Good morning A’s fans! The series finale is this afternoon as the A’s will look again for win #49 this year. The late collapse last night sent the Athletics into sole possession of last place in all of baseball so the club will need to get the win and get a bit of help if they’re going to climb out of it tonight.
Before we get to the game, the Athletics announced a somewhat major roster move. Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom is heading back to the IL thanks to that hip issue that’s bothered him this
year, with infielder Darell Hernaiz coming up to take his roster spot:
The writing is on the wall that Sodey’s season is likely over, joining Brent Rooker and Nick Kurtz as season-enders. This was the first year of Soderstrom’s seven-year, $86 million extension and he took a step back in just about every category. Hips can be tricky and with the season lost and just six weeks left it’s time to shut him down. We need our Gold Glove-caliber, slugging left fielder to help lead this team next year and we can’t afford any setbacks.
If he’s really done for the year he’ll finish with a .245/.338/.472 slash line with 19 long balls. He was still roughly 20% better than the league average but the team was probably hoping for more growth from the 24-year-old. Chalk it up to the hip issue for now, and make sure it isn’t a concern that lingers into next year. He’s still got his entire physical prime ahead of him and the A’s will have him locked in for those years. Expect lots of Zack Gelof in left field for the remainder of the year.
Meanwhile Hernaiz will get another chance in the big leagues, but with all the highly-rated infield prospects coming up at this point it’s hard to imagine him being anything more than a depth piece for the club moving forward. There’s value in that, but we need to see as much of the younger guys like Tommy White, Max Muncy (and maybe Joshua Kuroda-Grauer if he’s able to return?) as possible over these final weeks. We know what we’re getting out of Hernaiz at this point.
Now, to the game. For today’s series finale it’s lefty Jacob Lopez on the bump for the Green & Gold and he’ll be looking to continue his strong return to the starting rotation. In his past four starts he’s been much more consistent and stable, looking much more like the arm that made an impression last year. The Athletics’ pitching depth is among the worst in the league but getting Lopez back to pitching well would help in offseason planning for the front office, even if they consider him to be a depth option at best.
Here’s how manager Mark Kotsay decided to line his squad up this afternoon for the homestand and series finale:
Shortstop Jacob Wilson returns to the lineup after the HBP on his hand in Friday’s series opener. Thank god. This team can’t afford anymore injuries, especially to the core guys.
We have a very similar lineup to yesterday, which as you may recall only produced a three-run home run off the bat of rookie center fielder Henry Bolte, who is back in the leadoff spot today. It’s Gelof, Wilson, Heim, White and Butler right behind him, with the only change being Wilson taking Jeff McNeil’s spot in the three hole. Muncy is today’s DH, making way for Hernaiz at third.
Facing them today is lefty Cody Bradford. Once considered one of the Rangers’ top pitching prospects, Bradford missed all of last year and only just recently returned a couple weeks ago from a tough elbow injury that required surgery. The 27-year-old doesn’t look like he’s missed much of a beat in his two starts since rejoining the Rangers, first going 4 1/3 shutout innings against the Giants before seven full frames against the Angels while allowing only three runs. How will the Athletics’ cool offense do today against an arm still possibly shaking off the rust?
And Texas’ starting nine this afternoon looks like this:
Gotta win today and we need some help to get out of last place. Not just in our division, but in all of baseball. We can’t end the year here. Start winning guys! Let’s go A’s!
Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA
Listen:
Athletics -Talk 650 KSTE, KVMX 92.1/105.5, A’s Cast
