavily in-demand.
Also stop acting like the money is yours. It never is, and you will never ever ever be a billionaire. “Ripoff” GOOD! Rip off more billionaires. I wish I could, none of them earned their money honestly so who cares, steal anything you can from them!
@BeforeMcCourt Exactly, Rosenthal was elite last season (1.90 ERA/2.22 FIP) and had dozens of teams lining up for his services. Only someone who didnt watch baseball last year who claim otherwise.
Colome, Yates, and Rosenthal are perfect examples of why teams don’t like investing a lot of money in relievers
Craig Kimbrel coming to Oakland in 5, 4, 3, 2…
Can you really have season-ending surgery when your season never began in the first place?
If players got paid for games active, there would be a lot less injuries.
And much shorter careers and plenty more PED suspensions.
And a lot of careers that are significantly shorter
Koufax anyone?
that makes no sense, you are 14 arent you?
Very unfortunate injury for Rosenthal. Unfortunate for the A’s who just can’t win when actually spending money in FA. Wish TR a speedy recovery.
It’ll be fun not having an extra player because we have to pay Rosenthal for nothing for 2 more years. Stay hot, Billy Beane
The Athletics of Oakland have
Really bad luck when they go big on a
Closer
Is Trevor Rosenthal spelled A-r-t-h-u-r R-h-o-d-e-s? 2004 was not long enough ago to relive this
The Athletics of Oakland have
Really bad luck.
I have not seen one person mention the fact that the A’s let Hendricks leave to the whitesox for 13.5 million per year, but the sign the lesser talented Rosenthal for 10 million. Ok fine, you can’t predict injuries, but rosenthal had 1 solid season after being passed around and waived the year before. If the A’s did not have Hendricks the year before, then this signing would not look as bad. Thats why A’s fans should be mad (I am a Giants fan) this looked like a bad signing from the start.
Same off season the A’s also went cheap on Marcus Semien. Just a really bad time to be an A’s fan. Their owner John Fisher had a reported net worth of 2.9 billion a year ago, now it sits at 3.4 billion but spending that extra 3.5 million a year on Hendricks and paying Semien and extra 5 million a year (offered 12.5, he got 18) is just too much for Fisher right now
They didn’t want to give a long-term, high-priced to the Hendriks, Had a similiar injury happen to him while on the A’s, would you have the same tune? Rosenthal has a one-year deal. Not the end of the world. It’s easy to say that about Semien in hindsight. Being an A’s fan is never bad as they’re always in the thick of thiings despite a low payroll.
As a Cub fan there are two teams I would like to trade with:
Oakland A’s
I would like to trade Javy Baez and Andrew Chafin to the A’s to help in anyway to defeat the White Sox in the playoffs. I would have said Kimbrel but I don’t think you guys have enough prospect capital to get him. Javy Baez is electric and he would immediately pay dividends with exciting defense and clutch homeruns. Andrew Chafin is rock solid and would bolster your bullpen.
Seattle Mariners I would like to trade you anything that will help you reach the playoffs and I believe you have prospects we could use