On Wednesday, Jacob Wilson was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning with a chance to add to the A's lead after an awkward slide made it so that he couldn't swing a bat effectively. 

Heading into Friday's game, that could be the exact scenario in which Wilson is used against the Angels. 

Ahead of the opener in Anaheim, A's manager Mark Kotsay told reporters that Wilson is feeling much better, has been taking some swings in the cage and ground balls in the field, and could be available off the bench in the right spot. 

"It's day-to-day, really," Kotsay said on A's Cast. "I feel like we're going to get through this without any type of extended missed time." 

Wilson missed a month of the season with a left shoulder dislocation, and since his return from the IL on June 12, the A's shortstop has gone 9-for-41 (.220) with a .304 OBP, one home run, seven RBI, five walks and five strikeouts. 

Athletics Roundtable reported last week that one of the A's top pitching prospects, Wei-En Lin, was seeking a second opinion after receiving an MRI. The appointment for that second opinion was set for Monday, and on Thursday Bill Moriarity was able to track down an update.

He said, "LHP Wei-En Lin has now seen a couple of doctors. We'd heard earlier that'd he'd been diagnosed with a shoulder strain. But I'm hearing today that he may also possibly have a tear of the UCL. Still waiting to find out more, but hoping for the best."

Jonah Heim has become the guy you want up at the plate when you need a big hit over the past three weeks, with a huge home run in Las Vegas, a game-tying shot against the Angels last week in Sacramento, and then another huge run-scoring hit in Thursday's comeback win over the San Francisco Giants. 

"He's been huge," Kotsay said on A's Cast Friday. "I've been a fan of Jonah Heim since I saw him [with the A's in 2020]. I was pretty disappointed when we traded him, because I did feel like Jonah could have impact."

He went on to talk about Heim's relationship with Shea Langeliers in the dugout, where they'll go over the iPad together and go over glove positioning, sequencing and the art of the position. 

"They've really created a good bond, and I really like them together," Kotsay said.  

He also touched on putting Heim at third base, with the decision being between him and Carlos Cortes.

"We went with Jonah at third base because it was [Rafael] Devers and [Jung Hoo] Lee were coming up." Both Devers and Lee are left-handed batters, and the idea was that they wouldn't push the ball to the third base side.

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