The Oakland Athletics have been dealing with injuries to their starting rotation since the beginning of the season, and while Sonny Gray and Kendall Graveman are about to return to action, the news concerning Sean Manaea doesn’t look good.
The man that Kansas City sent to the Oakland Athletics in 2015 in exchange for Ben Zobrist, Sean Manaea, saw his draft stock fall back in 2013 after concerns about his shoulder arouse. The Royals ultimately selected him 34th overall that year but he didn’t appear in a game until the 2014 season where he cruised to a 3.11 ERA in 121 2/3 innings.
Last night in Anaheim Manaea’s velocity was lagging behind his typical levels. Where he usually sits in the low-to-mid 90s with his heater scraping 90 on just a few occasions. After the game, A’s beat writer Susan Slusser sent out the following bits of hope for the fans:
Manaea has had similar shoulder issue before. Doesn't think it's a major problem. No tests planned right now.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) April 27, 2017
Manaea on his shoulder tightness: "I’ve dealt with it before, it only took me a few days to get back. ... I'm not really worried about it."
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) April 27, 2017
With such a velocity dip in today’s game, the first conclusion that everyone is going to jump to is that the player in question needs Tommy John surgery. Add in Manaea’s previous cloud of concern, and A’s fans across the board had to be wondering if they’d ever see a healthy rotation this season.
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While the above tweets in no way mean that Manaea is out of the woods, who would better know Manaea’s body than Manaea himself? Bob Melvin said on the post game show that it would be a day or two before they’d have a real diagnosis on the 6-foot-5 southpaw.
Kendall Graveman is slated to start Thursday’s series finale in Anaheim tonight after missing his last start. Following the game the A’s will fly to Houston for a weekend series with the Astros, and then head out to Minneapolis where Sonny Gray is expected to make his season debut at some point in their three-game series with the Twins.
If Manaea comes back healthy, then the under-the-radar rotation that the Oakland front office constructed for the season will get their first chance to work as a assembled. How they would come together remains to be seen. With Gray and Graveman in the mix, the trio of Jharel Cotton (2-2, 3.78 FIP, one of the best change ups in baseball), Andrew Triggs (3-1, 2.42 ERA, didn’t allow an earned run in first three starts) and Jesse Hahn (1-1, 1.80 ERA, great curve, tossed eight one-hit innings on Tuesday) are the three options outside of Manaea. With Manaea in that mix, one deserving starter is either going to be bumped to the bullpen or down to Triple-A Nashville for more regular work.
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Injuries are never something that you wish on a player. Especially one as darn likable as Sean Manaea. However, if he is to miss an extended period of time this season this isn’t the worst timing for it to happen. The Oakland Athletics have some depth in the rotation right now and more is expected to return in a couple of months as Chris Bassitt (TJ) and Daniel Mengden (foot surgery) continue to heal up.