Nick Kurtz is set to see a specialist for his injury, while Jacob Wilson should return to the field next week. Plus, changes to the rotation are coming.
The hits just keep coming for an Athletics roster that has been ravaged by injuries over the past two months. Designated hitter Brent Rooker is out for the season, catcher Shea Langeliers may be as well, while key starter Luis Severino has been out of action since May.
On Sunday, manager Mark Kotsay provided an update on Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson, who are out of the lineup on Sunday.
Kurtz will be seeing a hand specialist in Los Angeles on Monday. "We're going to try to wait to see what comes from that appointment," Kotsay said. "Hopefully, there's more positive to it."
The decision in question is both whether or not to place Kurtz on the IL. This is an injury that Kurtz has been dealing with for awhile, and this recent iteration is a reaggravation of the thumb injury that landed him on the IL in the first place before the All-Star break.
Since coming off the IL, the All-Star first baseman has gone just 1-for-18. That one hit was a three-run homer in Minnesota.
Wilson has been the A's DH the previous three games in an effort to keep him off his feet. The expectation is that he'll be playing shortstop again on Tuesday in Cincinnati.
Kotsay said that the A's shortstop is dealing with patellar tendinitis, and calls it manageable.
"We're going to do our best to obviously limit his time on his legs, but also maximize when we can," Kotsay said. He also added that Wilson being off his feet the past three days has helped him make progress, which is a good sign.
While the A's roster is being decimated by injuries, Kotsay says the team's job is to continue to keep the optimism and continue to focus on both winning games and pouring into their young players to improve them and get as much out of them as they can.
Rotation Changes Coming
J.T. Ginn will be coming off the IL on Tuesday and will immediately take the ball for the A's against the Reds, which was the expectation earlier in the week. The club just wanted him to get through his bullpen sessions before making anything official, but after Saturday's bullpen went well, he's good to go.
After Thursday's outing, it sounded as though Mason Barnett would be sticking in the rotation, which was confirmed to Athletics Roundtable on Sunday morning. The A's will not be rolling with a six-man rotation, so with Ginn also returning from the IL next week, a move will have to be made.
With the focus on development over the final two months, that could mean that veteran left-hander Jeffrey Springs, who has a $15 million club option for 2027, could be the odd-man out. Springs holds a 6.17 ERA (6.12 FIP) this season. Springs had some words to say about playing in Sacramento's PCL ballpark after his last start.
One last note, Zack Gelof will be starting a rehab stint with Triple-A Las Vegas on Tuesday. The approach for his return will be seeing how he does game-by-game, but the expectation is that he'll get around 20 at-bats before they assess how he feels in terms of his own health and his timing on the field.
