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Last night, the Oakland Athletics lost their 29th game of the 2015 season. They now have the worst record in baseball, have committed 45 errors in 43 games and have one of the most inconsistent bullpens in MLB. Besides those issues, the Athletics are also dealing with a handful of injured players.
First, there is outfielder Coco Crisp. Even though he has not been placed on the disabled list yet, Crisp told his snapchat followers that his neck injury diagnosis is disappointing after he met with a specialist on Wednesday. Then there is starting pitcher Drew Pomeranz who was placed on the disabled list this week with a shoulder injury. Lastly, the recently acquired right-handed reliever Edward Mujica went down last night with a fractured and gashed thumb. His injury will definitely land him on the disabled list for a little while.
With all of these injuries, there are going to be some shifts in the roster. It is clear that the Athletics are going to need to bring in some pitching depth as well as some position players. Oakland does have a lot of quality options to choose from down in Triple-A Nashville but not all of them are on the 40-man roster.
The first change is that Kendall Graveman will be brought up this weekend to fill in for Pomeranz’s next start. Even though everyone would love to see Barry Zito make a comeback, he is not on the 40-man roster and Graveman has been more successful in Nashville than Zito. Graveman has a 1.85 ERA with a 1.19 WHIP and has only two allowed runs in 24.1 innings, while Zito has a 4.84 ERA and has allowed 24 earned run and four homers in 44.2 innings.
There is also an open spot in the bullpen. It is speculated that Sean Nolin could be called up since he has recently been activated from the disabled list. This potential starting pitcher could bring some some fresh, new talent to a floundering bullpen. However, he has only pitched 8.2 total innings since returning and may need some more time in the minors before being called up.
If Oakland does not bring up Nolin, there is also Ryan Cook, Chris Bassitt and R.J. Alvarez who have all at one point or another pitched for the A’s this season and have since been demoted back down to Triple-A. There is also a small part of me that really wants the Athletics to call up ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte. How could they pass up this a 2-for-1 deal!? Get a lefty and a righty pitcher by bringing up just one reliever. But it would require making room on the 40-man roster.
Lastly, there is still a need for a position player — especially in the middle infield. Unfortunately, the only healthy position player who is on the 40-man roster is Renato Nunez, and he’s currently playing in Double-A and is not ready for the major leagues. Ideally, the A’s will add shortstop Andy Parrino to the 40-man roster to add some depth to the infield. He did leave last night’s Triple-A Nashville Sounds game early, so it is possible that fans will see Parrino in Oakland soon.
In the next few days, a lot of roster shifts will be made. It will be interesting to see who gets added to the 40-man roster, who (if anyone) will be designated for assignment and who will ultimately succeed with the Athletics. With infielder Ben Zobrist and closer Sean Doolittle also returning from the disabled list soon, these major roster changes could possibly turn the team’s luck around and hopefully help them win some games.
Samantha Riley is an Oakland Athletics writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow her on twitter @Riless22.
