A’s reliever José Leclerc will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. The hard-throwing righty has been out since April 23 with a lat strain. Leclerc will remain on the 60-day injured list for the rest of the season and become a free agent after the World Series.
The A’s surprisingly signed Leclerc to a $10MM free agent contract. The A’s needed to spend to ensure they weren’t subject to a grievance from the MLB Players Association about their use of revenue sharing money. They’d also played reasonably well in the second half last season and felt that a few additions to the pitching staff could make them a fringe Wild Card contender during their first year in Sacramento. None of the pitching investments have worked out. They’re the second-worst team in the American League as a result.
Leclerc made 10 appearances. He allowed six runs on 13 hits (three homers) and five walks with eight strikeouts across nine innings. That’ll be all they get out of that eight-figure signing because of the injury. Specifics on the surgery aren’t clear, nor is it known if he’ll be ready for Opening Day next season.
Over parts of eight seasons with the Rangers, Leclerc turned in a 3.27 earned run average. That included 57 frames of 2.68 ERA ball during their World Series season. He posted a 4.32 ERA in 66 2/3 innings a year ago, but that came with a near-31% strikeout rate that made him one of the better available relievers last winter.
Whay a waste of course it’s only revenue sharing not greedy fishers own funds
I’m an A’s fan and thankfully they have drafted phenomenally well the last few years and will be set up for Vegas ‘28. I’m taking a flyer on them winning the World Series that year. They need pitching badly but my lord have they had some serious bad luck with every veteran they’ve picked over the last 3 years. Not a single one of them has worked out and every one of them have been long term injured
Lol, I truly hope this is sarcasm.
World Series winner in 2028 and in Vegas. Dream big buddy.
The offense can get them into the WC in 28 but they need pitching to get out. Maybe Gage Jump, Jack Perkins, Luis Morales will form a nice rotation with Hoglund by then and they can after a #1 maybe #2 veteran Ace. Ohhh I miss the days of the 90’s with Stew, Welch, Moore and the early 2000’s with thr big 3 Huddy, Mulder, Zito
Im pretty sure Vegas will be the #1 free agent destination going into 2028. With this offense they just need to sign 2 solid FA SP going into 2028 to contend
Vegas is a “#1 destination” for tourists, not professional athletes, Tom.
They need to solely draft pitchers for the next 3 years.